He was first elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency at the 1987 general election, having served as a councillor in Old Moat Ward (Manchester) since 1983. After the 1997 general election he became a junior minister at the Department of Social Security, and then became Deputy Chief Whip and Treasurer of the Queen's Household in 1998. He was a junior minister in the Home Office for Criminal Justice, Sentencing, and Law Reform from 2001–2, and then a backbench MP and member of the Health Select Committee. He is a member of the Privy Council. Bradley lost his seat in Parliament when he was defeated by a swing of over 17% to the Liberal Democrat candidate, John Leech, in the 2005 general election.