Nicholas Douglas Palmer (born 5 February 1950, London) is a British politician, translator and computer scientist. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire from 1997 until he lost the seat at the 2010 general election to Conservative Anna Soubry, by 390 votes. Described by Andrew Roth as "quietly effective", he was Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Minister of State, Margaret Beckett, in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs until April 2005. He then became PPS to the Minister of State, Malcolm Wicks, first in the Department of Trade and Industry, and later in the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform until Wicks stood down in October 2008.