Andrew Griffiths (politician)

Andrew Griffiths
MP
Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Assumed office
17 July 2016
Prime Minister Theresa May
Preceded by Mel Stride
Member of Parliament
for Burton
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded by Janet Dean
Majority 11,252 (22.8%)
Personal details
Born (1970-10-19) 19 October 1970
Dudley, Staffordshire, England
Nationality British
Political party Conservative
Website andrewgriffithsmp.com

Andrew James Griffiths (born 19 October 1970) is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Burton.[1]

Early life

Griffiths grew up in Sedgley and attended Bramford Primary School and High Arcal School. His father, Bob Griffiths, served as Mayor of Dudley in 1982. Upon finishing his education in 1987, Griffiths joined the family engineering business in the West Midlands, manufacturing plant equipment for the construction industry. Later, he worked for the Leeds Permanent Building Society (later to become the Halifax) where he became a manager specialising in property and financial services.

Political career

Griffiths first entered politics at a local level when standing as a council candidate for Coseley on three separate occasions, losing them all.

In 1999, Griffiths went to work for the West Midlands MEP team in the European Parliament in Brussels, before being appointed Adviser on farming and working for the European Agricultural Spokesman Neil Parish MEP.

Griffiths first contested the safe Labour seat of Dudley North at the 2001 general election, coming in 6,800 votes behind victor Ross Cranston. In 2004, Griffiths unsuccessfully stood as a Conservative candidate at the European Elections.

After the European Elections, Griffiths moved to Westminster to work for the Shadow Cabinet, as Chief of Staff to the Rt. Hon. Theresa May MP, where he worked on environment, transport and later family policy. During this time, Griffiths also helped set up Women 2 Win, a campaign to get more Conservative women elected to Parliament. In 2006, Griffiths moved to work for the Culture, Media and Sport team, working as Chief of Staff to Hugo Swire MP. The next year, he focused on community cohesion and local government matters as Chief of Staff to Eric Pickles MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and remained Pickles' Chief of Staff when he became the Party chairman. Griffiths was a member of the A-List and was selected as a candidate for Burton in November 2006[2]

Griffiths was elected at the 2010 General Election for Burton, regaining the seat for the Conservatives for the first time since 1997 when it was held by Ivan Lawrence from 1974. Griffiths was re-elected at the 2015 General Election[3]

He now serves as Secretary of the APPG for the Misuse of Drugs and Alcohol, Additional General Secretary of the APPG for Kashmir, and Vice-Chairman of the APPG for Home Education. He is Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Beer and campaigns against increased taxes on beer (the beer duty escalator). He is also a member of the Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee. He is a patron of the Victoria Cross Trust.

Griffths was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.[4]

Following the appointment of Theresa May MP to the office of Prime Minister, Griffiths was appointed as a Government Whip and Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury[5] on 17 July 2016.

Notes

  1. ↑ "BBC News – Election 2010 – Constituency – Burton". Retrieved 7 April 2012.
  2. ↑ "Where are the original A-Listers now? The 27 who have been selected for target seats". 22 April 2009. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
  3. ↑ "BBC News – Election 2015 – Constituency – Burton". Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  4. ↑ Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  5. ↑ "Andrew Griffiths on Twitter". Retrieved 17 July 2016.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Janet Dean		 Member of Parliament for Burton
2010–present 		Incumbent
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