Christopher Pincher

Pincher was born in Walsall,[6] and grew up in Wombourne, Staffordshire. He has been a member of the Conservative Party since 1987,[7] having been politicised by the 1984–85 miners' strike.[8] He was deputy director of the Conservative Collegiate Forum, followed by chairman of Islington North Constituency Association.[8] He was tipped as a future cabinet member ahead of the 1997 general election,[8] in which he ran for Parliament for the newly created safe Labour seat of Warley, in Sandwell;[7] he came a distant second, with 24% of the vote.

Pincher was a member of Iain Duncan Smith's successful campaign for the party leadership in 2001.[9] He failed to be elected in 2005 when he first stood for Tamworth, gaining a 2.8% swing from Labour. Although Brian Jenkins retained the seat, Pincher said he had won the arguments, after campaigning for more police and school discipline.[6]

While a candidate, he campaigned against the decision to close Queen Elizabeth's Mercian School,[10] which had been earmarked for closure under Building Schools for the Future, and called the 2009 decision to keep the school open a "victory for people power".[11] He also successfully put pressure on Persimmon to resume and complete construction of the half-built Tame Alloys Estate in Wilnecote.[12] In 2008, Pincher called for efforts to improve visibility at the site at an accident blackspot in Hopwas.[13]

Pincher was re-selected to contest Tamworth for the 2010 election gaining the seat on a 9.5% swing: taking him to 45.8% of the vote and a majority of 6,090 or 13.1%, over Brian Jenkins.[3] In his first ten months as an MP, Pincher had the second-highest House of Commons attendance rate of the West Midlands' 57 MPs, after James Morris.[14] In his first year, he spoke in 94 debates: top amongst Staffordshire's eleven MPs.[15]

Pincher voted in favour of Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, which legalised same-sex marriage.[16]

Pincher campaigned against the building of High Speed 2,[17] which is planned to run past the outskirts of Tamworth.[18] He has defended residents from accusations they were "Nimbies" and has called the HS2 business case 'significantly flawed'.[19] In December 2010, he said any route via Mile Oak or Hopwas was "just not acceptable".[20] Soon after, the route via Hopwas Ridge was rejected: a move welcomed by Pincher and campaigners.[21]

He endorsed closer links with Latvia after meeting Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis in January 2011.[22] He has since met with the Latvian ambassador with a view to setting up an all-party parliamentary group for Latvia. He opposed moving the clocks permanently forward an hour to Central European Time.[23]

In 2011, he was a member of the special Select Committee set up to scrutinise the Bill that became the Armed Forces Act 2011.[24]

He lobbied in Parliament for the Olympic Torch to pass through Tamworth during the 2012 torch relay.[25]

In 2013, he organised a campaign to get local people to knit "beanie hats" for soldiers of the 3rd Battalion (The Stafford's) of the Mercian Regiment, for their pending deployment for Afghanistan.[26] In the same year he helped organise the Tamworth Support our Soldiers (TamworthSOS) campaign,[27] which saw thousands of welfare boxes sent to the same soldiers in time for Christmas 2014.

In the 2015 General Election, Pincher was re-elected with an increased majority of 11,302, polling 23,606 votes, 50.04% of the votes cast and a further 4.3% swing from Labour.[28]

In mid 2017, Pincher did a non-party political video interview on the role of an MP in both the constituency and at Westminster.[29]

On 5 November 2017, Pincher resigned as Assistant Whip and voluntarily referred himself to the Conservative Party's complaints procedure and the police, after former Olympic rower and Conservative candidate Alex Story alleged that Pincher, nine years before he was an MP, had made an unwanted pass at him, describing him as a "pound shop Harvey Weinstein". Story said that he had been invited back to Pincher's flat, where Pincher massaged his neck and talked about his "future in the Conservative party", before changing into a bathrobe.[30] Pincher said that "I do not recognise either the events or the interpretation placed on them" and that "if Mr Story has ever felt offended by anything I said then I can only apologise to him".[30] On 23 December 2017, the Conservative Party's investigating panel determined that Pincher had not breached the code of conduct.[31]

Pincher rejoined the British government in January 2018 as Treasurer of the Household.[32]

Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed Pincher to the position of Minister of State for Europe and the Americas in July 2019.

During the 2020 British cabinet reshuffle, Pincher was appointed to succeed Esther McVey as the Minister of State for Housing.

• Mr Christopher John Pincher (24 September 1969 – 6 May 2010)
• Mr Christopher John Pincher MP (6 May 2010 – 23 November 2018)
• The Right Honourable Christopher John Pincher MP (23 November 2018 – Current)[33]

• Official Website
• Christopher Pincher on Conservative Party site
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou