Pauline Latham

Latham was born on 4 February 1948 in Lincolnshire.[1] She grew up in Nottinghamshire, and her early education was at Bramcote Hills Technical Grammar School.[1][2] Latham moved to Derbyshire in 1970.[2]

She was a Conservative member of Derbyshire County Council from 1987 to 1993, and was a Derby City Councillor from 1992 to 1996 and from 1998 to 2010. She held the position of Mayor of Derby during 2007/08.[3] She was also a governor of Ecclesbourne School for 12 years.[4] She was a candidate for Broxtowe at the 2001 general election, and stood as a European candidate in 1999 and 2004 for the East Midlands.[5]

Latham's name was added to the A-List of high priority Conservative candidates created by David Cameron,[6] and she was selected as the candidate for Mid Derbyshire, a new constituency created as a result of changes proposed by the Boundary Commission for England.[7] She was elected to Parliament at the 2010 general election, with 48.3% of the votes and a majority of 11,292.[8]

Latham voted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum. She is a member of the European Research Group.[9] Latham voted for then Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit withdrawal agreement on 29 March 2019.[10] She supported Esther McVey in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election.[11] In February 2017, Latham said that other governments across Europe should be looking after refugee children from Calais in their jurisdictions, not Britain. She said that refugee children were not under threat of murder, that they were in safe countries, and other governments should deal with them.[12]

In Parliament, she has served on the select committee for International Development.[13]

Following an interim report on the connections between colonialism and properties now in the care of the National Trust, including links with historic slavery, Latham was among the signatories of a letter to The Telegraph from the "Common Sense Group" of Conservative Parliamentarians. The letter accused the National Trust of being "coloured by cultural Marxist dogma, colloquially known as the 'woke agenda'".[14]

During the Coronavirus crisis, when asked by a constituent on Twitter, "Is £94 SSP statutory sick pay enough to live on? Could you manage it?", Latham replied "Get a Life" twice in separate tweets. Latham's response to criticism explained that her initial response was posted erroneously due to her not being "techie," but she later cited stressors involving her visiting a relative abroad as a trigger.[15]

• 2019: Third Reich of the Order of Merit of the Ukraine[16]

• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• Appearances on C-SPAN