Richard Holden (British politician)

Richard John Holden[1] is a British Conservative Party politician, who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Durham since the 2019 general election. Holden is the first Conservative MP in the constituency's history. Prior to becoming an MP, he had worked as a special adviser in a number of government departments.

Richard Holden

MP
Holden in 2020
Member of Parliament
for North West Durham
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byLaura Pidcock
Majority1,144 (2.4%)
Personal details
Political partyConservative
Alma materLondon School of Economics
WebsiteOfficial website

Early life and career

Holden grew up in Grindleton, a village in the Ribble Valley area of Lancashire. He attended Grindleton Primary School,[2] and Ermysted's Grammar School in Skipton.[3] Holden graduated from the London School of Economics in 2007.[4] He started work at Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) in August 2007, initially as a data administrator before becoming a press officer.[5] He was promoted to deputy head of press in 2012.[6]

In the 2015 general election he stood unsuccessfully as a Conservative candidate in the safe Labour seat of Preston.[2][7] After the election, he became a special adviser to former Leader of the House of Lords Tina Stowell, Baroness Stowell of Beeston before leaving to work for Theresa May's 2016 Conservative Party leadership election campaign. He also worked for Stowell's successor as Leader of the House of Lords, Baroness Evans of Bowes Park,[8] before becoming special adviser to Secretary of State for Defence, Sir Michael Fallon, between October 2016 and April 2017.[9]

Holden became a special adviser to former Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling in December 2018[10] before leaving to work on Boris Johnson's 2019 Conservative Party leadership election campaign. He then worked as a special adviser to Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson from August to November 2019.[6] When Parliament was dissolved for the election, Holden began working for CCHQ before being selected for North West Durham.[11]

Parliamentary career

Holden was elected as the MP for North West Durham in the 2019 general election with a majority of 1,144 votes. He is the first Conservative to represent the constituency.[5] It had previously been considered a notionally safe Labour seat as it had been represented by a member of the party since its re-establishment in 1950.[12] He has been a member of the Public Accounts Committee and European Statutory Instruments Committee since March 2020.[13] Since being elected, Holden has written a fortnightly column for the political blog ConservativeHome.[14]

Holden led a campaign with other local MPs to reverse the increase in Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) paid on new motorhomes.[15] This was increased in September 2019 in response to EU regulation 2018/1832.[16] In the March 2020 budget, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced that the VED increase would be reversed.[17]

Personal life

He was previously in a relationship with Charlotte Ivers, political correspondent for radio station Talkradio, a former special adviser at 10 Downing Street.[18][19]

References
  1. "Members Sworn". parliament.uk. 17 December 2019.
  2. "Grindleton man wants to Conservative MP for Preston". Clitheroe Advertiser. 26 January 2015.
  3. "Team is 'driving Miss Donnelly' to Mongolia". Craven Herald. 16 July 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  4. Zeffman, Henry (8 November 2017). "Fallon's former adviser Richard Holden denies party assault". The Times.(subscription required)
  5. Bond, Daniel (16 December 2019). "Class of 2019: Meet the new MPs". Politics Home.
  6. George, Michael (13 August 2019). "Chris Grayling aide to advise Gavin Williamson at DfE". Times Educational Supplement.
  7. Dodds, Laurence (10 April 2015). "Has your constituency already been won in the 2015 general election? Find out here". The Daily Telegraph.
  8. "Holden joins Newington boosting Corporate Affairs offer". Public Affairs Networking. 19 September 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  9. "Appointment of Richard Holden as special advisor to Sir Michael Fallon" (PDF). gov.uk. 27 November 2017. p. 1.
  10. Blanchard, Jack (11 December 2018). "Politico London Playbook: May's diplomatic dash — Vultures circle back home — Monday in parliament". Politico Europe.
  11. Hope, Christopher; Louloudis, Theodora (17 December 2019). "How these new Tory MPs went from selected to elected in just four weeks". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 23 February 2020.(subscription required)
  12. Williams, Francesca; Moody, Lucy (14 December 2019). "Durham North West: The 'no-hope' seat the Tories won". BBC News.
  13. "Parliamentary career for Mr Richard Holden". parliament.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  14. "Richard Holden". ConservativeHome. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  15. "Rishi Sunak told by 'red wall' Conservative MPs to reverse EU directive". The Telegraph. 28 February 2020.(subscription required)
  16. Hirst, David (6 September 2019). "Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) for new motorhomes". House of Commons Library. parliament.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  17. Morkis, Stefan (11 March 2020). "UK Budget: Perthshire firm welcomes motorhome tax U-turn". The Courier. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  18. Dickson, Annabelle (16 August 2019). "Politico London Playbook: On course for no deal — View from Dublin — Friday night fight night". Politico Europe.
  19. Blanchard, Jack (15 October 2018). "Politico London Playbook, presented by London City Airport: Britain on the brink — Pizza the action — Worlds collide in Ireland". Politico Europe.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Laura Pidcock		 Member of Parliament
for North West Durham
2019–present		 Incumbent
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