Richard Graham (politician)

Richard Graham
MP
Member of Parliament
for Gloucester
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded by Parmjit Dhanda
Majority 7,241 (8.8%)
Personal details
Born (1958-04-04) 4 April 1958
Nationality British
Political party Conservatives
Spouse(s) Anthea Graham
Alma mater Christ Church, Oxford
Website Official Website

Richard Graham (born 4 April 1958)[1] is a British Conservative Party politician, who was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gloucester, in one of the largest swings in the General election (8.9%).[2]

Richard is an Oxford scholar, airline manager, pension manager and diplomat, who speaks eight languages.

Personal Life and Charities

Graham was educated at Christ Church, Oxford where he was an exhibitioner in Modern History. Whilst at Oxford, Richard was an Oxford University Air Squadron Cadet.

Richard has played international squash and still plays cricket for Gloucester (GCWCC) and the Gloucestershire Over 50s.[3]

Graham was previously a Director of the charitable company Care for Children, which organises and trains foster parents for Chinese orphans.[4]

In 2010 Richard created the first Gloucester History Festival and chairs the Gloucester History Committee. He is also a trustee of the Gloucestershire Community Foundation, Patron of the Discover de Crypt project and an Hon. Member of the Showmen's Guild.

According to the Conservative website, Richard has spent a week's holiday every year since being elected as a volunteer in the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and other NHS Trusts.[5]

Graham is married with three children named Kitty, Bertie and Rowland.

Early career

Graham was previously an airline manager, a diplomat and a pensions manager. He started with John Swire and Sons and became General Manager of Cathay Pacific Airways in France at 24 and in the Philippines at 26, concurrently Vice Chairman of the Board of Airline Representatives. He joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1986, and was Second, later First, Secretary, in the British High Commission Nairobi and then British Trade Commissioner China, First Secretary British Embassy Beijing and HM Consul Macao (1989-1992).

Graham joined Barings plc as its Chief Representative China in 1993, and became a director of Baring Asset Management in 1996.

Graham has lived and worked in ten countries, speaks eight languages, and according to his website is the only parliamentarian who speaks Cantonese and Mandarin.[6]

Political career

Graham was elected as a Cotswold district councillor in 2003, becoming Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in 2006.

Richard Graham meeting the Indonesian President

Following his successful election to the House of Commons in 2010, Graham was a member of the Select Committee for Work and Pensions May–November 2010, and has now been a member again since July 2015.[7]

He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Rt Hon Lord Howell from November 2010 to September 2012. He was also Parliamentary Private Secretary to Rt Hon Hugo Swire, Minister of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office until 2014.

In November 2012, Graham was appointed Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Indonesia.[8] In January 2016 he was also appointed the Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Malaysia, the Philippines, and the ASEAN Economic Community.[9]

Graham chairs the All Party Parliamentary Groups for Pensions, Indonesia, and China.

In June 2010, his first debate in Parliament was regarding apprenticeships and their importance to Gloucester had to be cancelled after he turned up late. Graham later blamed a 'Printer Error'.[10] Richard was the second MP in the country to employ his own apprentice, who later went on to be the youngest ever city councillor in Gloucester.[11]

In June 2013, Graham got himself into trouble with the ICO for breaching the Data Protection Act and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, then spamming people who had contacted him on parliamentary business.[12]

Graham has been an avid campaigner on knife crime and is currently campaigning to lengthen the maximum sentence on stalking.[13] In 2013 he also successfully campaigned for stronger dangerous driving sentencing laws.[14]

In April 2015, Graham was ordered to remove ‘interfering’ tweets that risked derailing a murder trial in Gloucester amid claims he was exploiting the case to ‘win votes’ prior to the upcoming General Election.[15]

He was re-elected with an increased majority of 7,241 in the 2015 General Election. He had to apologise for parking his campaign van in a disabled parking bay after a "37 hour day" following the election.[16]

in July 2015, Graham had an award from the road safety charity Brake withdrawn after he received a six month driving ban for speeding.[17]

Since his election he has secured a new Gloucester railway station car park and entrance,[18] and has been a champion for a new Health University Technical College,[19] Day Centre for the Homeless, Gloucester Academy,[20] and a mini hydro at Llanthony Weir.

Awards

Graham was shortlisted for the Grassroot Diplomat Initiative Award in 2015 for his work on building the Gloucestershire Credit Union, and he remains in the directory of the Grassroot Diplomat Who's Who publication.[21]

References

  1. ↑ "Richard Graham MP". BBC Democracy Live. BBC. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  2. ↑ "Election 2010: Gloucester". thisisgloucestershire.co.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  3. ↑ "At home with Gloucester MP Richard Graham". Gloucestershire Echo. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  4. ↑ "Care For Children - Family First In Asia". www.careforchildren.com. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  5. ↑ "Richard Graham". www.conservatives.com. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  6. ↑ "About". Richard Graham MP. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  7. ↑ "Work and Pensions Committee - membership". UK Parliament. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  8. ↑ http://www.ukti.gov.uk/uktihome/media/item/403560.html
  9. ↑ "Trade Envoys - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  10. ↑ "Embarrassment as Gloucester MP turns up too late for his own debate in Parliament". Gloucester Citizen. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  11. ↑ "LOCAL ELECTIONS: Conservatives win control of Gloucester City Council". Gloucester Citizen. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  12. ↑ "Richard Graham rebuked for signing people up to his mailing list". Gloucester Citizen. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  13. ↑ "Victims of stalkers back MP Richard Graham's calls to double the maximum sentence for the crime". Gloucester Citizen. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  14. ↑ "Gloucester MP campaigns for dangerous driving laws reform". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  15. ↑ "Gloucester MP ordered to remove 'interfering' tweets". Daily Mail. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  16. ↑ "Richard Graham caught parking in a disabled parking space hours after General election win". Gloucester Citizen. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  17. ↑ "Gloucester MP Richard Graham has road safety award withdrawn by charity after being caught speeding". Gloucester Citizen. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  18. ↑ "New 220 space car park planned for railway station". Gloucester Review. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  19. ↑ "Joint bid to be made for a Gloucestershire Health University Technical College (UTC)". www.glos.ac.uk. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  20. ↑ "Improving Our Schools – Gloucester Academy | Richard Graham". richardgraham.org. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  21. ↑ "Grassroot Diplomat Who's Who". Grassroot Diplomat. 15 March 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2015.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Parmjit Dhanda		 Member of Parliament for Gloucester
2010–present 		Incumbent
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, May 02, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.