Tracey Crouch

Tracey Crouch
MP
Minister for Sport
Assumed office
12 May 2015
Prime Minister David Cameron
Preceded by Helen Grant
Member of Parliament
for Chatham and Aylesford
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded by Jonathan Shaw
Majority 11,455 (26.6%)
Personal details
Born (1975-07-24) 24 July 1975[1]
Ashford, Kent, England[2]
Nationality British
Political party Conservative
Alma mater Hull University
Website www.traceycrouch.org

Tracey Elizabeth Anne Crouch[3] (born 24 July 1975) is a British Conservative Party politician. She is Member of Parliament (MP) for Chatham and Aylesford, having won the seat at the 2010 election.[4]

Early life

Born in Ashford, Kent, Crouch was educated at Folkestone School for Girls and graduated from the University of Hull with a law and politics degree in 1996.[4]

Early career

Crouch was a parliamentary researcher from 1996 to 1998 before working in PR for Harcourt Public Affairs from 1999 to 2000. She returned to Westminster and held posts as chief of staff to three shadow ministers, including the shadow Home Secretary between 2003 and 2005.[4] Crouch then moved to Aviva where she was the head of public affairs between 2005 and 2010.[4][5] Before becoming a minister, she coached an junior girls' football team.[6]

Political career

Crouch was elected as the Conservative MP for Chatham and Aylesford with a majority of 6,069 - the largest majority since the creation of the constituency. She won with a 46.2% share of the vote - a swing of 9.4% to the Conservatives. The Daily Telegraph listed her as one of their "pragmatic, Eurosceptic" new MPs who seeks to "anchor the [Conservative] party to the right of centre".[7] Crouch describes herself as a "compassionate, One-Nation Conservative" [8]

Crouch is a vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on dementia,[9] alcohol misuse[10] and athletics.[4] In February 2011, Crouch was elected to the 1922 Committee executive.[4]

On 9 December 2010, Crouch abstained in the vote to raise university tuition fees. She was one of two Conservative MPs to abstain, while six voted against the proposals.[11]

Crouch voted against the badger cull, speaking during the debates on the subject in October 2012 and June 2013. She congratulated other Conservative MPs for voting against or abstaining on the vote, describing the cull as "barbaric and indiscriminate".[8]

She has also rebelled against the government in voting against press regulation and in support of mesothelioma victims.[8] She voted in favour of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 . In 2015 she won the Aylesford & Chatham election with 50% of people voting for her.

On 12 May 2015 she was made Minister for Sport.

She is a staunch opponent of fox hunting, and is a leading figure of a growing number of Conservative MPs that oppose relaxation of the Hunting Act 2004.[12]

Personal life

Crouch is a qualified FA football coach[13] and manages a youth girls' football team.[4][8] She is a keen Tottenham Hotspur fan.[14]

Crouch had always wanted to be sports minister, but had a miscarriage during the 2015 general election campaign, leaving her initially uncertain as to whether to take up David Cameron's offer of the post. She is expecting her first child, to be born in February 2016, and will be the first Conservative minister ever to take maternity leave.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Tracey Crouch MP". BBC Democracy Live (BBC). Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  2. ↑ "Who's Who". Ukwhoswho.com. Retrieved 2013-12-20.
  3. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 61230. p. 9123. 18 May 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ‘CROUCH, Tracey Elizabeth Anne’, Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012 ; online edn, Nov 2012 accessed 1 Jan 2013
  5. ↑ PR Week 11 May 2010 "Many lobbyists win seats but some see majority decreased" by David Singleton
  6. 1 2 Hardman, Isabel (12 November 2015). "Tracey Crouch interview: I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a minister". The Spectator. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  7. ↑ Hennessey, Patrick (21 August 2011). "Ayes right: the new pragamatic, Eurosceptic Tory MPs". The Telegraph (London). Retrieved 3 November 2011.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Fisher, Lucy (29 July 2014). "Tracey Crouch: “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed not to be promoted”". New Statesman. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  9. ↑ Altzeimers Society (retrieved 20 February 2011)
  10. ↑ UK Parliament(retrieved 20 February 2011)
  11. ↑ "UK | UK Politics | Tuition fees: How Liberal Democrat MPs voted". BBC News. 2010-12-09. Retrieved 2010-12-18.
  12. ↑ Helm, Toby (11 July 2015). "Top Tory leads rebellion against relaxation of foxhunting ban". The Observer.
  13. ↑ Conservative website profile
  14. ↑ Bloxham, Andy (31 May 2011). "Female Tory MP barred from playing football with men". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 May 2015.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Jonathan Shaw		 Member of Parliament for Chatham and Aylesford
2010–present 		Incumbent


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