Christopher Pincher

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Christopher Pincher
MP
File:Christopher Pincher 2012.jpg
Member of Parliament
for Tamworth
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded by Brian Jenkins
Majority 6,090 (13.1%)
Personal details
Born (1969-09-24) 24 September 1969 (age 54)
Walsall, Staffordshire, England
Nationality British
Political party Conservative
Alma mater London School of Economics
Occupation IT consultant
Committees Energy and Climate Change Select Committee

Christopher John Pincher[1] MP (born 24 September 1969[2] in Walsall)[3] is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamworth since the 2010 general election, when he won the seat from the Labour Party.[4]

Before Parliament

Christopher Pincher has been a member of the Conservative Party since 1987,[5] having been politicised by the 1984–85 miners' strike.[6] He was deputy director of the Conservative Collegiate Forum, followed by chairman of Islington North Constituency Association.[6] He was tipped as a future cabinet member ahead of the 1997 general election,[6] in which he ran for Parliament for the newly created safe Labour seat of Warley, in Sandwell;[5] he came a distant second, with 24% of the vote.

Christopher Pincher was a member of Iain Duncan Smith's successful campaign for the party leadership in 2001.[7] He failed to win election to Parliament for Tamworth in 2005, gaining a 2.8% swing from Labour, but losing vote share to Veritas and the UK Independence Party. Despite Brian Jenkins clinging onto the seat, Pincher said he had won the arguments, after campaigning for more police and school discipline.[3] He was re-selected to fight the seat at the next election.

While a candidate, he campaigned against the decision to close Queen Elizabeth's Mercian School,[8] 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".[9] He also successfully put pressure on Persimmon to resume and complete construction of the half-built Tame Alloys Estate in Wilnecote.[10] In 2008, Pincher called for efforts to improve visibility at the site at an accident blackspot in Hopwas.[11]

Member of Parliament

He won election to Parliament at the 2010 election on a 9.5% swing: taking him to 45.8% of the vote and a majority of 6,090 or 13.1%, over 14-year incumbent Brian Jenkins.[4] 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.[12] In his first year, he spoke in 94 debates: top amongst Staffordshire's eleven MPs.[13]

Pincher has campaigned against the building of High Speed 2,[14] which is planned to run past the outskirts of Tamworth.[15] He has defended residents from accusations they were "Nimbies" and has called the HS2 business case 'significantly flawed'.[16] In December 2010, he said any route via Mile Oak or Hopwas was "just not acceptable".[17] Soon after, the route via Hopwas Ridge was rejected: a move welcomed by Pincher and campaigners.[18]

He endorsed closer links with Latvia after meeting Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis in January 2011.[19] He has since met with the Latvian ambassador with a view to setting up an all-party parliamentary group for Latvia.

He has opposed moving the clocks permanently forward an hour to Central European Time.[20]

In 2011, he was a member of the special Select Committee set up to scrutinise the Bill that became the Armed Forces Act 2011.[21]

After the 2011 AV referendum, he urged a continuation of the coalition government[22]

He has lobbied in Parliament for the Olympic Torch to pass through Tamworth during the 2012 torch relay.[23] Tamworth lies between Birmingham and Stoke-on-Trent, which were both announced as stops in June 2011, making a journey through Tamworth a possibility.[24]

Pincher has called for a full debate in Parliament on ensuring that mental health services are given focus as part of £3bn increase in spending on the National Health Service.[25]

In the 2015 General Election, Christopher 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.[26]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U251091/
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Tamworth
2010–present		 Incumbent
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