Monica Harding | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament for Esher and Walton | |
Assumed office 4 July 2024 | |
Preceded by | Dominic Raab |
Majority | 12,003 (22.3%) |
Liberal Democrat portfolios | |
2024–present | International Development |
Personal details | |
Political party | Liberal Democrats |
Monica Bernadette Etheldreda Harding [1] is a British Liberal Democrat politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Esher and Walton since 2024. Before she entered politics, Harding was a management consultant, and director and CEO of organisations in Europe and Asia.
Before entering politics, Harding was a director, chief executive officer and management consultant, working in organisations in Europe and Asia. She was director of communications at the British Council and president and CEO of Refugees International Japan. [2]
Harding contested the 2019 general election in the constituency of Esher and Walton, finishing in second place and reducing the majority of the incumbent Conservative MP Dominic Raab, then foreign secretary and later deputy prime minister, from 23,298 to 2,743. [3] [4]
In the 2024 general election, Harding was elected as MP for Esher and Walton with 52.6 per cent of the vote and a majority of 12,003. Voter turnout was 72.8%. [5] She became the constituency's first female MP, and the first not to be elected from the Conservative Party in more than a century. [6]
On 18 September, Harding was appointed by Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey as the party spokesperson for International Development as part of his Frontbench Team. [7]
Harding had lived in Thames Ditton for 17 years as of 2024 [update] . She has four children. [2]
Sarah Louise Teather is the Director of Jesuit Refugee Service UK and a former British Member of Parliament and Minister. As a Liberal Democrat politician, she founded the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Guantanamo Bay and was chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees. On stepping down as an MP, she joined the Jesuit Refugee Service as an advocacy adviser and was appointed as country director of JRS UK in December 2015.
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Esher and Walton is a constituency in Surrey represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Since 2024, it has been represented by Monica Harding of the Liberal Democrats. Prior to this, Dominic Raab of the Conservative Party, who served as deputy prime minister before resigning from that role in April 2023 due to bullying allegations, had served as the MP since 2010.
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Dominic Rennie Raab is a British former politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor from September 2021 to September 2022 and again from October 2022 to April 2023. He previously served as First Secretary of State and Foreign Secretary from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Conservative Party, Raab was Member of Parliament (MP) for Esher and Walton from 2010 to 2024.
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