Neil Hudson | |
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Member of Parliament for Epping Forest | |
Assumed office 4 July 2024 | |
Preceded by | Dame Eleanor Laing |
Majority | 5,682 (13.6%) |
Member of Parliament for Penrith and The Border | |
In office 12 December 2019 –30 May 2024 | |
Preceded by | Rory Stewart |
Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | Islington,London,England |
Political party | Conservative |
Alma mater | University of Cambridge University of Edinburgh |
Occupation |
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Website | www |
Neil Peter Hammerton Hudson [1] FRCVS (born 1969) is a British Conservative Party politician, academic, and veterinary surgeon who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Epping Forest since 2024, and previously for Penrith and The Border from 2019 to 2024. He served on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee for four years, beginning in 2020. He is the first vet elected to the House of Commons since 1884. [2]
Neil Hudson was born in 1969 in Islington, north London. [3] [4] He is the son of obstetrics and gynaecology professor Christopher Hudson and nurse Caryl Shaw. Hudson has a sister Jayne who works as a physiotherapist and brother Grahame who is an associate head at De Montfort University. [5] [6] He studied at Chigwell School and Queens' College, Cambridge, which was the alma mater of his father, [7] qualifying from the veterinary school in 1994. While there he was in the Footlights theatrical group and was in charge of auditions. [8] He later performed four times at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. [9]
Hudson completed an internship at the University of Sydney, gaining a diploma in 1995, and later a PhD in Grass Sickness and Equine Gastroenterology at the University of Edinburgh. [10] Hudson is a senior lecturer at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies but, after becoming an MP, he has been on sabbatical leave since January 2020. [11] He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2018. [10]
Hudson reports that he first became interested in becoming a politician following the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak. [12]
At the 2005 general election, Hudson stood as the Conservative candidate in Newcastle upon Tyne North, coming third with 15.7% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP Doug Henderson and the Liberal Democrat candidate. [13] [14]
Hudson stood in Edinburgh South at the 2010 general election, coming third with 21.6% of the vote behind the Labour candidate Ian Murray and the Liberal Democrat candidate. [15] [16] [17] In the 2010 election, his brother Grahame also stood as a candidate but for the Liberal Democrats in Rutland and Melton. [8]
Hudson was elected to Parliament as MP for Penrith and The Border at the 2019 general election with 60.4% of the vote and a majority of 18,519. [18] [19]
Upon his election to Parliament, Hudson became a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee. [20]
Hudson announced in September 2021 that he no longer supported the building of the Woodhouse Colliery, a proposed coal mine in Cumbria. [21] [22] The project was approved by the government in December 2022. [23]
As part of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, Penrith and The Border was abolished and he lost selection for the new seat of Penrith and Solway in February 2023 to fellow Conservative MP Mark Jenkinson. [24] Hudson also lost out on the selection for the West Suffolk seat in July 2023 to former political adviser Nick Timothy. [25] West Suffolk MP Matt Hancock had previously announced that he would stand down at the 2024 general election in December 2022. [26]
At the 2024 general election, Hudson was elected to Parliament as MP for Epping Forest with 43.2% of the vote and a majority of 5,682. [27] [28] [29]
Hudson is married to Nicola Chedgey. They have two children. [7] [30] His late father Professor Chris Hudson was a councillor in North Weald, Essex. [31]
Appleby-in-Westmorland is a market town and civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England, with a population of 3,048 at the 2011 Census. Crossed by the River Eden, Appleby is the county town of the historic county of Westmorland. It was known just as Appleby until 1974–1976, when the council of the successor parish to the borough changed it to retain the name Westmorland, which was abolished as an administrative area under the Local Government Act 1972, before being revived as Westmorland and Furness in 2023. It lies 14 miles (23 km) south-east of Penrith, 32 miles (51 km) south-east of Carlisle, 27 miles (43 km) north-east of Kendal and 45 miles (72 km) west of Darlington.
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Penrith and The Border was a constituency in Cumbria represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Throughout its existence it elected only members of the Conservative Party.
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Tommy Sheppard is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh East from 2015 until the seat's abolition in 2024. He has been SNP Spokesperson for Scotland since 2023. He is a former SNP spokesperson for the Cabinet Office and a former SNP Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. He is also known for founding The Stand Comedy Clubs in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Nicholas James Timothy is a British Conservative Party politician and former political adviser, serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for West Suffolk since 2024. He served as Joint Downing Street Chief of Staff, alongside Fiona Hill, to Prime Minister Theresa May, until after the 2017 general election.
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