Nicola Richards | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament for West Bromwich East | |
Assumed office 12 December 2019 | |
Preceded by | Tom Watson |
Majority | 1,593 (4.4%) |
Personal details | |
Born | Nicola Faye Richards 19 December 1994 Dudley,England |
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse | Jon Smith (m. 2022) |
Education | The Kingswinford School King Edward VI College, Stourbridge |
Alma mater | University of Birmingham |
Nicola Faye Richards (born 19 December 1994) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Bromwich East since the 2019 general election. She is a member of the Conservative Party. Prior to her parliamentary career, she was a councillor.
Nicola Faye Richards was born on 19 December 1994 and grew up in Dudley, West Midlands. [1] [2] [3] She attended The Kingswinford School in Kingswinford. [4] and later King Edward VI College, Stourbridge for sixth form. [5] Richards studied politics at the University of Birmingham, graduating with an upper second class degree in 2016. While at university, she was a caseworker for Dudley South MP Chris Kelly, and later for his successor Mike Wood. [6] [7] After university, Richards worked as a communications officer for Stourbridge MP Margot James. [6] Richards then worked in public relations for the Jewish Leadership Council, and the Holocaust Educational Trust. [8] Immediately before being elected to Parliament, Richards worked for Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, as a content creator. [9]
Richards was elected as a Conservative councillor for Kingswinford North and Wall Heath on the Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council in 2015, and was re-elected in 2019. [10] [11] She was the chair of the local Young Conservatives group and a vice-chair of the Dudley South Conservative Association. [9] Richards supported Brexit in the 2016 UK EU membership referendum and campaigned with Vote Leave. [12]
Richards was elected as MP for West Bromwich East at the 2019 general election with a majority of 1,593 (4.4%). [13] It was a notionally safe Labour seat as it had previously elected a member of the party since its creation in 1974. Its previous MP was former deputy leader of Labour Party Tom Watson, who had stood down at the election. [14]
She was a member of the Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union from March 2020 to January 2021, the Women and Equalities Committee from March 2020 to November 2021 and the Education Select Committee from September 2021 to March 2022. [15]
Richards is a supporter of transgender rights. In August 2020, she co-authored an article in ConservativeHome with fellow MP Alicia Kearns, which called on the government to reform the Gender Recognition Act 2004. [16] [17]
She served on the 1922 Committee between November 2020 and September 2021. [18] She was a Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Department of Transport between September 2021 and July 2022. [19] [20] Richards resigned as PPS on 5 July 2022 in protest against Prime Minister Boris Johnson's leadership over his handling of the Chris Pincher scandal. [21] [22]
Richards endorsed Penny Mordaunt during the July 2022 Conservative Party leadership election. [23] After Mordaunt was eliminated, Richards backed Liz Truss. [24] In September 2022, she was appointed as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to Mordaunt when she became the Leader of the House of Commons. [25]
She became co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism in December 2022. [26] As part of this role, she criticised GB News for allowing presenter Neil Oliver to "indulge conspiracy theories" that risk spreading antisemitic tropes in February 2023. [27]
In March 2023, she announced she would not seek re-election at the next general election. [28]
Richards married Jon Smith at the St Mary and St Bartholomew Church, in Hampton in Arden, near Solihull, in December 2022. [29] She is a trustee of the Albion Foundation, the charity arm of the football club West Bromwich Albion. [30]
Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council defines the borough as the six amalgamated towns of Oldbury, Rowley Regis, Smethwick, Tipton, Wednesbury and West Bromwich. Rowley Regis includes the towns of Blackheath and Cradley Heath.
Dudley South is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Mike Wood of the Conservative Party.
West Bromwich East is a constituency that is represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Nicola Richards of the Conservative Party, who was first elected at the 2019 United Kingdom general election.
Sir Charles Ashley Rupert Walker is a British politician who served as chair of the House of Commons Procedure Committee from 2012 to 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Broxbourne in Hertfordshire since 2005.
Dudley West was a parliamentary constituency, centred on the town of Dudley in the West Midlands. It existed from 1974 to 1997, returning one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system.
Penelope Mary Mordaunt PC is a British politician who serves as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council since 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Portsmouth North since the 2010 general election. She has run twice for the Conservative party leadership in July–September and October 2022, losing to Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak respectively.
Henry Edward Millar Smith is an English Conservative Party politician. He was Leader of West Sussex County Council from 2003 to 2010. He is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Crawley, having been first elected in the 2010 general election.
Harriett Mary Morison Baldwin is a British Conservative Party politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for West Worcestershire since 2010. Baldwin was Minister of State for Africa and International Development between January 2018 and July 2019. In 2022, Baldwin was elected Chair of the Treasury Select Committee.
Michelle Emma May Elizabeth Donelan is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology since July 2023, having previously served in the position from February to April 2023 before being temporarily replaced during her maternity leave. A member of the Conservative Party, Donelan also held three other cabinet positions from 2020 to 2023 under Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. She has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Chippenham in Wiltshire since 2015.
Anne-Marie Belinda Trevelyan is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Indo-Pacific under Rishi Sunak since October 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Berwick-upon-Tweed since 2015. She previously served in the Cabinets of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
Natalie Cecilia Elphicke is a British Conservative Party politician and finance lawyer. At the 2019 general election, she was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dover, succeeding her then husband Charlie Elphicke following charges for sexual harassment.
The next United Kingdom general election must be held no later than 28 January 2025. It will determine the composition of the House of Commons, which determines the next Government of the United Kingdom. Significant constituency boundary changes will be in effect, the first such changes since before the 2010 general election.
Alicia Alexandra Martha Kearns is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rutland and Melton since the 2019 general election. A member of the Conservative Party, she identifies ideologically as a one-nation conservative.
Virginia Ann Crosbie is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ynys Môn since the 2019 general election. Prior to her political career, she worked as a director at UBS and HSBC before retraining as a mathematics teacher.
Dehenna Sheridan Davison is a British Conservative Party politician and former broadcaster. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bishop Auckland since the 2019 general election. She served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up between September 2022 and September 2023.
Siobhan Kathleen Baillie is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Stroud since the 2019 general election. Prior to her parliamentary career, she was a family law solicitor, a councillor, and worked for a charity.
Elliot Haydn George Colburn is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Carshalton and Wallington since the 2019 general election. Colburn also served as councillor for the Cheam ward on Sutton Council from 2018 to 2022.
Shaun " Sean " Stephen Bailey is a British Conservative Party politician who was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Bromwich West at the 2019 general election. Prior to his political career, he was a trainee solicitor.