Parliamentary career
Dines stood as the Northern Ireland Conservatives candidate in Belfast East at the 1997 general election,coming fourth with 2.4% of the vote behind the incumbent DUP MP Peter Robinson,the UUP candidate Reg Empey,and the Alliance candidate Jim Hendron. [10] [11]
Dines was elected as Member of Parliament for Derbyshire Dales at the 2019 general election with 58.7% of the vote and a majority of 17,381. [12] [13] During the 2019 general election campaign she said that her priorities were to "get Brexit done", [14] preserving the environment and better digital connectivity within the constituency. She declared herself to be "passionately committed to the countryside and the environment". [9] [5] She stated that "people need to vote blue to be green". [15]
On 20 December 2019,she signed the Early Day Motion calling for Big Ben to chime on the day of Brexit. [16] Dines is a member of the 'Vote Blue,Go Green' movement within the Conservative Party. [17]
In February 2020,Dines raised the issue of funding for Ashbourne's long-awaited A515 bypass,stating:"For over 100 years,in one form or another,the Ashbourne bypass in Derbyshire Dales has been endlessly discussed,debated,consulted on and promised". [18] [19]
In March 2020,Dines was elected as a member of the Justice Select Committee. [20] In June 2021,she was also appointed to serve on the Northern Ireland (Ministers,Elections and Petitions of Concern) Bill. [21]
Dines spoke out in November 2020 on the "truly despicable online abuse" to which parliamentarians have been subjected,stating that "attacks on physical appearance,seems to be predominantly aimed at women MPs". [22]
In December 2020,the Sunday Times published an article reporting that Dines had been claiming expenses for hotel accommodation located near to her parliamentary office despite owning six properties in total,worth approximately £5 million. The newspaper accused Dines of "charging the taxpayer thousands of pounds for regular stays at a four-star hotel". [14] A spokesman for Dines responded,stating:"Sarah has conformed to all the necessary processes for declaring her interests. Any expense claims she has made have been in line with the instructions set out by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. Sarah is a reluctant user of hotels and only stays in hotels in London when her parliamentary and departmental responsibilities have kept her working late at Westminster". [23]
In March 2021,she was appointed to the ad hoc Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill. [24]
Also in March 2021,Dines was one of the Conservative MPs calling for the BBC to reconsider its decision not to play "Rule,Britannia!" and "Land of Hope and Glory" at the Last Night of the Proms,a decision that was ultimately reversed. She said:"I am proud to be British,as are my constituents. Anthems of our nation are poignant and mean so much more today,than a reference to the historical time they were written in. We should be proud of history and recognise and learn from any mistakes of the past". [25]
On 17 September 2021,Dines was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson,alongside Andrew Griffith,in the second cabinet reshuffle of the second Johnson ministry. [26] Her appointment was described by a senior Conservative Party MP as an 'absolutely disgraceful decision'. [27]
In the February 2022 reshuffle,she was appointed as an Assistant Government Whip. [28]
In April 2022,she repeatedly pressed Derbyshire Dales District Council to fulfil its statutory obligation to provide a traveller site within Derbyshire Dales:"To not have a permanent site,we are not only failing residents,but also the traveller community". [29] [30]
In May 2022,Dines said that some of the abuse she had received had to be dealt with by the police,and that in one case an online abuser admitted the crime of harassment and had accepted a police caution. She said:"There is a false belief that things that are said on social media,that people would never dream of saying to another in person are somehow different to real life harassment and abuse –it isn't. Harassment on social media and in real life are the same,they are awful,in some cases unlawful,and have no place in our society." [31]
In July 2022,Dines was criticised for her handling of allegations involving the then Deputy Chief Whip,Chris Pincher. Dines,in her capacity as Assistant Government Whip,asked a man,who claimed Pincher groped him,if he was gay;when the alleged victim replied that he was gay,Dines was said to have replied "Well that doesn't make it straightforward". [32] [27] Responding to these claims,Dines said these press reports were inaccurate,and that:"The conversation I had with the subject of the alleged sexual harassment on the night was aimed at securing the full facts of what had transpired and was part of a much wider discussion which led to immediate action following the events of that evening". [33]
In June 2023 Dines complained unsuccessfully to the press regulator IPSO about claims made in Matthew Parris's Notebook column in January 2023 that Boris Johnson wanted to stand for election in her own constituency of Derbyshire Dales. [34]
On 7 August 2023,Dines appeared on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme speaking about the migrant crisis. She said that for "operational reasons" she could not give specific details about when the first asylum seekers would be boarding the refitted accommodation barge Bibby Stockholm but that it would be "pretty soon". Questioned further by Mishal Husain on whether Ascension Island was a potential alternative to Rwanda she said "You wouldn't expect me to go through those discussions,they're individual cases". Dines also said that those coming into Britain by unauthorised means "can't expect to stay in a four-star hotel". [35] [36] [37] Dines appearance on Radio 4's Today programme was described as 'word salad nonsense' by Gavin Esler and Kevin Maguire said that Dines's answers suggested that 'she was scraped from the bottom of a barrel by Sunak".
Dines is a member of numerous All-Party Parliamentary Groups,including Policing and Security,Environment,Pacific Islands and Norfolk Island,Sovereign Defence Manufacturing Capability,Legal and Constitutional Affairs,Farming,Peak District,Trade and Export Promotion,Rural Business,Small and Micro Business,Caribbean,Commonwealth,Ireland and the Irish in Britain,Social Media,Women in Parliament and Endometriosis. [6] She is a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. [38]
Dines has a particular interest in the Armed Forces and veterans and is a member of the Armed Forces,Armed Forces Covenant [6] and Veterans All-Party Parliamentary Groups. [17]
Dines is on the right of the Conservative Party and supported Liz Truss's election as leader. She is a supporter of the Blue Collar Conservatism group in Parliament, [39] which exists to "champion working people". [40]
