Christopher Pincher

Christopher John Pincher PC[1] (born 24 September 1969)[2] is a British Conservative Party politician serving as Minister of State for Housing since February 2020. Prior to this, he served as Minister of State for Europe and the Americas and Deputy Chief Government Whip and has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamworth since 2010.

The Right Honourable

Christopher Pincher

MP
Pincher in 2020
Minister of State for Housing
Assumed office
13 February 2020
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byEsther McVey
Minister of State for Europe and the Americas
In office
25 July 2019 – 13 February 2020
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byAlan Duncan
Succeeded byWendy Morton
Government Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Commons
Treasurer of the Household
In office
9 January 2018 – 25 July 2019
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byEsther McVey
Succeeded byAmanda Milling
Comptroller of the Household
In office
15 June 2017 – 5 November 2017
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byMel Stride
Succeeded byChristopher Heaton-Harris
Member of Parliament
for Tamworth
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded byBrian Jenkins
Majority19,634 (42.6%)
Personal details
Born
Christopher John Pincher

(1969-09-24) 24 September 1969
Walsall, Staffordshire, England
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Alma materLondon School of Economics
OccupationIT consultant
CommitteesEnergy and Climate Change Select Committee

Pincher was first elected as MP for Tamworth at the 2010 general election, when he gained the seat from the Labour Party.[3] He first contested the seat in 2005.[4] He served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond from 2015 to 2016.[5]

Pincher served as an Assistant Whip and Comptroller of the Household in 2017, before he resigned after being implicated in the 2017 Westminster sexual misconduct allegations. Two months later, in January 2018, he was appointed by Theresa May as Deputy Chief Government Whip and Treasurer of the Household. He was Minister of State for Europe and the Americas from 2019 to 2020 under Boris Johnson.

Early life

Pincher was born in Walsall,[6] and grew up in Wombourne, Staffordshire. He has been a member of the Conservative Party since 1987,[7] having been politicised by the 1984–85 miners' strike.[8] He was deputy director of the Conservative Collegiate Forum, followed by chairman of Islington North Constituency Association.[8] He was tipped as a future cabinet member ahead of the 1997 general election,[8] in which he ran for Parliament for the newly created safe Labour seat of Warley, in Sandwell;[7] he came a distant second, with 24% of the vote.

Pincher was a member of Iain Duncan Smith's successful campaign for the party leadership in 2001.[9] He failed to be elected in 2005 when he first stood for Tamworth, gaining a 2.8% swing from Labour. Although Brian Jenkins retained the seat, Pincher said he had won the arguments, after campaigning for more police and school discipline.[6]

While a candidate, he campaigned against the decision to close Queen Elizabeth's Mercian School,[10] 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".[11] He also successfully put pressure on Persimmon to resume and complete construction of the half-built Tame Alloys Estate in Wilnecote.[12] In 2008, Pincher called for efforts to improve visibility at the site at an accident blackspot in Hopwas.[13]

Member of Parliament

Pincher was re-selected to contest Tamworth for the 2010 election gaining the seat on a 9.5% swing: taking him to 45.8% of the vote and a majority of 6,090 or 13.1%, over Brian Jenkins.[3] 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.[14] In his first year, he spoke in 94 debates: top amongst Staffordshire's eleven MPs.[15]

Pincher voted in favour of Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, which legalised same-sex marriage.[16]

Pincher campaigned against the building of High Speed 2,[17] which is planned to run past the outskirts of Tamworth.[18] He has defended residents from accusations they were "Nimbies" and has called the HS2 business case 'significantly flawed'.[19] In December 2010, he said any route via Mile Oak or Hopwas was "just not acceptable".[20] Soon after, the route via Hopwas Ridge was rejected: a move welcomed by Pincher and campaigners.[21]

He endorsed closer links with Latvia after meeting Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis in January 2011.[22] He has since met with the Latvian ambassador with a view to setting up an all-party parliamentary group for Latvia. He opposed moving the clocks permanently forward an hour to Central European Time.[23]

In 2011, he was a member of the special Select Committee set up to scrutinise the Bill that became the Armed Forces Act 2011.[24]

He lobbied in Parliament for the Olympic Torch to pass through Tamworth during the 2012 torch relay.[25]

In 2013, he organised a campaign to get local people to knit "beanie hats" for soldiers of the 3rd Battalion (The Stafford's) of the Mercian Regiment, for their pending deployment for Afghanistan.[26] In the same year he helped organise the Tamworth Support our Soldiers (TamworthSOS) campaign,[27] which saw thousands of welfare boxes sent to the same soldiers in time for Christmas 2014.

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.[28]

In mid 2017 Chris Pincher did a non-party political video interview on the role of an MP in both the constituency and at Westminster.[29]

On 5 November 2017, Pincher resigned as Assistant Whip and voluntarily referred himself to the Conservative Party's complaints procedure and the police, after former Olympic rower and Conservative candidate Alex Story alleged that Pincher, nine years before he was an MP, had made an unwanted pass at him, describing him as a "pound shop Harvey Weinstein". Story said that he had been invited back to Pincher's flat, where Pincher massaged his neck and talked about his "future in the Conservative party", before changing into a bathrobe.[30] Pincher said that "I do not recognise either the events or the interpretation placed on them" and that "if Mr Story has ever felt offended by anything I said then I can only apologise to him".[30] On 23 December 2017, the Conservative Party's investigating panel determined that Pincher had not breached the code of conduct.[31]

Pincher rejoined the British government in January 2018 as Treasurer of the Household.[32]

Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed Pincher to the position of Minister of State for Europe and the Americas in July 2019.

During the 2020 British cabinet reshuffle, Pincher was appointed to succeed Esther McVey as the Minister of State for Housing.

Styles
  • Mr Christopher John Pincher (24 September 1969 – 6 May 2010)
  • Mr Christopher John Pincher MP (6 May 2010 – 23 November 2018)
  • The Right Honourable Christopher John Pincher MP (23 November 2018 – Current)[33]

Footnotes
  1. "Who's Who". www.ukwhoswho.com.
  2. "Christopher Pincher MP". BBC Democracy Live. BBC. Archived from the original on 12 September 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  3. "Labour MP of 14 years loses seat to Tories in Tamworth". Birmingham Post. 7 May 2009. Archived from the original on 24 December 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  4. "BBC NEWS | Election 2005 | Tamworth". BBC. Archived from the original on 29 November 2006. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  5. "Christopher Pincher | About Chris | Bio". www.christopherpincher.com. Archived from the original on 31 January 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  6. "Mitchell proud of 'stonking' Sutton result". Birmingham Post. 7 May 2005. Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  7. "Christopher Pincher". Parliament. Archived from the original on 1 July 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2011.
  8. Castle, Stephen; Birnberg, Ariadne (9 February 1997). "The Cabinet of Tomorrow?". The Independent. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  9. Pierce, Andrew (18 December 2002). "IDS team switches to Page". The Times. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  10. Richards, Andy (7 January 2009). "Parents fight to save Tamworth school from closure". Birmingham Mail. Archived from the original on 2 October 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  11. Halifax, Justine (30 January 2009). "Tamworth people power saves QEMS from closure". Birmingham Mail. Archived from the original on 1 October 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  12. "Work to resume on Tamworth estate". Birmingham Mail. 30 July 2009. Archived from the original on 1 October 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  13. Halifax, Justine (29 December 2008). "Fresh calls to improve Tamworth blackspot where paperboy died". Birmingham Mail. Archived from the original on 2 October 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  14. Goldby, Ben (6 March 2011). "The West Midland MPs missing more than half of Westminster votes". Sunday Mercury. Archived from the original on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  15. "Town MP reflects on memorable if rather nervous first year". Tamworth Herald. 3 June 2011. Archived from the original on 10 August 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  16. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21346694
  17. Walker, Jonathan (1 December 2010). "Conservative MP voices concerns over high-speed rail plans". Birmingham Mail. Archived from the original on 1 October 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  18. "Joy for Midland high-speed rail link protesters". Birmingham Mail. 9 December 2010. Archived from the original on 1 October 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  19. "MP defends villagers' fears over rail plans". Tamworth Herald. 8 April 2011. Archived from the original on 10 August 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  20. "Campaigners form super group to fight HS2 rail plans". Tamworth Herald. 3 December 2010. Archived from the original on 10 August 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  21. Halifax, Justine (7 December 2010). "High Speed rail campaigners celebrate after changes made to route in Staffordshire". Birmingham Post. Archived from the original on 25 December 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  22. Lloyd, Matt (27 January 2011). "Tamworth MP Christopher Pincher urges trade links with Latvia". Birmingham Mail. Archived from the original on 1 October 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  23. "'No evidence for clocks change': MP Christopher Pincher". BBC News. 27 February 2011. Archived from the original on 2 March 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  24. "Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill". parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
  25. "Olympic torch hope blazes in Tamworth". Tamworth Herald. 10 June 2011. Archived from the original on 10 August 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  26. "The Staffordshire Regiment Museum". staffordshireregimentmuseum.com. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  27. "Tamworth business backs Support Our Soldiers appeal". 8 July 2013. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  28. "Christopher Pincher MP". UK Parliament. Archived from the original on 7 July 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  29. JAMedia-UK (21 July 2019), Tamworth Local Government- The MP, retrieved 24 July 2019
  30. "Tory Whip Chris Pincher refers himself to the police after claim of unwanted pass at former Olympic rower". The Daily Telegraph. 5 November 2017. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  31. Buchan, Lizzy (23 December 2017). "Tory MPs Stephen Crabb and Chris Pincher cleared by party over sexual harassment claims". The Independent. Archived from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  32. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  33. "Knighthood conferred and Privy Council Appointments: November 2018". 23 November 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Brian Jenkins		 Member of Parliament for Tamworth
2010–present		 Incumbent
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