Sarah Olney

Sarah Jane Olney (née McGibbon; born 11 January 1977)[1][2] is a British Liberal Democrat politician and an accountant serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond Park since 2019, and previously from 2016 to 2017. Olney is the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Business, International Trade and Transport.

Sarah Olney

MP
Olney in 2019
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Transport
Assumed office
6 January 2020
LeaderSir Ed Davey and Mark Pack
Preceded byWera Hobhouse
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Business and Industrial Strategy
Assumed office
6 January 2020
LeaderSir Ed Davey and Mark Pack
Preceded bySam Gyimah (Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy)
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for International Trade
Assumed office
6 January 2020
LeaderSir Ed Davey
Mark Pack
Preceded byChuka Umunna
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Education
In office
8 May 2017 – 16 June 2017
LeaderTim Farron
Preceded byJohn Pugh
Succeeded byLayla Moran
Member of Parliament
for Richmond Park
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byZac Goldsmith
Majority7,766 (11.9%)
In office
1 December 2016 – 3 May 2017
Preceded byZac Goldsmith
Succeeded byZac Goldsmith
Personal details
Born
Sarah Jane McGibbon

(1977-01-11) 11 January 1977
Frimley, Surrey, England
Political partyLiberal Democrats
Spouse(s)
Benjamin Olney
(
m. 2002)
Children2
Alma materKing's College London

She was initially the constituency's MP for six months, from a by-election in December 2016 to the general election in June 2017, having won the seat from Zac Goldsmith of the Conservative Party. Two years later, she regained the seat at the 2019 general election.

Early life and career

Olney was born in Frimley, Surrey.[3][4] She was educated at All Hallows Catholic School in Farnham and then studied English Literature at King's College London.[5][6]

Olney is a qualified accountant.[7] She worked as an accountant at Barclays, Arts & Business, Distilled Ltd, SCi Sales Group and the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington until she entered politics after the 2015 General Election.[8][9]

Political career

Olney joined the Liberal Democrats in July 2015, soon after the general election, in realisation that she was a liberal dissatisfied with the direction of the United Kingdom.[9][10]

On 25 October 2016, Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith announced his resignation from the House of Commons over his objection to his party's support for a third runway at Heathrow Airport, triggering a by-election in his seat of Richmond Park.[11] Goldsmith stood in the by-election as an independent candidate although he remained a Conservative party member with the support of Nigel Farage's UKIP, who along with the Conservative party, did not put forward a candidate. On 30 October 2016, Olney was announced as the Liberal Democrats' candidate for the by-election.[12][13]

On 1 December 2016, after overturning a majority of over 23,000 votes, Olney was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond Park.[14] She received 20,510 votes (49.6% of total votes), giving her a majority of 1,872 votes (4.5%).[10] She was the only female Liberal Democrat MP in the 2015–2017 parliament. Shortly after her election, Olney ended a radio interview in which she was pressed on her support for a second Brexit referendum. Supporting a second referendum became official Liberal Democrat policy shortly after.[15][16]

In the run-up to the 2017 General Election, Olney was recorded urging Liberal Democrats to vote for Labour MPs in seats where Labour candidates stood a better chance of defeating Conservatives than the Liberal Democrat candidates.[17] Olney referred to the Liberal Democrat candidate for Ealing Central and Acton as a "paper candidate" and voiced her support for the Labour Party incumbent Rupa Huq. It was reported by the Evening Standard in April 2018 that Olney had been interviewed under caution by the police for allegedly breaking official spending limits in the Richmond Park by-election. The Crown Prosecution Service ruled that there was no evidence and closed the case.[18]

In the 2017 general election, Olney narrowly lost her seat to Goldsmith, who stood as the Conservative candidate, polling 45.07% of the vote to Goldsmith's 45.14%, giving Goldsmith a majority of 45.[19]

On 9 September 2017 it was announced that she would be taking up the post of chief of staff for Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable.[20]

In 2019, she was officially confirmed as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Richmond Park at the next general election.[21] She won the election.[22]

Views

On the topic of Brexit, Olney voted against the triggering of Article 50, as she had indicated during the by-election campaign that she would do.[23][14] She believes another referendum should be held once the exact terms of Britain's exit from the EU have been announced.[24] Olney opposes the building of a third runway at Heathrow Airport.[25]

Personal life

Olney has two children with her husband Ben, a town planner.[12]

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See also
  • Timeline of Female MPs in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom

References
  1. Hope, Christopher; Henderson, Barney. "Richmond Park by-election: Lib Dems' Sarah Olney defeats Zac Goldsmith". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  2. "Perspective on Politics" (PDF). InTouch. London: King's College London. Spring 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  3. "Sarah Olney interview part 1: Before becoming an MP". Liberal Democrat Voice. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  4. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  5. "All Hallows Catholic School Newsletter" (PDF). allhallows.net. All Hallows Catholic School. December 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  6. Nagesh, Ashitha (2 December 2016). "Who is Sarah Olney, Richmond Park's new MP who ousted Zac Goldsmith?". Metro. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  7. Henderson, Barney (2 December 2016). "Richmond Park by-election: Lib Dems' Sarah Olney defeats Zac Goldsmith in Brexit backlash". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016.
  8. "Sarah Olney". uk.linkedin.com. LinkedIn.
  9. Murphy, Joe (23 November 2016). "Lib Dem Sarah Olney: 'Beating Zac Goldsmith in the Richmond Park by-election would be a Brexit game-changer'". London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016.
  10. "Lib Dems oust Goldsmith in by-election". BBC News. 2 December 2016. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  11. Mason, Rowena; Topham, Gwyn; Elgot, Jessica (25 October 2016). "Zac Goldsmith to resign as Heathrow decision sparks Tory unrest". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 December 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  12. "Sarah Olney selected for Richmond Park". libdems.org.uk. Liberal Democrats. 30 October 2016. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  13. Press Association (30 October 2016). "Lib Dems' Sarah Olney to contest Richmond Park byelection". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  14. Craig, Jon (2 December 2016). "Lib Dem Sarah Olney beats Zac Goldsmith in Richmond Park by-election". Sky News. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  15. Horton, Helana (2 December 2016). "Lib Dems' new MP Sarah Olney dragged off-air after Brexit grilling in car crash radio interview". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  16. Elgot, Jessica (25 December 2016). "Sarah Olney: 'There is something symbolic about this victory'". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  17. Laura Hughes, Political Correspondent (8 May 2017). "Revealed: Sir Vince Cable urges Lib Dem supporters to back Labour candidates in general election". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  18. Murphy, Joe (27 April 2018). "Police quiz ex-Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney over by-election 'spending breach'". Evening Standard. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
  19. "Election 2017: Richmond Park". BBC News. 9 September 2017. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  20. Mark Pack (9 September 2017). "Vince Cable appoints new Chief of Staff". Archived from the original on 3 December 2017. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  21. Pack, Mark. "Sarah Olney re-selected in Richmond Park constituency". www.markpack.org.uk. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  22. https://www.bbc.com/news/politics/constituencies/E14000896
  23. Batchelor, Tom (1 February 2017). "Article 50 Brexit vote: Full list of MPs who backed Theresa May starting official EU negotiations – and those who voted against". The Independent. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  24. Asthana, Anushka (2 December 2016). "Push for hard Brexit led to Richmond Park win, says new Lib Dem MP". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  25. Gillett, Francesca (2 December 2016). "Who is Sarah Olney? What you need to know about the Liberal Democrat who ousted Zac Goldsmith from Richmond Park". London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Zac Goldsmith		 Member of Parliament
for Richmond Park
2016–2017		 Succeeded by
Zac Goldsmith
Preceded by
Zac Goldsmith		 Member of Parliament
for Richmond Park
2019–present		 Incumbent
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