Darren Henry

Darren George Henry is the Conservative MP for the constituency of Broxtowe. He was elected in 2019, defeating the incumbent MP, and former leader of The Independent Group for Change, Anna Soubry.[1]

Darren Henry

MP
Henry in 2020
Member of Parliament
for Broxtowe
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byAnna Soubry
Majority5,331 (9.6%)
Personal details
BornBedford, England
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)Caroline Henry
ResidenceBroxtowe
Alma materUniversity of Lincoln
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionLogistician
WebsiteOfficial website
Military service
Allegiance United Kingdom
Branch/service Royal Air Force
Years of service1987–2013
RankSquadron Leader

Political career

In early 2014, Henry joined the Conservatives, noting that whilst campaigning was possible in military service, it had not occurred to him to do so up until this point. [2]

After a few months of membership, he sought nomination to be the official Conservative seat in North West Hampshire. He was shortlisted, but lost to former Deputy Mayor of London, Kit Malthouse. [3]

In the 2015 general election he was selected as the Conservative candidate for Wolverhampton North East in Birmingham.[4], whilst also employed as General Manager at Harvest Fine Foods.[5] He came second to Labour's Emma Reynolds, seeing a decline of 4.4% in the Conservative vote share.[6]

Henry served as a Parish councillor in the Shrewton, Wiltshire before resigning in September 2019.[7]

Henry was also a councillor on Wiltshire Council, from May 2017 and until January 2020.[8] [9]

In early 2019, Henry was shortlisted to be Police and Crime Commissioner for Swindon and Wiltshire.[10] He lost the selection to Jonathon Seed in April 2019. [11] The May 2020 Police and Crime Commissioner election has since been postponed until 2021.[12]

In summer 2019, he was shortlisted, along with Tony Devenish and Felicity Buchan, for the ultra-marginal West London seat of Kensington. He failed to be selected.[13]

Following this, he was selected as the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Broxtowe in September 2019.[14]

At a 2019 general election hustings in Broxtowe, Henry called for a ban on payday loans, and for support for food bank users who could not manage their budgets properly. Reaction to this speech was audibly negative.[15]

In his maiden speech, made in the week marking 72 years since the arrival of the Windrush generation to the UK, Henry spoke negatively of Labour for representing immigrants and those of the Windrush Generation. Henry spoke of his pride in being the first Conservative parliamentarian of West Indian heritage.[16][17]

Henry was elected Co-Chair of the Midlands Engine All-party parliamentary group on July 22nd 2020.[18]

Honours

RibbonDetailsYear awarded
General Service MedalWith clasp "AIR OPERATIONS IRAQ"
Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal
  • 2002
  • UK version of this medal
Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
  • 2012
  • UK version of this medal
Royal Air Force Long Service and Good Conduct Medal

References
  1. "Broxtowe parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". BBC News Online. BBC. 13 December 2019. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  2. "July 2020: Darren Henry MP and Ren Kapur MBE by CF Armed Forces • A podcast on Anchor". Anchor. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  3. "July 2020: Darren Henry MP and Ren Kapur MBE". Event occurs at 11:30:00.
  4. "Conservatives chose Wolverhampton candidate for general election". www.expressandstar.com. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  5. "Food supplier to create 50 jobs with new branch". Daily Echo. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  6. "Wolverhampton North East – 2015 election results". electionresults.parliament.uk. 8 May 2015. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  7. "Shrewton Parish Council minutes - October 2019" (PDF).
  8. "Councillor details – Cllr Darren Henry". cms.wiltshire.gov.uk. Trowbridge: Wiltshire Council. 14 December 2019. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  9. "Councillor details – Cllr Darren Henry". cms.wiltshire.gov.uk. Trowbridge: Wiltshire Council. 12 July 2020.
  10. "Darren Henry - Police & Crime Commissioner Candidate Selection Meeting Information".
  11. Franklin, Dave (26 April 2019). "Jonathon Seed selected to stand in the Police & Crime Commissioner election next year". The Swindonian. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  12. "Coronavirus: Wiltshire and Swindon Police and Crime Commissioner elections cancelled". Swindon Advertiser. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  13. "Ex-Boris deputy loses her bid to stand again in Kensington". Evening Standard. 8 July 2019.
  14. "Darren Henry selected as Conservative candidate for Broxtowe". Conservative Home.
  15. "Tory candidate suggests food bank users can't 'manage their budgets' properly". The Independent. 8 December 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  16. https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/notts-mp-proud-first-tory-4267797.amp
  17. https://www.darrenhenry.org.uk/news/broxtowe-mp-darren-henry-makes-maiden-speech-house-commons. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  18. https://twitter.com/DarrenG_Henry/status/1285996897526861831. Missing or empty |title= (help)
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Anna Soubry		 Member of Parliament for Broxtowe
2019–present		 Incumbent
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.