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Mark Pritchard profile: Who is the Conservative MP for The Wrekin? | Mark Pritchard profile: Who is the Conservative MP for The Wrekin? |
(about 5 hours later) | |
As Downing Street sends out the Prime Minister’s Christmas cards, it is fair to say that Mark Pritchard would never have been top of the list. | As Downing Street sends out the Prime Minister’s Christmas cards, it is fair to say that Mark Pritchard would never have been top of the list. |
Three years ago, Mr Pritchard delivered a vitriolic attack on David Cameron after the Tory whips launched an attempt to block his Bill that would ban wild animals in circuses. | |
He told the Commons: “I have a message for the whips and for the Prime Minister of our country – and I didn’t pick a fight with the Prime Minister – I may just be a little council house lad from a very poor background but that background gave me a backbone. It gives me a thick skin and I’m not going to be cowed by the whips of the Prime Minister on an issue I feel passionately about and have conviction about. | He told the Commons: “I have a message for the whips and for the Prime Minister of our country – and I didn’t pick a fight with the Prime Minister – I may just be a little council house lad from a very poor background but that background gave me a backbone. It gives me a thick skin and I’m not going to be cowed by the whips of the Prime Minister on an issue I feel passionately about and have conviction about. |
“There may be some other people with backbones on this side and they will speak later, but we need a generation of politicians with a bit of spine, not jelly. And I will not be bullied by any of the whips." | “There may be some other people with backbones on this side and they will speak later, but we need a generation of politicians with a bit of spine, not jelly. And I will not be bullied by any of the whips." |
By his own admission, Mr Pritchard comes from an “unorthodox background” for a Tory MP, spending the first five years of his life in an orphanage in Hereford before being brought up by a foster family. | By his own admission, Mr Pritchard comes from an “unorthodox background” for a Tory MP, spending the first five years of his life in an orphanage in Hereford before being brought up by a foster family. |
Educated at a comprehensive school and the London Guildhall University, he went into marketing before launching his parliamentary career in 2005 as the MP for the Shropshire seat of The Wrekin. | Educated at a comprehensive school and the London Guildhall University, he went into marketing before launching his parliamentary career in 2005 as the MP for the Shropshire seat of The Wrekin. |
Ambitious but fiercely independent – he once told John Bercow: “You are not fucking royalty, Mr Speaker” – he served as the secretary of the Tory MPs’ 1922 backbench committee. | Ambitious but fiercely independent – he once told John Bercow: “You are not fucking royalty, Mr Speaker” – he served as the secretary of the Tory MPs’ 1922 backbench committee. |
In recent years he became caught up in speculation, which he strongly denied, that he could defect to Ukip. | In recent years he became caught up in speculation, which he strongly denied, that he could defect to Ukip. |
His marriage to Sondra Pritchard ended last year. | His marriage to Sondra Pritchard ended last year. |
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