Richard Benyon

Biography:

Richard Benyon was re-elected MP for Newbury on May 7th 2015 with 34973 votes, taking 61.0% of the vote.

Richard Benyon was born in 1960 and was educated at Bradfield College. He was commissioned into the Royal Green Jackets in 1980 and served in Northern Ireland, the UK and the Far East. On leaving the Army he qualified as a Chartered Surveyor. He ran a family business that included farming and property interests.

His political career started with his election onto Newbury District Council in 1991. He was selected as the parliamentary candidate for Newbury after the seat was lost in a by-election in 1993. In the 1997 election he reduced a Liberal Democrat majority of 22,000 to 8,500. He fought the seat again in 2001 reducing the Liberal Democrat majority down to 2,500. He won the seat at the third attempt in 2005 with a majority of 3,460.

In Parliament he was a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee from 2005- 2007. He became an Opposition Whip in 2007. He is the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Lord Strathclyde, the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords. Richard’s interests in Parliament include defence, health and rural issues. He has a particular interest in African affairs and is a member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs. In his constituency of Newbury he has been associated with many local voluntary bodies including the Citizens Advice Bureau, a rural education charity and organisations helping the mentally ill. He is one of the founding Trustees of the services charity Help for Heroes.

Richard is married to Zoe with whom he has two children. He has three older children by a previous marriage. When at home he enjoys walking, cycling and country sports.

Constituency: Newbury

Constituency Address: 6 Cheap Street, Newbury, RG14 5DD

Constituency Tel: 01635 551070

Date of Birth: 21 October 1960

Email: mp@richardbenyon.com

Party: Conservative

Personal Website: www.richardbenyon.com

Westminster Address: House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

Westminster Tel: 020 7219 8319

Twitter: @RichardBenyonMP

Facebook Personal: https://www.facebook.com/richard.benyon.587?fref=ts