Andrew Griffith is a British politician and a member of Conservative Party. He has been serving as a member of parliament (MP) from the constituency of Arundel and South Downs since 2019. This constituency was created in 1997. It is one of the strongholds of Conservative Party that has been winning this seat since its creation. In all the elections from Arundel and South Downs, the Conservative Party candidates have been able to win this constituency by a significant margin. Andrew Griffith continues to progress on the same lines.
The Arundel and South Downs parliamentary constituency primarily comprises rural regions. Residents are wealthy and have better income, as compared to the average income in UK. In the 2019 general election, Andrew Griffith defeated his nearest rival Alison Bennett of Liberal Democrats by a margin of more than 22k votes. Griffith received 57.9 percent of the votes, as compared to 21.2 percent of his nearest rival. Bella Sankey of Labour Party received 15.8 percent votes. Prior to Andrew Griffith, the Arundel and South Downs parliamentary constituency was won by Conservative Party candidates Howard Flight in 1997 and 2001 and by Nick Herbert in 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2017.
Early life, education and professional career
Andrew Griffith was born on February 23, 1971. He was born in London and grew up in Bromley. He received education at St Marys & St Josephs and later studied law at Nottingham University. Griffith is also a qualified chartered accountant. He married Barbara in 1997. Griffith started his professional career working for companies like Rothschild & Co and PwC. He later joined Sky and went on to become the company’s CFO.
Griffith is said to have made a fortune of £17 million through sale of shares when Sky was acquired by Comcast in 2018. Griffith has also served on the board of Just Eat. Griffith is a member of the Royal Television Society. He had served as the co-chairman during the organization’s 2017 Cambridge convention.
Political career
Andrew Griffith had earlier contested in parliamentary election from Corby in 2001 and 2005. However, he was unsuccessful in both these elections, having lost to candidates from Labour Party. His interest in politics increased even more several years later, when he became closely associated with Boris Johnson. In 2019, he left his professional career and started working as the chief business adviser for Johnson. He subsequently won the 2019 general election from Arundel and South Downs constituency.
Throughout his political career, Griffith has been entrusted with some very important responsibilities. It includes roles like UK’s Net Zero Business Champion, member of the Public Service Broadcasting Advisory Panel, Parliamentary Private Secretary to the prime minister Boris Johnson and Parliamentary Secretary in the Cabinet Office (Minister for Policy).
Personal pursuits
Andrew Griffith remains committed to the welfare of people in his constituency.