Wendy Morton

Wendy Morton
MP
Assistant Government Whip
Assumed office
9 January 2018
Prime Minister Theresa May
Chief Whip Julian Smith
Member of Parliament
for Aldridge-Brownhills
Assumed office
8 May 2015
Preceded by Richard Shepherd
Majority 14,307 (35.6%)
Personal details
Born (1967-11-09) 9 November 1967
North Yorkshire, England
Political party Conservative
Alma mater Open University

Wendy Morton (born 9 November 1967) is a British Conservative Party politician. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Aldridge-Brownhills since the 2015 general election.[1][2] She currently serves as an Assistant Government Whip.

Early life and career

Morton was born in North Yorkshire where she attended local primary and secondary schools. She later gained an MBA with the Open University.

Her career began as an executive officer in HM Diplomatic Service at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office before working in the business sector, in sales and marketing. She then set up an electronics company, with her husband, designing and manufacturing electronic goods for the agricultural industry.

Parliamentary career

Having come third at Newcastle upon Tyne Central in 2005, Morton stood unsuccessfully for Tynemouth in Tyne and Wear in 2010, being defeated by Labour's Alan Campbell.

Morton was selected for the seat of Aldridge-Brownhills in January 2015, and won the seat in May with 52% share of the vote. She made her maiden speech on 3 June 2015. During the 2017 Parliament, Morton sat on the International Development Select Committee. She was also the Chair of the APPG for Sustainable Development Goals, as well as taking an active interest in several other APPG's.

Her first Private Members bill, NHS (Charitable Trusts, etc.) Bill, received Royal Assent on 23 March 2016 and is now law.[3] Her Second Private Member's Bill the Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) bill received Royal Assent on 27 April 2017.[4]

Morton was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.[5]

In the summer of 2016, she was appointed a Parliamentary Private Secretary at the newly created Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

At the 2017 General Election, Morton increased her majority to 14,307 and gained 65.4% of the vote.[6] In the government reshuffle following the election Morton was promoted to Parliament Private Secretary to Priti Patel at the Department for International Development.[7]

She was made an assistant government whip during the reshuffle on 9 January 2018.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Aldridge-Brownhills Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  2. ↑ "Election 2015 Aldridge-Brownhills". Sky News. Archived from the original on 19 May 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  3. ↑ "NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc) Bill 2015-16". UK Parliament.
  4. ↑ "Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Act 2017 — UK Parliament". services.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2017-08-06.
  5. ↑ Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  6. ↑ "Aldridge-Brownhills parliamentary constituency - Election 2017". BBC News. Retrieved 2017-08-06.
  7. ↑ "New PPS List in Full". Guido Fawkes. 2017-06-28. Retrieved 2017-08-06.
  8. ↑ correspondent, Peter Walker Political (2018-01-09). "Theresa May's junior ministerial reshuffle: who's in and who's out". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2018-01-09.

Further reading

  • "Tories win Richmondshire". The Guardian. 26 October 2001.
  • "Result: Newcastle upon Tyne Central". Election 2005. BBC News. 5 May 2005.
  • "Tynemouth". Election 2010. BBC News.
  • "Women tipped to fill safe Tory seats". The Northern Echo. 15 July 2014.
  • "Tory candidate chosen to replace veteran MP in election battle". Express & Star. 24 January 2015.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Richard Shepherd		 Member of Parliament
for Aldridge-Brownhills
2015–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.