Education
London School of Economics.
London School of Economics.
He was deputy director of the Conservative Collegiate Forum, followed by chairman of Islington North Constituency Association. He was tipped as a future cabinet member ahead of the 1997 general election, in which he ran for Parliament for the newly created safe Labour seat of Warley, in Sandwell. He came a distant second, with 24% of the vote.
He was re-selected to fight the seat at the next election.
While a candidate, he campaigned against the decision to close Queen Elizabeth"s Mercian School, which had been earmarked for closure under Building Schools for the Future, and called the 2009 decision to keep the school open a "victory for people power". He also successfully put pressure on Persimmon to resume and complete construction of the half-built Tame Alloys Estate in Wilnecote.
In 2008, Pincher called for efforts to improve visibility at the site at an accident blackspot in Hopwas. In his first ten months as an Member of Parliament, Pincher had the second-highest House of Commons attendance rate of the West Midlands" 57 MPs, after James Morris.
In his first year, he spoke in 94 debates: top amongst Staffordshire"s eleven MPs.
Pincher has campaigned against the building of High Speed 2, which is planned to run past the outskirts of Tamworth. In December 2010, he said any route via Mile Oak or Hopwas was "just not acceptable". Soon after, the route via Hopwas Ridge was rejected: a move welcomed by Pincher and campaigners.
He endorsed closer links with Latvia after meeting Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis in January 2011.
He has since met with the Latvian ambassador with a view to setting up an all-party parliamentary group for Latvia. He has opposed moving the clocks permanently forward an hour to Central European Time.
After the 2011 AV referendum, he urged a continuation of the coalition government
He has lobbied in Parliament for the Olympic Torch to pass through Tamworth during the 2012 torch relay. Tamworth lies between Birmingham and Stoke-on-Trent, which were both announced as stops in June 2011, making a journey through Tamworth a possibility.
Pincher has called for a full debate in Parliament on ensuring that mental health services are given focus as part of £3bn increase in spending on the National Health Service.
In the 2015 General Election, Christopher Pincher was re-elected with an increased majority of 11,302, polling 23,606 votes, 50.04% of the votes cast and a further 4.3% swing from Labour. In February 2016 he prompted "roars of laughter on both sides of the House" with the following exchange:
Chris Pincher: Who are you?.
Jeremy Corbyn: Last week — like him — I was in Brussels, meeting with heads of government and leaders of European socialist parties, one of whom said to me….
He has defended residents from accusations they were "Nimbies" and has called the HS2 business case "significantly flawed".
55th United Kingdom Parliament. 56th United Kingdom Parliament]
Christopher Pincher has been a member of the Conservative Party since 1987, having been politicised by the 1984-1985 miners" strike. Christopher Pincher was a member of Iain Duncan Smith"s successful campaign for the party leadership in 2001.
In 2011, he was a member of the special Select Committee set up to scrutinise the Bill that became the Armed Forces Acting 2011.