Kate Griffiths

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Kate Griffiths

MP
Official portrait of Kate Griffiths MP crop 2.jpg
Griffiths in 2019
Member of Parliament
for Burton
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byAndrew Griffiths
Majority14,496 (29.8%)
Personal details
Born
Kate Elizabeth Kniveton

1971
Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England
NationalityEnglish
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 2013; sep. 2018)​
EducationDerby High School, Derbyshire
Alma materUniversity of Exeter

Kate Elizabeth Griffiths[1] (née Kniveton; born 1971)[2][3] is a British Conservative Party politician, and Member of Parliament (MP) for Burton.

Early life and career[]

Kate Elizabeth Kniveton was born in Burton upon Trent.[2][4] She was privately educated at St. Wystan's School in Repton and Derby High School, Derbyshire. Kniveton studied classics at Exeter University. She worked for five years as the corporate hospitality coordinator for the football club Burton Albion.[5]

Political career[]

After her ex-husband, Andrew, stood for reselection as the Conservative candidate for Burton in the 2019 general election, she stood against him but the vote ended in a tie.[6] He then withdrew his candidacy rather than face a second vote in which he would face other candidates including his estranged wife. She was selected in the subsequent contest.[7][8] Her campaign focussed on promises on local issues such as investment in the local area's high streets, and national issues including Brexit.[9] She also pledged to be an advocate for domestic abuse survivors.[10] She was elected as MP for Burton in the 2019 general election with a majority of 14,496.[11] Griffiths opposed the proposed MP pay rise in 2020, which was eventually scrapped.[12]

Personal life[]

Griffiths married Burton MP Andrew Griffiths in 2013.[2] They had a daughter in 2018.[13] He resigned as small business minister and was suspended from the Conservative Party after The Sunday Mirror reported that he had sent up to 2,000 sexually explicit text messages over a three-week period in 2018 to two women.[14][15] Griffiths reported that she left him the day that he had told her about it, and that she had later started divorce proceedings.[10]

References[]

  1. ^ "Members Sworn". parliament.uk. 18 December 2019. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Burton Bulletin" (PDF). Rotary International. p. 8.
  3. ^ Brunskill, Ian (19 March 2020). The Times guide to the House of Commons 2019 : the definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General Election. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC 1129682574.
  4. ^ Wheeler, Caroline (4 November 2018). "Andrew Griffiths interview: mental breakdown drove MP to send 'shameful' sex texts". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 31 July 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.(subscription required)
  5. ^ Kreft, Helen (13 November 2019). "Kate Griffiths opens up about 'devastation' of discovering husband's sex texts". Derby Telegraph. Archived from the original on 17 December 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  6. ^ Kreft, Helen (12 November 2019). "Shock result at dramatic Tory meeting to decide future of Andrew Griffiths in Burton". Derby Telegraph. Archived from the original on 15 December 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  7. ^ Katie Gibbons, Esther Webber (16 November 2019). "Kate Griffiths, estranged wife of Andrew, seen as a safer bet than 'risk‑taker' MP". The Times. Archived from the original on 15 December 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.(subscription required)
  8. ^ "Kate Griffiths: ex-minister's estranged wife to fight his old seat". The Times. 14 November 2019. Archived from the original on 15 December 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.(subscription required)
  9. ^ Kreft, Helen (9 December 2019). "This is what the Burton General Election 2019 candidates promise to do for you". Derby Telegraph. Archived from the original on 15 December 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Halliday, Josh (13 November 2019). "Wife of disgraced MP stands in his former seat with pledge to fight domestic abuse". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 December 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  11. ^ "General election 2019: Kate Griffiths elected in Burton". BBC News. 13 December 2019. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  12. ^ "Kate Griffiths calls for MP pay rise worth thousands to be scrapped". DerbyshireLive. 25 November 2020. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  13. ^ Pridding, Beth (17 April 2018). "'She's our little miracle' - Andrew Griffiths and wife Kate welcome their first baby into the world". Staffordshire Live. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  14. ^ Walker, Peter (11 October 2018). "Suspended Tory MP seeks early resolution to explicit texts inquiry". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 November 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  15. ^ "Minister Andrew Griffiths resigns over texts to women". BBC News. 15 July 2018. Archived from the original on 15 July 2018. Retrieved 15 December 2019.

External links[]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Andrew Griffiths 		Member of Parliament
for Burton
2019–present 		Incumbent
Retrieved from ""