Rob Butler (politician)

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Not to be confused with Rab Butler.
Rob Butler
MP
Official portrait of Rob Butler crop 2.jpg
Butler in 2019
Member of Parliament
for Aylesbury
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byDavid Lidington
Majority17,373 (28.7%)
Personal details
Born (1967-06-19) 19 June 1967 (age 54)
Aylesbury, England
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Alma materUniversity of Sheffield

Robert Butler (born 19 June 1967)[1] is a British Conservative Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Aylesbury since the 2019 general election.

Early life[]

Butler was born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.[2] His earliest years were spent in Bedgrove, until his family moved to Bicester. He attended the University of Sheffield, where he studied French and Economics.[3]

Career[]

Butler's professional life began as a TV presenter at the BBC and later Channel 5, where he presented that channel's lunchtime news from its launch in 1997 until the end of 2004.[4] In 2005, he founded a communication and lobbying consultancy, which worked with large and small companies around the world,[5] such as the private healthcare company Bupa.[6]

In 2010, he joined the lobbying firm Pagefield at its launch, as an associate partner[7] and he was still listed as a specialist partner in their senior advisory team at the time of the 2019 election.[8] During that time Pagefield worked with many clients including tobacco giants British American Tobacco,[9] Philip Morris International,[10] arms manufacturer and systems advisors BAE Systems, and the government of Azerbaijan, while its sister company Pagefield Global Counsel provides public relations services to clients such as the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in relation to the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen.[11]

Prior to his election to Parliament, Butler was also a director of Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). In 2019, Butler was elected to succeed Sir David Lidington as the Member of Parliament for Aylesbury, a safe seat for the Conservative Party since 1885.[3]

Parliamentary career[]

Along with every Conservative candidate standing at the 2019 UK general election, Butler signed a personal pledge to support party leader Boris Johnson's Withdrawal Agreement (WA). The MPs' pledges and the "oven-ready" Brexit deal were central tenets of the Conservative election campaign.[12] While never opposing it in votes or other action, Butler has criticised the HS2 project in words, calling it an "unwanted and ludicrously expensive railway".[13] Butler has served on the Justice Select Committee since March 2020.[14]

Electoral history[]

2019 general election[]

General election 2019: Aylesbury[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Rob Butler 32,737 54.0 −1.0
Labour Liz Hind 15,364 25.4 −4.6
Liberal Democrats Steven Lambert 10,081 16.6 +7.0
Green_Party_of_England_and_Wales Coral Simpson 2,394 4.0 +1.8
Majority 17,373 28.6 +3.6
Turnout 60,576 69.9 −1.3
Conservative hold Swing +1.8

References[]

  1. ^ 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. 85. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC 1129682574.
  2. ^ "Aylesbury parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News.
  3. ^ a b "Meet your candidates: Conservative party for Aylesbury, Rob Butler". www.bucksherald.co.uk.
  4. ^ Nessa MacErlean (16 September 2001). "When expertise is not enough". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  5. ^ "About Rob Butler". Rob Butler MP.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ "Revealed: A fifth of new Tory MPs have worked as lobbyists". openDemocracy. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  7. ^ "Former ITV and Camelot Board Director, Mark Gallagher, launches Pagefield - Pagefield". web.archive.org. 10 May 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  8. ^ "People - Pagefield". 15 November 2019. Archived from the original on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  9. ^ Busby, Mattha (2 July 2020). "Tobacco firm funded attack on council quit-smoking services". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  10. ^ "Pagefield - TobaccoTactics". tobaccotactics.org. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  11. ^ "Boris Johnson's Ex-Advisor Works for a Lobbying Firm that Does PR for the Saudi War in Yemen". www.vice.com. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  12. ^ "Conservative Manifesto 2019 - Conservatives". www.conservatives.com. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  13. ^ Richings, James. "MP criticises HS2 Ltd's 'behaviour' after plans for construction traffic are rejected". Bucks Free Press. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  14. ^ "Parliamentary career for Rob Butler - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament". members.parliament.uk. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  15. ^ "Ashford Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 26 November 2019.

External links[]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Aylesbury
2019–present 		Incumbent


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