Mark Garnier was first elected as the Conservative MP for Wyre Forest in 2010, being reelected in 2019 with a majority of 21,413.
The Wyre Forest constituency is found in the north of Worcestershire close to Birmingham. It includes the carpet industry town of Kidderminster, as well as the smaller towns of Bewdley and Stourport on the Severn. Formerly a Conservative seat, Wyre Forest was gained by Labour in 1997, before being won in 2001 and 2005 by the independent candidate local doctor, Richard Taylor, who tapped into local disquiet around the downgrading of the local Kidderminster hospital. In the last decade, the Wyre Forest has returned to being a relatively safe Conservative seat. Some 63% of the electorate backed Brexit in the 2016 EU referendum.
Garnier served as Under Secretary of State for International Trade between 2016 and 2018. In 2018 he was at the centre of a media storm in relation to how he had asked an assistant to buy sex toys for him at a Soho store. He was subsequently cleared of breaking the ministerial code.
Born in 1963, Garnier was educated at Charterhouse School, and worked in the City of London after leaving school. He started as a junior clerk on the floor of the old Stock Exchange in the UK Government Debt market. In 1986 he turned his eye to the equity markets of the Far East, where he spent the next 13 years in various investment banks. He left the investment banking world in 1999, setting up his own businesses in investment management.
Garnier was elected to the Forest of Dean District Council between 2003 and 2007.
Garnier is married and has three children. He employs his wife as an Office Manager. He is the cousin of the former Conservative MP and Solicitor General, Edward Garnier.
Garnier supported Remain in the 2016 EU referendum, and backed Jeremy Hunt in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election.
In response to the partygate affair, Garnier was quoted as saying ,”I didn’t support Boris Johnson in the leadership elections – I was worried about character flaws and I haven’t been disappointed”.
Garnier is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Space. According to the Register of Members Interests, he also sits on the advisory board of Laser Light Communications, a start-up satellite company developing data connectivity through lasers.
Mark Garnier is Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Polo; and South East Asian Nations; and Corporate Governance. He is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Sustainable Aviation; Waterways; China; and Heritage Rail; and Treasurer of the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Polar Regions.
Email: mark.garnier.mp@parliament.uk
Personal Website: www.markgarnier.co.uk
Twitter: @Mark4WyreForest
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/markrtgarnier?fref=ts
