Crispin Blunt MP - Who is he?

Crispin Blunt was elected as the Conservative MP for Reigate in 1997, being reelected in 2019 with a majority of 18,310.

The constituency of Reigate is found to the east of Surrey along the M25 and contains the towns of Banstead, Redhill and Reigate. With high owner occupancy and a large London commuter population, Reigate has been held by the Conservative Party ever since the First World War.

Blunt was formerly Chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee. Between 2010 and 2012 he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prisons and Youth Justice.

In October 2023, Blunt was arrested on suspicion of rape and possession of controlled substances, and released on conditional bail.

He subsequently had the Conservative Party whip removed, continuing to sit as an independent MP.

Sir Crispin has detailed his intention to step down from Westminster at the next election.

Crispin Blunt was born in 1960. He was educated at Wellington College, Durham University, and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where he won the Queen’s Medal, gaining a Regular Commission.

In 1979 Crispin Blunt was commissioned as an Army Officer into the 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary’s Own) and served until 1990. During the 1980’s he was stationed in Cyprus, Germany and the UK, serving as a Troop Leader, Regimental Operations Officer and Armoured Reconnaissance Squadron Commander. He resigned his commission as a Captain in 1990.

He previously served as Special Advisor to Malcom Rifkind when he was Foreign Secretary between 1995 and 1997. Blunt has repeatedly expressed his opposition to the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons programme.

In 2010 he announced he was separating from his wife in order to come to terms with his homosexuality. He is Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Global Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights.

Crispin Blunt is Chairman of Conservative Drug Policy Reform Group. He is Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy Reform. He supports the legalization of cannabis.

As a humanist, Crispin Blunt is also Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Humanism.

Blunt enjoys cricket and plays for the Lords and Commons team, and the Reigate Priory Cavaliers.

He is s Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Miscarriages of Justice; Kurdistan in Turkey and Syria.