Richard Holden is the Conservative Party chairman having been promoted to the role in Rishi Sunak’s November 2023 cabinet reshuffle.
Upon entering the role, Holden called for unity among Conservative MPs, a large portion of whom expressed publicly their consternation over the sacking of former home secretary Suella Braverman.
Giving an indication of his political leaning, Holden told BBC News: “I’m somebody from the right of the Conservative Party as well — I want to see us being that broad church.
“There will always be people who are disappointed they’ve not been promoted or recognised in some way, but I think we need to concentrate as a party, and as a government, on the issues that really affect the people of the country.
“That’s what I’m out there campaigning for every single day”.
New Conservative chairman calls for unity as he stresses ‘I’m on the party right’
Holden serves as the Conservative MP for North West Durham, having gained the seat in 2019 from the Labour Party with a majority of 1,144.
The North West Durham constituency is found within County Durham and covers the towns of Consett, Crook, Lanchester and Willington. Up until 2019, Durham North West had been held by Labour ever since the Second World. Theresa May had contested the seat unsuccessfully for the Conservatives in the 1992 General Election.
Holden endorsed Rishi Sunak in the summer 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, and was subsequently appointed as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Transport in October 2022.
Born in 1985, Richard Holden studied government and history at the London School of Economics. A former deputy head of press at the Conservative Party, Holden also worked as a former Special Advisor to the Cabinet Ministers, Michael Fallon and Gavin Williamson.
Having worked for the Conservative Party for many years, he could be regarded as something of a career or professional politician.
Holden is a member of the All Party Groups on Housing in the North, Local Democracy, Rural Business, Apprenticeships, and Game and Wildlife Conservation.
In 2021, Holden was fined £100 for dropping a cigarette butt on the street in Stanley in his constituency. He had previously campaigned against littering and what he himself had described as ‘litter tossers.
In the spring of 2022, Holden was active in calling for Durham police to investigate Sir Keir Starmer over claims that the Labour leader had drunk beer at an event in Durham during lockdown.
A cricket lover, he is also a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cricket.
Email – richard.holden.mp@parliament.uk
Website – www.richardholden.org.uk
Twitter – @RicHolden
