Tim Loughton was first elected as the Conservative MP for East Worthing and Shoreham in 1997, being reelected in 2019 with a majority of 7,474.
The constituency of East Worthing and Shoreham is found on the West Sussex coast to the west of Brighton. It contains a portion of Worthing and the town of Shoreham, as well as some rural areas such as Lancing inland in the Adur Valley. There was a tragic air-show crash here in 2015 just outside Shoreham airport. Although owner occupancy is high, this constituency is less affluent than many of its neighbours.
Once a safe Conservative seat, the electoral politics of this area are changing, notably as left leaning voters from Brighton move out of the city and relocate here. This is now starting to look far more like a marginal constituency that Labour may one day win. Having had no councillors in the area in the middle of the 2010s, in 2022 the Labour party gained control of the local council.
Loughton served as Under Secretary of State for Children and Families between 2010 and 2012.
Born in Eastbourne in 1962, Loughton was educated at Warwick and Cambridge Universities, before embarking on a career in the City where he worked for Robert Fleming Merchant Bank.
He supported Boris Johnson in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election. However in early 2022 he called for the prime minister to resign after the ‘partygate’ affair.
In March 2021, Loughton was one of five MPs who have been banned from visiting China by the Chinese authorities after making remarks of which the Chinese leadership disapprove.
Loughton works as an Adviser to the Board of the Outcomes First Group (formerly the National Fostering Agency (NFA). He is also Chairman of the Quality and Safeguarding Board, Outcomes First Group.
Loughton is married with three children. He employs his wife as a part time Office Manager. He has famously remarked how he meditates when taking a long bath each morning.
Tim Loughton is the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Tibet; Armenia; Wellbeing Economics; Mindfulness; Looked after Children and Care Leavers; Yemen; Archaeology; Children; Conception to Age 2; the British Museum. He is Vice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Ethopia; Oman; Coastal Communities; Dark Skies; Fatherhood; Refugees; and Photography.
Email: loughtont@parliament.uk
Personal Website: http://www.timloughton.com/
Twitter: @timloughton
