Meet Craig Tracey, golf's Member of Parliament

 

Member of Parliament Craig Tracey will be joining BIGGA CEO Jim Croxton on Tuesday 21 July for a conversation about how the golf industry has worked alongside the UK Government throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Craig is the co-chairperson of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Golf and in anticipation of the Continue to Learn Extra webinar, we wanted to find out a bit more about the North Warwickshire MP.

Join us for Continue to Learn Extra: Craig Tracey MP in conversation with Jim Croxton

Craig Tracey was born in Durham and attended the city’s Framwellgate Moor Comprehensive School. His family come from a mining background in the North East.

Craig started his own Insurance Brokerage business which he ran for 20 years before being elected as member of Parliament for his home constituency of North Warwickshire.

He lives in Shuttington, near Polesworth, and moved to North Warwickshire in 1997 where he met his wife Karen.

In the build up to the 2015 General Election the Financial Times described him as "the sort of candidate who hardly happens these days... totally apolitical until seven years ago when he became increasingly incensed by the effect on his business of EU regulations and Labour indifference".

Local businessman Craig polled 20,042 votes in the 2015 General Election, a total of 42.3% of the vote. Despite North Warwickshire being Labour’s number one target seat, Craig significantly increased outgoing MP Dan Byles’ majority from just 54 votes to 2,973 in one of the results of the night.

Since then Craig has built a reputation for being a hardworking local champion who puts the community first.

Craig is co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Golf, having previously chaired the APPGs on Insurance and Financial Services, Women and Enterprise and Breast Cancer. He has previously been a member of the influential Business Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, drawing on his experience of running a small business and the insurance industry.

Craig has worked in parliament with a number of charities including Breast Cancer Now, Care after Combat and Help for Heroes.

Locally, Craig continues to campaign for improved road safety, protection of the green belt, support for businesses to create jobs and apprentices and for a stable future for George Eliot Hospital.

Craig also campaigns against HS2 and its devastating impact on his local constituency.    

In January 2018 Craig was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Department for International Development and the Government Equality Office. In September 2018 Craig was appointed as PPS to the DEFRA Ministerial team.

In November 2018 Craig was promoted to become the Parliamentary Private Secretary to DFID Secretary of State Penny Mordaunt.

In June 2019 Craig became Parliamentary Private Secretary to Andrea Leadsom MP, Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy.

In the December 2019 General Election, Craig won 30,249 votes, a massive 65.9% of the vote.  His majority increased to 17,956.  

Join us for Continue to Learn Extra: Craig Tracey MP in conversation with Jim Croxton