Selaine Saxby
MP
Member of Parliament
for North Devon
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byPeter Heaton-Jones
Majority14,813 (26.7%)
Personal details
Born
Selaine Rachel Saxby

(1970-11-25) 25 November 1970
Coventry, England
Political partyConservative
Alma materMagdalene College, Cambridge
Websiteselainesaxby.org.uk

Selaine Rachel Saxby (born 25 November 1970)[1] is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Devon since the 2019 general election. She was also a councillor on North Devon Council.[2]

Early life

Saxby was born in Coventry in the West Midlands in November 1970 to Kenneth and Pamela Saxby. Her father is a former headteacher.[3]

She attended Eastbourne Sixth Form College, before studying mathematics and management at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where she gained a BA First Class Honours degree in Maths and Management Studies in 1992.[2]

She founded the independent sports bra retailer Lessbounce Ltd. in 2000, and ran the business until 2016, when it went into liquidation.[4][5][6][7] During this period, she was one of the signatories to a letter of support from small business owners endorsing the Conservatives at the 2015 general election.[5]

Saxby also founded Pink Aerobics, which organised aerobics events to raise money for breast cancer charities; it raised over £500,000.[8][4] She was the chief of staff for Bath MP Ben Howlett between 2015 and 2017.[9] From 2017 to 2018, she was a Business Support Consultant.[2][10][11]

Parliamentary career

Saxby stood as the Conservative Party candidate for Llanelli at the 2015 general election, traditionally a safe seat for the Labour Party. She finished in fourth place behind the Labour, Plaid Cymru, and UKIP candidates.[12]

In May 2019, Saxby was elected to represent Instow ward on North Devon Council.[13][14] She was selected as the Conservative candidate for North Devon on 11 November 2019,[10] and was elected as MP for the constituency at the 2019 general election with a majority of 14,813 (26.6%). Saxby is the first female MP for the constituency.[15] She has been a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee since March 2020.[16]

In October 2020, following a vote in Parliament against a Labour Party Opposition Day Motion to extend free school meals over holidays, Saxby was criticised for stating in a Facebook post that she hoped if local businesses were able to offer free food, then they would not be seeking further government help. She later deleted her Facebook post, stating her comments had been taken "out of context".[17] She said in a statement that she regretted any offence that "may have been caused",[18][19][20] and also criticised "a small but hostile element" on social media who she said had been "aggressive and personally abusive" towards her and her staff.[17]

On 13 June 2022, Saxby was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury;[21] she resigned from the role on 6 July 2022, in connection with the resignations of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid over Prime Minister Boris Johnson's handling of the Chris Pincher scandal.[22]

In the October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, Saxby supported Rishi Sunak.[23]

References

  1. ↑ Brunskill, Ian (19 March 2020). The Times guide to the House of Commons 2019 : the definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General Election. p. 169. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC 1129682574.
  2. 1 2 3 "Saxby, Selaine Rachel, (born 25 Nov. 1970), MP (C) North Devon, since 2019". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2020. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u293997. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  3. ↑ "New North Devon MP has a Harlow connection". Your Harlow. 21 December 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  4. 1 2 Bond, Daniel (16 December 2019). "Class of 2019: Meet the MPs". Politics Home. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  5. 1 2 Neilan, Catherine (27 April 2015). "General Election 2015: At least six of the small business owners who signed the Conservative letter of support are also Tory candidates". City A.M. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  6. ↑ "LessBounce.com in liquidation". Underlines. 13 April 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  7. ↑ "Lessbounce Limited". Companies House. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  8. ↑ Ross, Corey (26 June 2010). "Honour for Selaine". Salisbury Journal. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  9. ↑ Saxby, Selaine (19 November 2019). "Selaine Saxby: In North Devon, there is great concern about traffic congestion on local roads". ConservativeHome. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  10. 1 2 Smart, Matt (12 November 2019). "General Election 2019: Conservatives announce new North Devon candidate". North Devon Gazette. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  11. ↑ "Selaine Saxby". North Devon Conservatives. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  12. ↑ "Llanelli". UK Polling Report. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  13. ↑ "North Devon District full election 2 May 2019". North Devon Council. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  14. ↑ "Councillor Selaine Saxby". North Devon Council. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  15. ↑ "North Devon". BBC News. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  16. ↑ "Work and Pensions Committee membership agreed". parliament.uk. 2 March 2020. Archived from the original on 3 March 2020. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  17. 1 2 "Free meals: North Devon MP Selaine Saxby urged to quit". BBC News. 26 October 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  18. ↑ Merritt, Anita (24 October 2020). "Apology demanded from Selaine Saxby for 'attacking' hospitality industry for giving children free food". Devon Live. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  19. ↑ Walker, Amy (24 October 2020). "Ben Bradley urged to apologise over free school meals tweets". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  20. ↑ Smart, Matt (24 October 2020). "Selaine Saxby issues statement following 'attack' at businesses offering free meals for children". North Devon Gazette. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  21. ↑ Heale, James [@JAHeale] (13 June 2022). "Some PPS changes for rising Tory stars: -Rob Butler to Liz Truss -Selaine Saxby to Simon Clarke" (Tweet). Retrieved 14 June 2022 – via Twitter.
  22. ↑ "Three more British lawmakers resign from PM Johnson's government". Reuters. 6 July 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  23. ↑ Saxby, Selaine (24 October 2022). "Statement – New leader of the Conservative Party and next Prime Minister". Selaine Saxby. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
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