Adam Holloway

Adam Holloway
MP
Member of Parliament
for Gravesham
Assumed office
5 May 2005
Preceded by Chris Pond
Majority 9,312 (19.7%)
Personal details
Born (1965-07-29) 29 July 1965
Faversham, Kent, England
Nationality British
Political party Conservative
Residence Gravesend
Alma mater Magdalene College, Cambridge
Occupation Politician
Profession Military
Religion Christian
Website www.adamholloway.co.uk
Military service
Service/branch Grenadier Guards
Years of service 1991–1997
Rank Captain
Battles/wars Gulf War
Awards (Gulf Medal)

Adam James Harold Holloway (born 29 July 1965) is a British Conservative Party politician and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gravesham since 2005.[1]

Early life

Born in Faversham, Kent, the son of the Revd Roger Holloway OBE (died 2010), Holloway was educated at Cranleigh School before going to Magdalene College, Cambridge where he studied social and political sciences, graduating as MA, before postgraduate studies at Imperial College London (MBA).

Prior to his election to Parliament, Holloway was commissioned in the British Army and served with the Grenadier Guards. During his military service he engaged in combat during the Gulf War and elsewhere, being promoted to the rank of Captain. After leaving the Army, he worked as an investigative journalist with ITN, World in Action, Panorama and the Sunday Times. His most well known work was an award winning documentary series for ITV called "No Fixed Abode" in which Holloway spent three months homeless on the streets of London in 1991, highlighting the plight of the capital's growing homeless population and particularly those with mental health issues.

Parliamentary career

Holloway was elected in the 2005 general election to represent the Kent constituency of Gravesham, defeating a former Labour Minister, Chris Pond, by just 654 votes, but with one of the largest swings from Labour to Conservative in the country at 4.9% at that general election. This was the first time since the Second World War that Gravesham (or its predecessor Gravesend constituency) had not been held by the party of Government.

He delivered his maiden speech in the House of Commons on 28 June 2005. Holloway was also invited to speak (on 15 September 2006) alongside US Congressman John Shimkus to students on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE).

Holloway was a member of the Defence Select Committee from 2006 to 2010,[2] since when he has served as Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Middle East Council.[3]

In 2009 a report written by Holloway suggested that some of the claims about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction used to support the UK government's case for war in 2003 originated from an Iraqi taxi driver, and that this may have included the claim about them being ready to launch in 45 minutes".[4][5] According to Holloway, reservations expressed by MI6 analysts about much of the data were ignored when preparing the case for war under pressure from Downing Street[5][4]

Holloway was returned as MP for Gravesham on 6 May 2010 with 22,956 votes (48.5% of the vote) and with an increased majority of 9,312.[6]

In October 2010 he was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to David Lidington, Minister of State for Europe and NATO in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.[7] In 2011, he resigned this junior governmental post to defy of a three-line (party) whip and vote in favour of an early referendum on membership of the EU.,[8][9][10]

In October 2014 he was one of just six Conservative MPs to vote against air strikes targeting Islamic State in Iraq, after visiting a border region held by the Kurdish Peshmerga.[11][12] He argued the campaign hadn't "been thought through"[13] He actively abstained in the vote for air strikes in Syria in November 2015.[14]

In a September 2015 Parliamentary speech Holloway described giving asylum to refugees from the Middle East as "bonkers", claiming than many asylum seekers go on holiday in the countries they had fled from and his barber as an example[15] His barber, a Kurdish refugee, subsequently revealed that he was holidaying in Great Yarmouth that week, not Iraq.[16]

Political funding

Since being elected to Parliament in 2005, Holloway has received donations to his constituency organisation and for parliamentary activities in the sum of just under £62,000;[17] from Lord Ashcroft’s company Bearwood Corporate Services Ltd (now Impellam Ventures),[18] as well as £2,000 from Archie Norman,[19] and £1,400 from Diplomatic Freight Services (DFS),[20] for travel expenses visiting Afghanistan.[21]

References

  1. ↑ www.gravesendreporter.co.uk
  2. ↑ www.hmforces.co.uk Archived 27 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ www.cmec.org.uk Archived 15 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. 1 2 "Ex-spy chief says Iraqi WMD claims not manipulated". BBC. 8 December 2009. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  5. 1 2 Sparrow, Andrew (8 December 2009). "45-minute WMD claim 'may have come from an Iraqi taxi driver'". Guardian. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  6. ↑ www.graveshamconservatives.org
  7. ↑ http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/latest-news/2010/11/government-publishes-list-of-parliamentary-private-secretaries-57099
  8. ↑ www.spectator.co.uk Archived 26 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ www.kentonline.co.uk
  10. ↑
  11. ↑ Simpson, Fiona (6 October 2014). "Gravesham MP Adam Holloway visits Islamic State border before voting against air strikes". News Shopper. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  12. ↑ "Iraq vote: the 43 rebel MPs". New Statesman. 26 September 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  13. ↑ "MPs poised to vote for third campaign of military action in Iraq". Guardian. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  14. ↑ "How MPs voted on bombing Isis in Syria - complete list". Independent. 4 December 2015. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  15. ↑ McCann, Kate (8 September 2015). "Tory MP claims he couldn't get a haircut because refugee barber went on holiday". Telegraph. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  16. ↑ Gayle, Damien (10 September 2015). "MP Adam Holloway's barber unavailable as he was in Norfolk – not Iraq". Guardian. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  17. ↑ www.searchthemoney.com
  18. ↑ http://www.searchthemoney.com/profile/301/759
  19. ↑ http://www.searchthemoney.com/donation/7367
  20. ↑ www.diplomatfreight.co.uk
  21. ↑ http://www.searchthemoney.com/donation/15504

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Chris Pond		 Member of Parliament for Gravesham
2005–present 		Incumbent
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