Preceded by Derek Wyatt Name Gordon Henderson Majority 12,383 (25.5%) Role Politician | Political party Conservative Party Conservative Party Children 3 | |
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Born 27 January 1948 (age 76)
Gillingham, Kent, England ( 1948-01-27 ) Occupation Operations Manager, Contracts Officer, Store Manager Website www.gordonhendersonmp.org.uk Similar People Philip Hollobone, John Baron, Stephen McPartland, David Davis Profiles | ||
Gordon Henderson (born 27 January 1948) is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the member of parliament (MP) for the Sittingbourne and Sheppey constituency in Kent, having won the seat at the 2010 general election.
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Professional career
Henderson left school at 15 and started work as a stockroom assistant in a Woolworths shop in Chatham. He advanced through the ranks of the company, becoming a senior store manager. Henderson left Woolworths in 1979 after 15 years with the company.
After leaving Woolworths Henderson went through a range of jobs and ran his own restaurant in South Africa. He was also a senior contracts officer for GEC Marconi, and worked for a Rochester based wine company. Before entering parliament Henderson worked as an operations manager for an alcohol-based gifts company, the largest in the UK.
Political career
Henderson has a long-standing interest in politics. He is a fully qualified Conservative Party political agent and was the constituency agent for North Thanet MP, Roger Gale.
Henderson has served as deputy leader of Swale Borough Council twice and was also a Kent county councillor, during which time he sat both on the education committee and the Kent Police Authority. In 2001 Henderson contested the seat of Luton South; he was unsuccessful, losing by 10,000 votes. In 2005 Henderson contested the Sittingbourne and Sheppey seat and came second, losing by only 79 votes. In 2010 Henderson once again stood for Sittingbourne and Sheppey, this time he received a 12,383 majority (50.5% of the vote)
He is a supporter of the Better Off Out campaign which calls for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. He has stated that the non-Conservative politician he most admires is Nigel Farage MEP, of UKIP. In 2014 Henderson responded to speculation about a possible defection to UKIP by issuing a statement saying defection was something he had considered, but he viewed their other policies as "muddled and contradictory"
Personal life
Henderson was born in the Medway towns. He is married with three children, and seven grandchildren. Henderson has lived on the Isle of Sheppey for over 30 years. He is a long time supporter of Gillingham F.C. and Partick Thistle F.C. Henderson has been involved in local voluntary work, as an instructor in the Army Cadet Force, as a director of the SWIM training centre (Sittingbourne) and as a school governor at Eastchurch Primary School (Sheppey) and the Cheyne Middle School (Sheppey). He is currently chairman of Litter Angels, which holds annual workshops in primary schools across Sittingbourne and Sheppey and runs an anti-litter poster competition.