Richard Harrington (politician)

Early life

Harrington was born on 4 November 1957 in Leeds to a British Jewish family, and educated at Leeds Grammar School and Keble College, Oxford University, where he studied Jurisprudence. While at Oxford, he sat on the Executive Board of the Federation of Conservative Students and was a member of the National Union Executive of the Party. He began his career in business with a graduate scheme at the John Lewis Partnership, where he eventually became the assistant to the managing director of Waitrose after a long stint at Trewins in Watford.

Career

In 1983, he founded Harvington Properties, a property development company, with two friends from university. In 1990, Harrington became a shareholder and managing director of a company active in the development, sales and management of holiday resorts in both the UK and Europe. The company was sold to a listed American company at the end of the decade. Harrington stayed on as chairman until 2000. When he left, the company employed more than 2,000 people.

Other business activities included the restoration of one of Glasgow’s most famous hotels, One Devonshire Gardens.

Harrington has been a trustee of the Variety Club Children’s Society. He is a governor of University College School in Hampstead, and is a trustee of several children’s charities.

Politics

Harrington is a long-time member of the Conservative Party, in which he has played an active part since 1983, and supporter of Kenneth Clarke. Until March 2010 he was chairman of the Executive Board of the Conservative Friends of Israel, which, during his tenure, had quadrupled in size financially. He was appointed a treasurer of the Conservative Party in 2008, the role in which he launched the Number 10 Club with Sir John Major.

Harrington won the Watford constituency from Claire Ward at the 2010 general election. He was the first of the 2010 intake to make his maiden speech.

Since his election, Harrington has also been elected as General Secretary of the All Party Kashmir Group, Vice Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Film Group, and a member of the International Development Select Committee. He has run a number of successful community projects in Watford including three Jobs Fairs and a Community Exchange. His main areas of interest are cutting local unemployment, supporting business in the constituency and progressing the significant infrastructure projects in Watford including the Croxley Rail Link and the Watford Health Campus. In September 2012, Harrington was appointed as a Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party. In the 2012/2013 Parliamentary Session, Harrington successfully brought in a Private Members Bill to criminalise the unlawful subletting of social housing property.

In May 2015, Harrington was re-elected as Watford's Member of Parliament, with a 9,794 majority, increasing the Conservative share of the vote by 8.5%. A month later, in June 2015, Harrington was appointed as the Prime Minister's apprenticeships' adviser. On 14 September 2015 Harrington was appointed Minister with responsibility for Syrian refugees, reporting primarily to the Home Secretary, Theresa May.

Harrington was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions in Theresa May's first government reshuffle on 17 July 2016.

Alternative medicine

In June 2010 he supported and signed an early day motion in support of the continuation of National Health Service funding for homeopathy, the motion was sponsored by Conservative MP David Tredinnick.