Richard Harrington (politician)
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Richard Harrington MP |
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| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pensions | |
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Assumed office 17 July 2016 |
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| Prime Minister | Theresa May |
| Preceded by | Shailesh Vara |
| Under Secretary of State for Syrian Refugees | |
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In office 14 September 2015 – 17 July 2016 |
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| Prime Minister |
David Cameron Theresa May |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
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Member of Parliament for Watford |
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Assumed office 6 May 2010 |
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| Preceded by | Claire Ward |
| Majority | 9,794 (17.4%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
4 November 1957 Leeds, England, UK |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Alma mater | Keble College, Oxford |
| Website | Official website |
Richard Irwin Harrington (4 November 1957) is a British Conservative Party politician, businessman, and former property developer and hotelier. Since the 2010 general election he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Watford.
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.
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.
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.
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Wikipedia