Darren Henry Explained

Darren Henry
Office:Assistant Government Whip
Term Start:20 September 2022
Term End:27 October 2022
Birth Name:Darren George Henry
Birth Date:1968 8, df=yes
Birth Place:Bedford, Bedfordshire, England
Nationality:British
Spouse:Caroline Henry
Children:2
Party:Conservative
Residence:Broxtowe, Nottinghamshire, England
Alma Mater:University of Lincoln
Occupation:Politician
Profession:Logistician
Allegiance: United Kingdom
Serviceyears:1987–2013
Rank:Squadron Leader
Office2:Member of Parliament
for Broxtowe
Predecessor2:Anna Soubry
Successor2:Juliet Campbell
Primeminister:Liz Truss
Termstart2:12 December 2019
Term End2:30 May 2024

Darren George Henry (born 4 August 1968)[1] is a British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Broxtowe from 2019 until his defeat in 2024. Henry briefly served as an Assistant Government Whip from September to October 2022.[2]

Early life and career

Darren Henry was born on 4 August 1968 in Bedford, to a Jamaican-born father, Harry. His mother, Gloria, was from Trinidad.[3] Henry was privately educated at Rushmoor School.[4] He served in the Royal Air Force,[3] and in 8 April 1993, when he was serving as a corporal, was commissioned as a flying officer in the supply branch, with seniority from 28 July 1992. He was promoted to flight lieutenant on 28 July 1996 and to squadron leader on 1 January 2007.

Political career

In early 2014, Henry joined the Conservatives, noting that whilst campaigning was possible in military service it had not occurred to him to do so up until this point.[5] He aided Robert Jenrick in his campaign to win the 2014 Newark by-election.[6]

Henry sought nomination to be the Conservative candidate in North West Hampshire, losing out to former Deputy Mayor of London Kit Malthouse.[7]

Prior to the 2015 general election, he was selected as the Conservative candidate for Wolverhampton North East.[8] At the election Henry came second with 29.9% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP Emma Reynolds.[9] [10]

Henry served as a parish councillor in Shrewton, Wiltshire before resigning in September 2019.[11] From May 2017 until January 2020 Henry was also a Conservative member of the Wiltshire Council unitary authority.[12] [13]

In early 2019, Henry was shortlisted to be Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner[14] but lost the selection to fellow Wiltshire councillor Jonathon Seed in April 2019.[15]

In summer 2019, he was shortlisted, along with Tony Devenish and Felicity Buchan, for the ultra-marginal West London seat of Kensington. Henry failed to be selected, losing out to Felicity Buchan.[16]

Parliamentary career

Henry was selected as the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Broxtowe in September 2019.[17] At a 2019 general election hustings, Henry said that he might introduce a private member's bill for a ban on payday loans advertising, and suggested that food bank users needed help understanding money and budgeting. At the same hustings he stated; "When people are really, really down, and when people haven't got the money, one of the things they can look to do is to get a payday loan or something like that". This led to criticism from the audience.[18]

During the election campaign, Henry is said to have leveraged an existing relationship with Robert Jenrick to have Jenrick commit to funding Stapleford (a ward within Broxtowe) with £25 million, but only if Henry won the seat and the Conservative party won a majority.[19]

At the 2019 general election, Henry was elected to Parliament as MP for Broxtowe with 48.1% of the vote and a majority of 5,331.[20]

In his maiden speech made on 25 June 2020,[21] which was also in the week marking 72 years since the arrival of the Windrush generation to the UK, Henry spoke negatively of Labour for its representation of immigrants and those of the Windrush generation. Henry spoke of his pride in being the first Conservative parliamentarian of West Indian heritage.[22] [23] In July 2020, in a debate on the Windrush Lessons Learned Review, Henry used a question to state "party politics is shameful" and also used the opportunity to criticise Labour for not working with the Government to "right the wrongs of Windrush".[24]

In March 2021, Henry apologised after a member of his staff was alleged to have turned up at the home of a blogger to get him to take down an article. Henry said he was unaware the incident had happened until it was published online.[25]

In January 2022, a briefing released by the TaxPayers' Alliance revealed Henry to be "Britain's most expensive MP..." after £280,936 of expense claims during the 2020/2021 financial year.[26] [27]

Following the resignation of 50 ministers and aides from the service of Prime Minister Boris Johnson on 7 July 2022,[28] Henry reaffirmed his support for the Prime Minister.[29]

Personal life

Darren Henry is married to Caroline Henry, who was the Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner for the Conservative Party from 2021 until 2024. They have twins.[30]

Caroline Henry was the Conservative candidate for Nottingham North and Kimberley in the 2024 United Kingdom general election.[31]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Brunskill, Ian. The Times guide to the House of Commons 2019: the definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General Election. 19 March 2020. 978-0-00-839258-1. 128. HarperCollins Publishers Limited . 1129682574.
  2. Web site: Ministerial Appointments: September 2022 . 2022-09-21 . GOV.UK . en.
  3. Web site: Video . 26 June 2020 . . 2020-10-23 . 18 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201118110823/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-AJdCAbBHA&gl=US&hl=en . live .
  4. Web site: Tweet . twitter.com . 2020-10-23 . 2 September 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200902070343/https://twitter.com/DarrenG_Henry/status/1301053022278225922 . live .
  5. Web site: July 2020: Darren Henry MP and Ren Kapur MBE by CF Armed Forces • A podcast on Anchor. 2020-07-15. Anchor. en. 17 July 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200717045014/https://anchor.fm/cfaf/episodes/July-2020-Darren-Henry-MP-and-Ren-Kapur-MBE-eg4m9p?fbclid=IwAR1quQlAkd4uEGyWChTSBjqfUv-LGbyTJfMAQBfW6bMZIJ3fIc1p8HbcEyQ. live.
  6. Web site: Robert Jenrick at the Newark by-election . https://web.archive.org/web/20200702105135/https://www.darrenhenry.org.uk/campaigns/robert-jenrick-newark-election . 2020-07-02 . Darren Henry . 9 November 2021.
  7. Web site: July 2020: Darren Henry MP and Ren Kapur MBE. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200717045014/https://anchor.fm/cfaf/episodes/July-2020-Darren-Henry-MP-and-Ren-Kapur-MBE-eg4m9p?fbclid=IwAR1quQlAkd4uEGyWChTSBjqfUv-LGbyTJfMAQBfW6bMZIJ3fIc1p8HbcEyQ. 17 July 2020. 11:30:00.
  8. Web site: Conservatives chose Wolverhampton candidate for general election. 2020-07-15. Expressandstar.com. 23 January 2015 . en. 15 July 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200715172636/https://www.expressandstar.com/news/2015/01/23/conservatives-chose-wolverhampton-candidate-for-general-election/. live.
  9. Web site: Election Data 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151017112223/http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/electdata_2015.txt . 17 October 2015 . 17 October 2015 . Electoral Calculus.
  10. Web site: Wolverhampton North East – 2015 election results. 8 May 2015. electionresults.parliament.uk. https://web.archive.org/web/20191214161252/https://electionresults.parliament.uk/election/2015-05-07/results/Location/Constituency/Wolverhampton%20North%20East. 14 December 2019. 14 December 2019. dmy-all. live.
  11. Web site: Shrewton Parish Council minutes - October 2019. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200717015053/https://shrewton.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/2019.10.02-SPC-Minutes_.pdf. 17 July 2020.
  12. Web site: 14 December 2019. Councillor details – Cllr Darren Henry. https://web.archive.org/web/20191214163049/https://cms.wiltshire.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=7221. 14 December 2019. 14 December 2019. cms.wiltshire.gov.uk. Wiltshire Council. Trowbridge.
  13. Web site: 12 July 2020. Councillor details – Cllr Darren Henry. cms.wiltshire.gov.uk. Wiltshire Council. Trowbridge. 13 December 2019. 14 December 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191214163049/https://cms.wiltshire.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=7221. live.
  14. Web site: 21 January 2019. Darren Henry - Police & Crime Commissioner Candidate Selection Meeting Information. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200811145403/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZTthZ3wRlk. 11 August 2020. YouTube.
  15. Web site: Franklin. Dave. 2019-04-26. Jonathon Seed selected to stand in the Police & Crime Commissioner election next year. 2020-07-15. The Swindonian. en-GB. 15 July 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200715143905/https://theswindonian.co.uk/news/jonathon-seed-selected-to-stand-in-the-police-crime-commissioner-election-next-year/. live.
  16. Web site: Victoria Borwick: Ex-Boris deputy loses her bid to stand again as Tory MP in Kensington. 8 July 2019. Evening Standard. 12 May 2020. 1 December 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191201222940/https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/victoria-borwick-exboris-deputy-loses-her-bid-to-stand-again-as-tory-mp-in-kensington-a4184771.html. live.
  17. Web site: Darren Henry selected as Conservative candidate for Broxtowe. Conservative Home. 17 September 2019 . 12 May 2020. 5 March 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200305064601/https://www.conservativehome.com/parliament/2019/09/darren-henry-selected-as-conservative-candidate-for-broxtowe.html. live.
  18. Web site: Tory candidate suggests food bank users can't 'manage their budgets' properly. 2019-12-08. The Independent. en. 2019-12-15. 13 December 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191213213152/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-candidate-food-banks-poor-families-budget-darren-henry-broxtowe-a9238076.html. live.
  19. News: Robert Jenrick ignored civil servants to spend Towns Fund millions on Tory marginals. George Grylls, Esther. Webber. Thetimes.co.uk. 29 September 2020. 29 September 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200929050005/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/robert-jenrick-ignored-civil-servants-to-spend-towns-fund-millions-on-tory-marginals-9l50g32t8. live.
  20. Web site: Hyde . Ruth . 14 November 2019 . Election of Member of Parliament for the Broxtowe Constituency: STATEMENT OF PERSON NOMINATED AND NOTICE OF POLL . Broxtowe Borough Council.
  21. Web site: 2020-06-25. Darren Henry MP makes Maiden Speech in the House of Commons This Afternoon. 2020-08-18. Bramcote Today. en. 21 September 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200921085001/https://bramcotetoday.org.uk/2020/06/25/darren-henry-mp-makes-maiden-speech-in-the-house-of-commons-this-afternoon/. live.
  22. News: Notts MP proud to be first Tory MP of West Indian heritage. Gemma. Toulson. 26 June 2020. Nottingham Post. 28 June 2020. 28 June 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200628065849/https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/notts-mp-proud-first-tory-4267797. live.
  23. Web site: Broxtowe MP Darren Henry makes Maiden Speech in the House of Commons. Darren Henry. 25 June 2020 . 23 July 2020. 23 July 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200723085823/https://www.darrenhenry.org.uk/news/broxtowe-mp-darren-henry-makes-maiden-speech-house-commons. live.
  24. Web site: Darren Henry debate extracts from Windrush Lessons Learned Review (Tue 21st Jul 2020). 2020-08-18. Parallelparliament.co.uk. 9 November 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211109125546/https://www.parallelparliament.co.uk/mp/darren-henry/debate/commons/2020-07-21/debates/CF88BF2D-55E5-4672-8103-E28A1136C3F1/WindrushLessonsLearnedReview. live.
  25. News: Broxtowe MP apologises after claims employee 'intimidated' blogger . 17 March 2021 . BBC News . 17 March 2021 . 17 March 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210317175058/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-56429122 . live .
  26. https://www.taxpayersalliance.com/briefing_the_cost_of_mps_in_2020_21 Briefing: the cost of MPs in 2020-21
  27. https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/broxtowe-mp-darren-henry-named-6529174 Broxtowe MP Darren Henry named 'Britain's most expensive MP after £280,000 of expense claims'
  28. Web site: The Tory MPS who have quit Boris Johnson's government – listed . . 7 July 2022 .
  29. Web site: Notts MP 'still supportive of Prime Minister' . 6 July 2022 .
  30. Web site: Twins. darrenhenry.org.uk. 2020-10-24. 27 October 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201027041225/https://www.darrenhenry.org.uk/about-darren. live.
  31. Web site: Pridmore . Oliver . 2023-10-24 . Caroline Henry officially chosen to stand again for Notts PCC . 2024-06-03 . Nottinghamshire Live . en.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Darren Henry".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.