Andrew_Griffith

Andrew Griffith

Andrew Griffith

British politician

This article is about the MP for Arundel and South Downs. For the MP for Burton, see Andrew Griffiths (politician). For the American actor, see Andy Griffith.

Andrew John Griffith (born 23 February 1971)[1] is a British politician and former senior media executive who, since 2019,[2] has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Arundel and South Downs.

Quick Facts MP, Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation ...

A member of the Conservative Party, Griffith has been Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation since November 2023.[3] Previously he served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exports from July 2022 until September 2022,[4][5] as Director of the Number 10 Policy Unit from February 2022 to July 2022, and as Economic Secretary to the Treasury from 2022 to 2023.[6][7]

Early life and education

Griffith was born in Bexleyheath, Kent, England. He grew up in Bromley[8] and attended St Mary & St Joseph's School, a state comprehensive school in Sidcup, before going up to read Law at Nottingham University from 1989 to 1992. He qualified as a chartered accountant in 1996, becoming FCA.

Business career

Griffith first worked for Rothschild & Co and PwC, before joining Sky in 1999 as a financial analyst.[9] By 2008, he rose to become Sky's chief financial officer, joining the board of directors, and at the time of his appointment was the youngest financial director amongst the FTSE 100.[10] In March 2016 he also took on the role of Sky group chief operating officer.[11] When Comcast acquired Sky in 2018, Griffith earned about £17m from the sale of shares.[12]

He is a Fellow of the Royal Television Society and was co-chairman of its 2017 Cambridge convention.[13]

In April 2014, Griffith joined the board of Just Eat as a senior non-executive director, a post which he held in combination with his full-time role at Sky. In 2017, Just Eat was hit by several challenges, losing its non-executive chairman to poor health, its chief executive officer stepping down and the Competition and Markets Authority reviewing Just Eat's acquisition of competitor Hungryhouse. During this period, Griffith took on the role of chairman.[14]

Political career


Griffith stood as the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for the constituency of Corby in 2001 and 2005 but lost to Labour Party candidates on both occasions.[12]

Griffith is a former chairman of the advisory board at the Centre for Policy Studies think tank.[15]

Boris Johnson used Griffith's £9.5 million townhouse as his leadership election campaign headquarters.[16][17] In 2019, Griffith stepped down from his roles at Sky and Just Eat to become Johnson's chief business adviser, based at 10 Downing Street,[18][19] taking on the role in July 2019.[12]

Griffith was elected as MP for Arundel and South Downs at the 2019 general election with a majority of 22,521 votes,[2] succeeding Nick Herbert.[20] He stood down from his role as the Prime Minister's chief business adviser upon being returned to Parliament.[21][22]

On 17 November 2020, Griffith was appointed by Boris Johnson to be the UK's Net Zero Business Champion, a role designed to support UK businesses to make plans to become net zero by 2050 in the run up to the UN Climate Summit at Glasgow in November 2021.[23] On 10 November 2020, he was appointed as a member of the Public Service Broadcasting Advisory Panel,[24] to provide independent expertise and advice as part of the Government's strategic review of public service broadcasting.

On 17 September 2021, Griffith was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, alongside Sarah Dines, in the second Cabinet reshuffle of the second Johnson ministry.[25]

Griffith is the founder of and, until his appointment as Minister, co-chaired with the Lord Rees of Ludlow, Astronomer Royal, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Dark Skies.[26]

On 3 February 2022, Griffith became Parliamentary Secretary in the Cabinet Office (Minister for Policy) and Director of the Number 10 Policy Unit,[27] following the resignation of Munira Mirza.[28]

On 6 June 2022, after a vote of no confidence in the leadership of Boris Johnson was called, Griffith announced that he would be supporting the Prime Minister.[29]

Griffith was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Trade) in the Department for International Trade on 8 July 2022.[30]

Mr Griffith was Financial Secretary to the Treasury, working under Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng, during the financial crisis brought about by the mini budget of the Liz Truss government in September and October 2022.

Following the fall of the Truss government, Griffith joined the Rishi Sunak government as Economic Secretary to the Treasury.

Personal life

Griffith married Barbara, a volunteer charity worker, in 1997; they have a son and daughter. As a businessman, he resided at Putney, in the London Borough of Wandsworth.[8] Griffith also has a residence in the constituency of Arundel and South Downs[31] since 2010. He divides his time between living there and in London.[32]

His father John, an IT salesman,[8] died of COVID-19.[33]

References

  1. [1]
    Brunskill, Ian (19 March 2020). The Times guide to the House of Commons 2019 : the definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General Election. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC 1129682574.
  2. [2]
    "Arundel & South Downs parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  3. [3]
    "Ministerial appointments: November 2023". GOV.UK. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  4. [4]
    "Andrew Griffith MP". GOV.UK. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  5. [5]
    "Ministerial appointments: July 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  6. [6]
    "Ministerial Appointment: 3 February 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  7. [7]
    "Ministerial Appointments: October 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  8. [8]
    "Standing start for Sky's Andrew Griffith". Royal Television Society. 23 August 2017. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  9. [9]
    "About Andrew - Andrew Griffith MP". andrewgriffithmp.com. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  10. [10]
    Crump, Richard (1 March 2011). "The FD Interview: Andrew Griffith, BSkyB". financialdirector.co.uk. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  11. [11]
    Barraclough, Leo (21 March 2016). "Sky Finance Chief Andrew Griffith Adds Role of Chief Operating Officer". Variety. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  12. [12]
    Pickard, Jim; Thomas, Daniel (23 July 2019). "Boris Johnson hires Sky's Andrew Griffith as business adviser". Financial Times. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  13. [13]
    "Andrew Griffith was appointed Group Chief Operating Officer in March 2016". Royal Television Society. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  14. [14]
    Merdle, Richard (25 March 2018). "NED Award for FTSE all-share: Andrew Griffith juggled jobs to deliver in a crisis". The Times. Archived from the original on 2 December 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  15. [15]
    D'Arcy, Mark (20 February 2020). "The week ahead in Parliament". BBC News. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  16. [16]
    Mason, Rowena; Syal, Rajeev (19 July 2019). "Boris Johnson uses Sky executive's townhouse as campaign HQ". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  17. [17]
    "Boris Johnson appoints Sky senior executive as business adviser after being lent his £9.5m Westminster flat". The Independent. 23 July 2019. Archived from the original on 23 July 2019. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  18. [18]
    Syal, Rajeev; Mason, Rowena; O'Carroll, Lisa (23 July 2019). "Sky executive among Johnson's first appointments". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  19. [19]
    "Just Eat director steps down after PM appointment". Insider Media. 26 July 2019. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  20. [20]
    "A message to the voters of Arundel & South Downs". nickherbert.com. 9 December 2019. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  21. [21]
    "Andrew Griffith MP (@griffitha)". Twitter. Archived from the original on 23 May 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2020. Previously No10 Business adviser.
  22. [22]
    Griffith, Andrew (18 May 2020). "Andrew Griffith: A blanket and indefinite 14-day quarantine would put our aviation sector at risk". Conservative Home. Retrieved 11 June 2020. Andrew Griffith is MP for Arundel & South Downs and is the former Chief Business Adviser to Boris Johnson.
  23. [23]
    "UK appoints champion to spur business on to net zero emissions". GOV.UK. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  24. [24]
    "Public Service Broadcasting Advisory Panel". GOV.UK. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  25. [25]
    "Ministerial appointments: September 2021". 16 September 2021.
  26. [26]
    "APPG for Dark Skies". APPG for Dark Skies. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  27. [27]
    "gov.uk Webpage on Andrew Griffith".
  28. [28]
    Powling, Joshua (4 February 2022). "West Sussex MP to replace policy chief who quit over Boris Johnson's Jimmy Savile attack on Keir Starmer". West Sussex County Times. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  29. [29]
    Andrew Griffith MP [@griffitha] (6 June 2022). "Everyone serious about fixing the big challenges our country faces should give the PM their support. The last thing anyone needs is a distracting, divisive and destructive leadership contest. We need to focus on getting on with the job and serving the country" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  30. [30]
    "Andrew Griffith MP Biography Gov.uk".
  31. [31]
    "Statement of Persons Nominated, Notice of Poll and Situation of Polling Station for the Election of a Member of Parliament for Arundel and South Downs" (PDF).
  32. [32]
    The Bell Magazine. "The Bell Magazine - Spring 2020".
  33. [33]
    Yorke, Harry (7 June 2020). "Conservative MP whose father died of coronavirus calls for lockdown to be lifted by July 4". The Telegraph. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
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