Richard Drax

Richard Drax was educated at Harrow School before enrolling at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. In 1978, he joined the Coldstream Guards for nearly a decade. He subsequently became a journalist at the Yorkshire Evening Press, The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Express. He later worked for the BBC covering the South West. Shortly after his election, Drax joined the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, and later joined the European Scrutiny and defencee committees, where he still sits. Drax is a staunch Brexiter and libertarian. He has opposed measures intended to combat the climate emergency, same-sex marriage, human rights bills, bankers’ bonus tax, higher taxes for those earning £150,000+ and the smoking ban. He has supported lower welfare benefits, lower corporate tax and to end any financial support for those aged 16 to 19 in education. In 2009, it was suggested that Drax was hiding his full quadruple-barrelled name in order to shade his aristocratic background; Drax denied this. In 2020, he wrote an article criticising the damage done to the cenotaph caused by BLM protesters, which was later revealed to be false: the pictures of the cenotaph dated from 2010.