Crispin Blunt

Long-term eurosceptic Crispin Blunt, the Conservative MP for Reigate, was born in Germany in 1960 to English parents. Educated at Wellington College – followed by the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst – he read Politics at University College, Durham, graduating in 1984 while being commissioned as an Army Officer into the 13th/18th Royal Hussars. He unsuccessfully contested his first seat for the Conservative Party in 1992, then worked as a special adviser to Sir Malcolm Rifkind before being elected as an MP in 1997. Under Iain Duncan Smith, Blunt was appointed as shadow minister for Northern Ireland then as deputy to the trade and industry secretary. In 2003, Blunt played a part in Duncan Smith’s downfall, quitting the front bench and demanding a no-confidence vote as the polls closed for local elections. During the 2010-2015 coalition, he served as parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Ministry of Justice and went on to chair the Foreign Affairs Committee from 2015-2017. Blunt is a noted champion of LGBT rights; while campaigning to Leave in the 2016 EU referendum he said the UK would become “the world’s leading proponents of LGBTI rights, in or out of the EU”. He was re-elected at the 2019 general election with a slightly increased majority of 18,310.