Andrew Rosindell

Andrew Rosindell has been the Conservative MP for Romford since 2001. Since joining the Salvation Army at the age of seven, religion has been inextricable from Rosindell’s political identity, and he would later call on left-leaning figures to “pay more attention to the Gospel rather than the Guardian.” At 14, Rosindell heard a speech by Margaret Thatcher and became involved with the Conservative Party, becoming chairman of the Romford Young Conservatives only two years later. Except for some early stints in the fields of public relations and research, he has devoted almost the entirety of his working life to politics, first becoming a councillor in Romford at the age of 24. Although Rosindell failed in his bids to become the MP for Glasgow Provan in 1992 and for Thurrock in 1997, he was twice re-elected for his council seat, securing a staggering 88 per cent of the vote in 1998 – the highest share of a London vote in Conservative history. In 2001, Rosindell finally found his seat in the Commons unseating Labour’s Eileen Gordon on a swing of 9.2 per cent with a majority of 5,977. He joined the Regulatory Reform Committee shortly after his election and soon after joined the Statutory Instruments Committee and the Constitutional Affairs Committee. The then Conservative leader Michael Howard recognised Rosindell’s canvassing expertise and put him to work as the party’s vice chairman for campaigning in 2004. He became a whip in 2005, and in 2007 the shadow minister for home affairs, where he remained until his party’s victory in the 2010 general election. Following the election, he joined the Panel of Chairs and the Foreign Affairs Committee and has sat on both committees since. Rosindell was re-elected in 2019 with an increased majority of 17,893.