Craig Whittaker

Craig Whittaker was first elected as the Conservative MP for Calder Valley in 2010. After spending his childhood in Australia, Radcliffe returned to the UK in his early 20s, working as a branch manager at Wilkinson and as a retail general manager at PC World. During this time, he was a parish councillor on Heptonstall Village Parish Council and briefly served as chair of the Calder Valley Conservatives. In 2003, he was elected as a councillor for Brighouse ward on Calderdale Council, where he served as the cabinet member for children and young people. Whittaker was elected as the MP for Calder Valley in the 2010 general election, taking the seat from the Labour Party on a 7.6 per cent swing and with a majority of 6,431. Following his election, he joined the Education Committee and was one of the Conservative backbenchers who pushed David Cameron to hold a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU (though he voted to remain). First appointed assistant whip in 2017, Whittaker became vice chamberlain of the household in April 2019 for five months. He founded charity Together for Looked after Children, supporting children in care.