Richard Graham

Richard Graham (born 4 April 1958)^[1] is a British Conservative Party politician, who was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gloucester, defeating the Labour MP Parmjit Dhanda.^[2]

Education

Graham was educated at the Downs School, Colwall, Eton and Christ Church, Oxford where he was an exhibitioner in Modern History.

Life and career

Graham was previously an airline manager, a diplomat and a pensions manager. He started with John Swire and Sons and became General Manager of Cathay Pacific Airways in France at 24 and in the Philippines at 26, concurrently Vice Chairman of the Board of Airline Representatives. He joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1986, and was Second, later First, Secretary, in the British High Commission Nairobi and then British Trade Commissioner China, First Secretary British Embassy Beijing and HM Consul Macao (1989-1992). Graham joined Barings plc as its Chief Representative China in 1993, and became a director of Baring Asset Management in 1996. Graham was Head of International Business and later Institutional Business at Baring Asset Management before becoming an MP in 2010 with an 8.9% swing against the former Labour incumbent. Graham has lived and worked in ten countries and speaks eight languages, and is the only parliamentarian who speaks Cantonese and Mandarin. He chairs the All Party Parliamentary Groups for Occupational Pensions, Regeneration Through Innovation, the Commonwealth and Indonesia, and the Hong Kong committee in the China APPG. Richard Graham was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Rt Hon Lord Howell of Guildford, Minister of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in November 2010. He was a member of the Select Committee for Work and Pensions May-November 2010. He was elected Cotswold district councillor in 2003, becoming Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in 2006. He unsuccessfully contested the South West of England in the 2004 European elections.^[3] Richard Graham is a former director of Care for Children and a current trustee of the Gloucestershire Community Foundation.

Graham is married with three children.

References

External links

• Official Website

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