Andrew Rosindell
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Andrew Rosindell (born March 17, 1966) is a British Conservative Member of Parliament for Romford, and Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party. He is also a director of the European Foundation.
He was born in Romford, and attended Rise Park, and then Marshall's Park schools. Before entering full-time politics, he was a freelance journalist and public relations consultant. He was chairman of the Young Conservatives from 1993 to 1994. He was chairman of the International Young Democrat Union from 1998 to 2002.
Before becoming an MP he was a local councillor in Romford, winning the Chase Cross and Havering-atte-Bower ward from the Liberal Democrats in 1990. In 1998 he took an 81% share of the vote, a record for a Conservative in a London borough.
After unsuccessful attempts to win seats in Glasgow and Thurrock, Rosindell finally reached Parliament in the 2001 UK general election, defeating the former teacher and Labour MP, Eileen Gordon. Rosindell won 18,931 votes, 53% of the vote, a swing of 9.2% from Labour to Conservative. It was one of the few seats the Conservatives managed to regain after the landslide in 1997.
Rosindell's political views are firmly right-wing. A fierce eurosceptic, he supports the re-introduction of the death penalty, the ownership of firearms and the detainment of asylum seekers. He is a member of the Freedom Association, and until 2001 was a member of the Monday Club, until he was made to resign by the then Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith.
He has a distinctive, combatative political style. At the 2001 election he campaigned with his bulldog Spike, who wore a union flag waistcoat. Rosindell enjoys something of a celebrity status throughout the whole of Havering, probably due to his weekly positive press coverage in the main local newspaper, the "Romford Recorder". His views tend to be very much in tune with his Romford constituents.
At the 2005 election Rosindell increaed his majority to 11,589 winning 21,560 votes on a 59.1% share. During the campaign it became clear that Rosindell still inspires high passions amongst his supporters and detractors. A clash between Labour and Conservative activists distributing leaflets at Romford station resulted in the police being called. [1] (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/18389367?source=Evening%20Standard&ct=5)
External links
- Andrew Rosindell (http://www.andrew.rosindell.com/) official site
- Conservative Party - Andrew Rosindell MP (http://www.conservatives.com/people/person.cfm?PersonID=4678) biography
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Andrew Rosindell MP (http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-6081,00.html)
- TheyWorkForYou.com - Andrew Rosindell MP (http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/andrew_rosindell/romford)
- BBC News - Andrew Rosindell (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2163298.stm) profile