Matthew Offord

Matthew James Offord^[3] FRGS (born 3 September 1969)^[4] is a British Conservative Party politician and the Member of Parliament for Hendon in North London. He is also a member of the AWEPA Governing Council.^[5]

Early life and education

Offord was state-educated at Amery Hill School, Alton, Hampshire,^[6] and studied at Nottingham Trent University where he first became involved in the Conservative Party. After graduation, he gained a masters degree from Lancaster University and was awarded a PhD at King's College London in 2011.^[7] Offord is a keen sailor on the Welsh Harp Reservoir and competed in the 2009 Fastnet Race. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and undertook a 2,000 km exploration of the Libyan Desert in 2005.

Politics

Offord stood unsuccessfully at the 2001 general election for the safe Labour seat of Barnsley East and Mexborough where he failed to defeat the sitting MP, Jeff Ennis. He was elected to serve the Hendon ward on the London Borough of Barnet's Council in 2002^[8] and became chairman of the Hendon Conservative Association and deputy leader of the Council while working for the BBC as a political analyst. He became MP for Hendon at the 2010 general election, winning the seat from Labour's Andrew Dismore with a 4.1% swing to give a slender majority of 106.^[2]

In 2013 Offord claimed "there is a clear trend of attacking religion at the moment" as he proposed an amendment to the Local Government Act to allow prayers to take place at council meetings, which had outlawed by a High Court decision. ^[9] He also described same-sex marriage as an "attack on religion". ^[9]

References