Andrew Griffith was first elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Arundel and South Downs (which is in West Sussex) at the December 2019 General Election.
ANDREW’S PRIORITIES AS A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
- To be an energetic, open and diligent Member of Parliament working for all local residents living within the Arundel & South Downs constituency regardless of how they vote at elections.
- Working for a cleaner, greener environment and support action on the climate emergency through the power of individuals and businesses taking action with a supportive government behind them.
- More police in our rural market towns and villages to reduce crime, anti-social behaviour and dangerous driving.
- Better quality local transport including improvements to the congested A27, investment in public transport and safer walking and cycling routes.
- High quality health care, schools and social services.
- Support the wonderful West Sussex local businesses, High Streets, village stores, pubs, rural enterprises, farmers and food producers.
- Be a voice for residents against unsustainable, large scale developments on inappropriate greenfield sites.
- Reduce the burden of taxes on individuals and businesses to boost the economy, support small business and create jobs.
- Back our brave servicemen and women and provide world class support for those veterans who have left the services.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Andrew is not a career politician, having spent 27 years working entirely in business before deciding to dedicate himself to public service. Andrew lives in the constituency with his wife Barbara and their two teenage children.
Most of Andrew’s career was spent at the successful British company, Sky plc. In July 2019 he left Sky on his appointment as the Prime Minister’s Chief Business Adviser responsible for developing policies and working with business and across government to make Britain the best place to start, grow and run a business. Andrew stepped down from his role in 10 Downing Street upon being elected Member of Parliament for Arundel & South Downs.
He joined Sky in 1999 and rose to become Group Chief Operating Officer, serving on the Board of Directors for a total of eleven years and helping the company grow to become one of Britain’s largest companies; serving 11 million UK households, employing over 30,000 people and paying over £1 billion a year in taxes. He was appointed Finance Director and joined the board in 2008 – at the time being the youngest person to hold that role in FTSE100 company.
Throughout Andrew’s tenure at Sky, the company was a leader in taking action on climate and the environment becoming one of the first companies to be Carbon Neutral thirteen years ago in 2006, partnering with WWF to save one billion trees in the Brazilian rainforest and founding Sky Ocean Rescue to make people aware of plastic pollution and give everyone easy ways to take action.
Between April 2014 and July 2019 Andrew served as Senior Independent Non Executive Director of Just Eat plc, one of the UK’s largest and most successful consumer technology companies. After acting as interim Chairman between April 2018 and April 2019 he was named The Sunday Times Non Executive Director of the Year for his leadership in steering the company through a difficult period including the un-timely passing of the previous Chairman and the UK Competition Authority review of the acquisition of Hungry House.
Andrew previously worked at PWC and Rothschild. Andrew was born and grew up on the Kent/London borders, attended his local comprehensive primary and secondary school and was the first in his family to attend University – going to Nottingham University where he gained a degree in Law. He qualified as a chartered accountant in 1995.
ANDREW’S POLITICAL EXPERIENCE
Andrew is currently the UK’s Net Zero Business Champion, a role that he was appointed to by the Prime Minister on 17 November 2020. Working closely with 10 Downing Street, the COP26 President Designate and the Business Secretary, Andrew’s role is to support UK businesses of all sizes to make credible plans to net zero by 2050 or earlier and to showcase the UK’s place as a global leader in tackling climate change in the run up to the UN Climate Summit being held in Glasgow in November 2021.
Drawing on his previous experience in broadcasting prior to entering Parliament, on 10 November 2020 Andrew was appointed by the Secretary of State for DCMS as a member of the Public Service Broadcasting Advisory Panel to provide independent expertise and advice as part of the government’s strategic review of public service broadcasting.
Andrew is a member of the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology (excusing himself from any of its enquiries related to his Net Zero champion role). This is an independent Committee of the House of Commons with its members drawn from all political parties scrutinising the work of Government and holding Minister’s to account.
Andrew is the founder and co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Dark Skies, Chair of the APPG for Wine GB and a Vice Chair of the respective APPG’s for Automotive, Hydrogen, Media and Space.
Since June 2020, Andrew has been a member of the Wilton Park Advisory Council. Wilton Park is a not for profit executive agency of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office which is a world leading discussion centre seeking to address and resolve global challenges through discussion, the majority of which take place at Wiston House in West Sussex.
Andrew is a past Chairman of the Advisory Board at the Centre for Policy Studies (‘CPS’), Britain’s leading centre-right think tank whose mission is to develop a new generation of conservative thinking, built around promoting enterprise, ownership and prosperity.
ANDREW’S POLICY INTERESTS
As befits his extensive experience in business and the size and diversity of the Arundel & South Downs constituency, Andrew has a broad range of policy interests including, but not limited to (in alphabetical order) the below:
- Ageing and the care and respect for the elderly
- Automotive industry and electric vehicles/green mobility
- Aviation and aerospace (commercial and general)
- Broadband and telecommunications
- Broadcasting and media
- Business, Enterprise and Industrial Strategy
- Countryside and rural affairs
- Dark Skies campaign (against light pollution)
- Farming
- Government (the modern and effective operation of government)
- Internet and e-commerce
- Rural economy
- Rural transport
- Science and technology