Darren Henry
Darren George Henry is the Conservative MP for the constituency of Broxtowe. He was elected in 2019, defeating the incumbent MP, and former leader of The Independent Group for Change, Anna Soubry.
Political career
In early 2014, Henry joined the Conservatives, noting that whilst campaigning was possible in military service, it had not occurred to him to do so up until this point.After a few months of membership, he sought nomination to be the official Conservative seat in North West Hampshire. He was shortlisted, but lost to former Deputy Mayor of London, Kit Malthouse.
In the 2015 general election he was selected as the Conservative candidate for Wolverhampton North East in Birmingham., whilst also employed as General Manager at Harvest Fine Foods. He came second to Labour's Emma Reynolds, seeing a decline of 4.4% in the Conservative vote share.
Henry served as a Parish councillor in the Shrewton, Wiltshire before resigning in September 2019.
Henry was also a councillor on Wiltshire Council, from May 2017 and until January 2020.
In early 2019, Henry was shortlisted to be Police and Crime Commissioner for Swindon and Wiltshire. He lost the selection to Jonathon Seed in April 2019. The May 2020 Police and Crime Commissioner election has since been postponed until 2021.
In summer 2019, he was shortlisted, along with Tony Devenish and Felicity Buchan, for the ultra-marginal West London seat of Kensington. He failed to be selected.
Following this, he was selected as the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Broxtowe in September 2019.
At a 2019 general election hustings in Broxtowe, Henry called for a ban on payday loans, and for support for food bank users who could not manage their budgets properly. Reaction to this speech was audibly negative.
In his maiden speech, made in the week marking 72 years since the arrival of the Windrush generation to the UK, Henry spoke negatively of Labour for representing immigrants and those of the Windrush Generation. Henry spoke of his pride in being the first Conservative parliamentarian of West Indian heritage.
Henry was elected Co-Chair of the Midlands Engine All-party parliamentary group on July 22nd 2020.
Honours
| Ribbon | Details | Year awarded |
| General Service Medal | With clasp "AIR OPERATIONS IRAQ" | |
| Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal |
| |
| Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal | ||
| Royal Air Force Long Service and Good Conduct Medal |