Edward Argar

Edward John Comport Argar (born 9 December 1977) is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Charnwood since the general election in May 2015.

Early life

Argar was born in Ashford and educated at the Harvey Grammar School, before taking a II.i in Modern History at Oriel College, Oxford. At university, he was unsuccessful in standing for elected office in the Oxford Union Society and the Oxford University Conservative Association, but was elected to the Executive of the Student Union Council.^[1]

Political career

After leaving University he spent 4 years working as Press Secretary for Shadow Foreign Secretary Lord Ancram,^[2] who at the time shared an office with then Shadow Cabinet Minister Sir Alan Duncan. He became a Conservative member of Westminster City Council in 2006 and a cabinet member in 2008.^[1] He contested the council leadership in 2012 but lost to Philippa Roe.^[3]

Parliament

He stood in Oxford East in the 2010 General election. His election leaflet promised a Conservative Government would deliver a fairer society with improved public services and more NHS investment.^[4] However he was defeated by Andrew Smith the former Work and Pensions minister who achieved a +2.5% Conservative-Labour swing compared to a national average swing of -3.1% swing though the Lib-Dems were in second place. Argar subsequently attended selections in the constituencies of Newark, Tonbridge and Malling, Wealden and Mid Worcestershire, before being selected to contest the safe seat of Charnwood previously held by Stephen Dorrell; a Daily Telegraph article praising open primaries referred to him as a "serial candidate."^[5] The Leicester Mercury noting his selection had attracted criticism asked whether Parliamentary candidates should have a link to the constituency.^[6]

Maiden speech

Argar gave his maiden speech on 4 June 2015. He praised his predecessor, Stephen Dorrell and described the constituency as a post 2010 success story but said he would be "continuing to campaign for fairer funding ..for its schools." On other issues, he claimed that although the Government had made significant progress in dementia care and mental health provision, more was needed and he promised to vocally support those committed to further improvement. However he was there to represent the whole community in Charnwood, including those on the fringes and he passionately believed in one-nationism.^[7]

Dementia awareness campaign

Argar opened a debate on dementia in September 2015. He praised the work done by the previous Labour government in formulating a dementia strategy and described a visit to his local Syston community centre. He said some 21m people have a close friend or family member with the disease. The government has committed £66m to research. He paid tribute to the Alzheimer’s Society, Alzheimer's Research UK and Age UK for their work.^[8]
Writing in the Tribune in October 2015, Argar put the annual cost of the disease which affects 850,000 people at £23 billion and argued for governments departments including hospitals to become dementia friendly places. He hoped Leicestershire County Council which had amongst the lowest Government funding would get better deal to help provide care support for rural areas. According to Argar dementia patients stay 20% longer than average in hospitals and he expressed concern that 41 % of hospitals don’t include awareness training during staff induction.^[9]

Brexit

Argar was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.^[10]

Career outside politics

After working for Lord Ancram, he worked for Hedra and in management consulting for Mouchel. In February 2013, he was elected onto the South East Regional Council of the CBI, describing himself as 'Head of Public Affairs, Serco UK & Europe'.^[11]

Personal life

Argar has, so far, not married.

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