About Alec
Alec lives here in the Wetherby & Easingwold constituency and is regularly out and about campaigning across the area and meeting fellow residents.
Alec’s background
The son of two teachers, Alec was born in 1976 and educated at his local comprehensive school. He studied mechanical engineering at Brunel University where he graduated with honours in 1998. After graduation, Alec joined the Royal Navy before moving to Yorkshire where he managed the Nanotechnology Facility at the University of Leeds.
Alec at work
Alec's working week is usually spent in the House of Commons Monday to Thursday, before he returns home to hold a mixture of one-to-one advice surgeries, supermarket surgeries and street surgeries on Fridays and Saturdays. Alec is regularly out and about campaigning across Wetherby & Easingwold listening to the views of voters.
Constituency work
Alec has been a committed constituency Member of Parliament and has driven forward a mission to make his constituency dementia friendly, including the publication of his Dementia Directory. Improving dementia services is a personal commitment for Alec and he is already planning the expansion of his Dementia Strategy across both West and North Yorkshire towns and villages.
Westminster work
Alec is a former Minister of State for Defence and was in charge of military procurement.
During his time in Parliament, Alec has served as a Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Thalidomide and, in conjunction with the Thalidomide Trust, secured the extension of an £80m Thalidomide health grant to support the independent living of victims of the Thalidomide drug. In Parliament, he has also secured Adjournment Debates to raise matters associated with dementia care, welfare support and sentencing for drink-driving offences. He is a champion for workers’ rights and introduced the National Minimum Wage (Workplace Internships) Bill to the House of Commons, calling for the abolition of unpaid internships. Alec has led a series of debates on women's health, calling for further awareness of Endometriosis and better support for patients injured during pelvic mesh surgery.
International work
Alec takes a keen interest in foreign affairs. After a period serving as a Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office between 2014 and 2015, former Prime Minister David Cameron appointed Alec as a UK representative to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in December 2015. Since then, Alec has concentrated on defence and security matters within the alliance and was appointed Leader of the UK Delegation in 2020.
Alec has represented the United Kingdom at a number of Rose Roth seminars, bringing together NATO partner countries. He also took part in election monitoring in Georgia’s 2016 General Election.
Alec is a former Vice-Chairman (International) of the Conservative Party, a role which involved building relationships with international sister parties and working with the Westminster Foundation for Democracy to enhance democratic institutions and political party structures in the developing world.
Elections
Alec was first elected to the House of Commons in May 2010, winning the Elmet & Rothwell constituency from the Labour Party. In the 2015, 2017 and 2019 General Elections, Alec was returned with an increased majority on each occasion.
Following the revision of parliamentary constituencies by the independent Boundary Commission for England, Alec was re-elected to represent the revised Wetherby & Easingwold constituency at the 2024 General Election.
The Wetherby & Easingwold constituency merged around half of the former Elmet & Rothwell constituency (the Wetherby and Harewood wards), with the North Yorkshire council wards of Easingwold, Hillside & Raskelf, Huby & Tollerton, Boroughbridge, Ouseburn, Spofforth with Lower Wharfedale & Tockwith, Bishop Monkton, Appleton Roebuck & Church Fenton and Tadcaster.
Privy Council
In September 2019, HM Queen Elizabeth II approved that Alec be sworn of Late Her Majesty’s most Honourable Privy Council, a formal body of advisers to the Monarch. Alec remains a privy counsellor under the reign on HM The King Charles III.
Knighthood
In December 2023, HM King Charles III conferred upon Alec the honour of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) for public and political service. On receiving a knighthood, Alec commented: "I'm extremely grateful to the many colleagues who support me in my role as a Member of Parliament and Leader of the UK Delegation to the NATO Assembly, especially our NATO Clerk and my hardworking parliamentary team. But without the support of my constituents over the last fourteen years I would not have been able to do the job that is most rewarding: representing fellow residents in the House of Commons".
Alec at home
Alec is a Formula 1 enthusiast and is a former Deputy Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Formula 1, so he enjoys spending a few hours watching the Grand Prix on a Sunday.
Fridays and Saturdays are usually spent holding individual Advice Surgeries and Supermarket Surgeries around his constituency, but in his spare time Alec enjoys Football, Cricket and Baseball.