The Lord Brady of Altrincham | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Official portrait, 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman of the 1922 Committee | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 20 January 2020 – 9 July 2024 Acting: 3 September 2019 – 20 January 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Bob Blackman | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 26 May 2010 – 24 May 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Sir Michael Spicer | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by |
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| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 19 August 2024 Life peerage | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of Parliament forAltrincham and Sale West | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1 May 1997 – 30 May 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Constituency established | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Connor Rand | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Graham Stuart Brady (1967-05-20)20 May 1967 (age 57) Salford,Lancashire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Conservative | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | St Aidan's College, Durham (BA) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | www | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Graham Stuart Brady, Baron Brady of Altrincham,PC (born 20 May 1967), is a British politician who served asMember of Parliament (MP) forAltrincham and Sale West from 1997 to 2024. A member of theConservative Party, he was the chairman of the1922 Committee from 2010 to 2024, except for a brief period during the2019 Conservative Party leadership election.
Brady served as ashadow minister under four Conservative leaders before resigning in 2007 in protest atDavid Cameron's opposition to grammar schools. On 1 December 2010, Brady was voted "Backbencher of the Year" byThe Spectator at its annual parliamentary awards.
During his tenure as 1922 Committee chairman, Brady has overseen the election of three Conservative Party leaders and Prime Ministers (Theresa May,Liz Truss andRishi Sunak)[a] as well asvotes of no confidence in May andBoris Johnson.
Brady stepped down as an MP at the2024 general election and was appointed to the House of Lords.
Graham Brady was born on 20 May 1967 inSalford,Lancashire, the son of an accountant and his wife a medical secretary. The family then moved to nearby Trafford.[1] He was educated atAltrincham Grammar School for Boys,[2] where he was deputy head boy,[3] before studying law at theUniversity of Durham, atSt Aidan's College, graduating with aBachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1989.[2]
Brady was highly active in politics as a student. He served as Chairman of theDurham University Conservative Association (DUCA) for the 1987–1988 academic year[2] and was one of six students elected to represent Durham at the annualNUS conference.[4] He served additionally as Chairman of Northern Area Conservative Students (1987–1989) and as a member of the Conservative Party's National Union Executive Committee (1988–1989).[5]
Brady was appointed a consultant inpublic relations withShandwick plc in 1989.[2] He joined theCentre for Policy Studies in 1990.[2] He was appointed director ofpublic affairs at the Waterfront Partnership in 1992, where he remained until he was elected to theHouse of Commons in 1997. He was vice-chairman of the East Berkshire Conservative Association from 1993 to 1995.
Brady was selected to contest theAltrincham and Sale West, following the retirement of the Conservative MPFergus Montgomery. Brady was elected as MP for Altrincham and Sale West at the1997 general election with 43.2% of the vote and a majority of 1,505.[6] He was the youngest Conservative MP to be elected in 1997, having been elected just before his 30th birthday.[7] In theparty leadership election that followed, Brady supportedMichael Howard.[8]
Brady made hismaiden speech in theHouse of Commons on 2 June 1997. From 1997 to 2001 he was a member of the Education and Employment Select Committee and its Employment Sub-Committee. He was joint secretary of the Conservative Party Committee for Education and Employment from 1997 to 2000.
In 1998 Brady made enquiries toJohn Bourn, at the timeComptroller and Auditor General, on his decision not to publish aNational Audit Office report on the controversialAl-Yamamah arms deal.[9] The same year, Brady was one of only 13 Conservative MPs who voted in favour of an equal age of consent. He was a member of the executive of the1922 Committee from 1998 to 2000.
Brady becameParliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to theChairman of the Conservative Party,Michael Ancram in 1999. He was made anOpposition Whip byWilliam Hague in 2000. In February 2000, Brady complained about anti-grammar school literature circulated to parents in Altrincham by Michael Evans, then head ofTrinity Church of England High School, arguing that this violated rules about public funds being used for campaign material – a complaint subsequently upheld bySecretary of State for EducationDavid Blunkett.[10] That same year Brady became an opposition spokesman onEducation and Employment.
Brady was re-elected as MP for Altrincham and Sale West at the2001 general election with an increased vote share of 46.2% and an increased majority of 2,941.[11]
Following the election, Brady continued as an opposition spokesman onEducation and Skills under the leadership of both Hague andIain Duncan Smith. He became theParliamentary Private Secretary to theLeader of the Opposition,Michael Howard, in 2003, and an opposition spokesman on foreign affairs and Shadow Europe Minister in 2004.[12][13] From 2004 to 2005 he was a member of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Select Committee and its Urban Affairs Sub-Committee. He was vice-chair of the all-party Montserrat Group from 2006. He became a member of theTreasury Select Committee and rejoined the executive of the 1922 Committee in 2007.
At the2005 general election, Brady was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 46.4% and an increased majority of 7,159.[14]
On 29 May 2007, Brady resigned his post as Shadow Minister for Europe in protest at Conservative leaderDavid Cameron's opposition to grammar schools. He told the BBC that "faced with a choice between a front bench position that I have loved and doing what I believe to be right for my constituents and for the many hundreds of thousands of families who are ill-served by state education in this country, there is in conscience only one option open to me", and argued that "grammar schools in selective areas are exactly the motor that does drive social mobility more effectively than comprehensive areas".[15] Brady's own constituency has retained a selective rather than comprehensive education system.
Brady was secretary of the all-party Fluoridation Group and Infrastructure Group from 2008. From 2009 he was treasurer of the all-party Thailand Group and vice-chairman of the Cannabis and Children Group.
At the2010 general election, Brady was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 48.9% and an increased majority of 11,595.[16]
In 2013, he opposed theMarriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, raising concerns that the measure had not been in the Conservative manifesto and that religious freedom could be compromised.[17]
At the2015 general election, Brady was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 53% and an increased majority of 13,290.[18][19]
In the2016 EU referendum, he was a supporter ofBrexit.[20]
At the snap2017 general election, Brady was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 51% and a decreased majority of 6,426.[21]
In July 2018, it was reported that Brady served as editor ofThe House, the in-house Parliamentary magazine, earning a salary of £26,000 for the role.[22]
Brady was again re-elected at the2019 general election with a decreased vote share of 48% and a decreased majority of 6,139.[23]
In 2024, he was elected as the president of theNorthern Ireland Conservatives party.[24]
Brady succeededSir Michael Spicer as Chairman of the1922 Committee on 26 May 2010.[25][26]
The committee, sometimes known as "The 1922" for short, is the parliamentary group of the Conservative Party and has a central role in the election of theLeader of the Conservative Party. Since 2010 Brady oversaw the election of 4 Conservative Leaders (Theresa May in 2016,Boris Johnson in 2019,Liz Truss in 2022 andRishi Sunak in 2022) all of whom became the Prime Minister since the Conservative Party had been in office throughout his tenure as chairman.
He resigned as 1922 Committee chairman on 24 May 2019 in order to explore launching a bid to become leader of the Conservative Party in the weeks that followed,[27] but ultimately optednot to run for Leader. His Deputy ChairmenCheryl Gillan andCharles Walker oversaw the 2019 leadership contest which resulted in the election ofBoris Johnson.
Brady temporarily returned to the 1922 Committee on 3 September 2019, to serve as its acting Chairman "until a new executive is elected in thenext session ofParliament".[28] He was subsequently re-elected as the permanent chair on 20 January 2020.[29]
Brady's role as Chairman of the 1922 has given him a high public profile, as it falls to him to announce the results of each leadership election or challenge, and this is often followed on live TV and streaming around the world.
In 2022, Brady became the longest-ever serving Chairman of the 1922 Committee, surpassingEdward du Cann.
On 29 January 2019, the House of Commons voted 317 to 301 to approve Brady's amendment to the Brexit Next Steps motion,[30] which called for "theNorthern Ireland backstop to be replaced with alternative arrangements to avoid a hard border, supports leaving the European Union with a deal and would therefore support theWithdrawal Agreement subject to this change".
In May 2020, Brady called for the removal of "arbitrary rules and limitations on freedom" brought in by the government because of theCOVID-19 pandemic. He said that the British public had been "a little too willing to stay at home".[31] Speaking out againsta second lockdown, he also spoke aboutCOVID-related mental health issues, such as increased rates of suicide anddomestic abuse, as well as excess deaths caused due to reduced access for care.[32] Brady is also a steering committee member of the lockdown-scepticCOVID Recovery Group, a group of Conservative MPs who oppose the UK government'sDecember 2020 lockdown.[33] TheTelegraph reported that the group was seen in Westminster as an "echo" of the BrexiteerEuropean Research Group (ERG) of MPs, and a response by backbench Conservatives toNigel Farage's anti-lockdownReform UK party.[33]
After standing down as an MP at the 2024 general election, Brady was nominated for alife peerage in the2024 Dissolution Honours.[34][35][36] He was createdBaron Brady of Altrincham, ofBirch-in-Rusholme in theCounty of Greater Manchester, on 19 August 2024.[37]
In 2024 he published a memoir of his time leading the 1922 Committee, entitledKingmaker.[38][39]
Brady met Victoria Lowther atDurham University. The couple married in 1992, and have a daughter and a son. They divide their time between homes inLondon andAltrincham; his wife works as his senior parliamentary assistant.[40]
Brady was made a Freeman of Altrincham in September 2016 for services to the community of Altrincham and its environs.[41]
Brady wasknighted for political and public service in the2018 New Year Honours.[42][43] His investiture byPrince William, Duke of Cambridge, took place atBuckingham Palace on 6 March 2018.[44]
Brady was sworn as a member of thePrivy Council (PC) in November 2023.[45] The same month, he was admitted as afreeman of the City of London.[46]
A statement from the committee said he would return as chairman "until a new executive is elected in the next session of Parliament".
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forAltrincham and Sale West 1997–2024 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Parliamentary Private Secretary to theLeader of the Opposition 2003–2004 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Minister for Europe 2004–2007 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman of the1922 Committee 2010–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman of the1922 Committee Acting 2019–2020 | Succeeded by Himself |
| Preceded by Himself Acting | Chairman of the1922 Committee 2020–2024 | Succeeded by |
| Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by | Gentlemen Baron Brady of Altrincham | Followed by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |