Andrew Griffith

Andrew John Griffith (born 23 February 1971) is a British Conservative Party politician and former senior media executive who has been Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade since November 2024 and Member of Parliament (MP) for Arundel and South Downs since 2019.

He was Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology from July to November 2024. and had previously been Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation from November 2023. He served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exports from July 2022 until September 2022, as Director of the Number 10 Policy Unit from February 2022 to July 2022, and as Economic Secretary to the Treasury from 2022 to 2023.

Prior to becoming a Member of Parliament, Griffith served as the Chief financial officer and Chief operating officer of Sky, as well as Chairman of Just Eat.

Early life and education

Andrew Griffith was born on 23 February 1971 in Bexleyheath. He grew up in Bromley and attended St Mary & St Joseph's School, a state comprehensive school in Sidcup, with future Shadow Cabinet colleague Gareth Bacon, before studying law at Nottingham University from 1989 to 1992. He qualified as a chartered accountant in 1996, becoming FCA.

Business career

Griffith first worked for Rothschild & Co and PwC, before joining Sky in 1999 as a financial analyst. By 2008, he rose to become Sky's chief financial officer, joining the board of directors, and at the time of his appointment was the youngest financial director amongst the FTSE 100. In March 2016 he also took on the role of Sky group chief operating officer. During his time in this role, he helped set up a free school in Hounslow named Bolder Academy, with Sky providing funding and exclusive access to its facilities, including coding classes taught by Sky employees.

When Comcast acquired Sky in 2018, Griffith earned about £17m from the sale of shares.

In April 2014, Griffith joined the board of Just Eat as a senior non-executive director, a post which he held in combination with his full-time role at Sky. In 2017, Just Eat was hit by several challenges, losing its non-executive chairman to poor health, its chief executive officer stepping down and the Competition and Markets Authority reviewing Just Eat's acquisition of competitor Hungryhouse. During this period, Griffith took on the role of chairman.

In 2018, Griffith won The Sunday Times' NED Award for FTSE all-share following his work as senior non-executive director and Chairman at Just Eat.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Television Society and was co-chairman of its 2017 Cambridge convention.

Political career

Griffith stood as the Conservative candidate in Corby at the 2001 general election, coming second with 37.2% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour and Co-operative MP Phil Hope. At the 2005 general election, Griffith again stood in Corby, coming second with 40% of the vote again behind Phil Hope.

Griffith is a former chairman of the advisory board at the Centre for Policy Studies think tank.

Boris Johnson used Griffith's £9.5 million townhouse as his leadership election campaign headquarters. In 2019, Griffith stepped down from his roles at Sky and Just Eat to become Johnson's chief business adviser, based at 10 Downing Street, taking on the role in July 2019.

Parliamentary career

In government

Griffith was elected as Member of Parliament for Arundel and South Downs at the 2019 general election with 57.9% of the vote and a majority of 22,521 votes. He stood down from his role as the Prime Minister's chief business adviser upon his election to Parliament.

On 10 November 2020, he was appointed 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. A week later, on 17 November 2020, Griffith was appointed by Boris Johnson to be the UK's Net Zero Business Champion, a role designed to support UK businesses to make plans to become net zero by 2050 in the run up to the UN Climate Summit at Glasgow in November 2021.

On 17 September 2021, Griffith was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, alongside Sarah Dines, in the second Cabinet reshuffle of the second Johnson ministry.

Griffith is the founder of and, until his appointment as Minister, co-chaired with the Lord Rees of Ludlow, Astronomer Royal, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Dark Skies.

On 3 February 2022, Griffith became Parliamentary Secretary in the Cabinet Office (Minister for Policy) and Director of the Number 10 Policy Unit, following the resignation of Munira Mirza.

On 6 June 2022, after a vote of no confidence in the leadership of Boris Johnson was called, Griffith announced that he would be supporting the Prime Minister.

Griffith was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Trade) in the Department for International Trade on 8 July 2022.

On 7 September 2022, he was appointed Financial Secretary to the Treasury.

Following the succession of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister, Griffith was appointed as Economic Secretary to the Treasury on 27 October 2022. In this role, he worked on the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 and was lead Treasury Minister on the rescue of Silicon Valley Bank UK, the emergency acquisition of Credit Suisse by UBS, and during the ‘LDI’ crisis.

During Sunak's November 2023 reshuffle, Griffith was promoted to Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

In opposition

At the 2024 general election, Griffith was re-elected as MP for Arundel and South Downs with a decreased vote share of 40.2% and a decreased majority of 12,134.

Following the Conservative Party's defeat in the election and the subsequent formation of the Starmer ministry, Griffith was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology in Rishi Sunak's caretaker Shadow Cabinet.

Griffith was amongst the first public backers of Kemi Badenoch in the 2024 Conservative Leadership contest.

He was appointed as Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade on 5th November 2024.

Personal life

Griffith married Barbara, a volunteer charity worker, in 1997; they have a son and daughter. As a businessman, he resided at Putney, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. Griffith also has a residence in his constituency of Arundel and South Downs since 2010. He divides his time between living there and in London.

He has cited Lord Young of Graffham, a long-time mentor of his, as one of his heroes

Honours

Griffith was admitted as a freeman of the City of London on 3 September 2024 in recognition of his contribution to the UK's financial services sector.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffith, Andrew
1971 births
Living people
People from Kent
UK MPs 2019–2024
Alumni of the University of Nottingham
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Parliamentary private secretaries to the prime minister
UK MPs 2024–present
Shadow cabinet of Kemi Badenoch