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 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. 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 The Number 10 Policy Unit is a body of policymakers based in 10 Downing Street, providing policy advice directly to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, British Prime Minister. Originally set up to support Harold Wilson in 1974, it has gone ...

from February 2022 to July 2022, and as

Economic Secretary to the Treasury The Economic Secretary to the Treasury is a junior ministerial post in HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury, ranked below the First Lord of the Treasury, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Paymaster General a ...

from 2022 to 2023. Prior to becoming a Member of Parliament, Griffith served as the

Chief financial officer A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, ...

and

Chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

, 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 Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

and attended St Mary & St Joseph's School, a state comprehensive school in

Sidcup Sidcup is an area of south-east London, England, primarily in the London Borough of Bexley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, bordering the London Boroughs of London Borough of Bromley, Bromley and Royal Borough of Greenwich, Greenwich. It was ...

, with future Shadow Cabinet colleague Gareth Bacon, before studying law at

Nottingham University The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

from 1989 to 1992. He qualified as a chartered accountant in 1996, becoming FCA.

Business career

Griffith first worked for Rothschild & Co and

PwC PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a Multinational corporation, multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Fo ...

, before joining

in 1999 as a financial analyst. By 2008, he rose to become Sky's

chief financial officer A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, ...

, joining the board of directors, and at the time of his appointment was the youngest financial director amongst the

FTSE 100 The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is the United Kingdom's best-known stock market index of the 100 most market capitalisation, highly capitalised ...

. In March 2016 he also took on the role of Sky group

chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

. During his time in this role, he helped set up a free school in

Hounslow Hounslow ( ) is a large suburban district of West London, England, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 14 metropolitan cen ...

named Bolder Academy, with Sky providing funding and exclusive access to its facilities, including coding classes taught by Sky employees. When

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

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 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the principal competition regulator in the United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for promoting competitive markets and tackling unfair beh ...

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 ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

' 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 The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

and was co-chairman of its 2017

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

convention.

Political career

Griffith stood as the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

candidate in

Corby Corby is a town and civil parish in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, northeast of Northampton. In 2021 it had a population of 68,164. From 1974 to 2021, it was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...

at the 2001 general election, coming second with 37.2% of the vote behind the incumbent

Labour and Co-operative Labour and Co-operative Party (often abbreviated to Labour Co-op; ) is a description used by candidates in United Kingdom elections who stand on behalf of both the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party. Candidates contest elections under an e ...

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 The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) is a centre-right think tanks, think tank and advocacy group in the United Kingdom. Its goal is to promote coherent and practical policies based on its founding principles of: free markets, "small state," lo ...

think tank.

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

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 10 Downing Street in London is the official residence and office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister of the United Kingdom. Colloquially known as Number 10, the building is located in Downing Street, off Whitehall in th ...

, 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

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 Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

in November 2021. On 17 September 2021, Griffith was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister

, 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 Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the astronomer royal dating from 22 June 1675; the junior is the astronomer royal for Scotland dating from 1834. The Astro ...

, 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

, following the resignation of Munira Mirza. On 6 June 2022, after a vote of no confidence in the leadership of

was called, Griffith announced that he would be supporting the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. 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 The Financial Secretary to the Treasury is a mid-level ministerial post in HM Treasury. It is nominally the fifth most significant ministerial role within the Treasury after the first lord of the Treasury, the chancellor of the Exchequer, the ch ...

. Following the succession of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister, Griffith was appointed as

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 Wandsworth () is a London boroughs, London borough in South West (London sub region), South West London, England. It forms part of Inner London and has an estimated population of 329,677 inhabitants. Its main communities are Battersea, Balham, P ...

. 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

* * {{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