Dame Tracey Elizabeth Anne Crouch (born 24 July 1975) is a British
Conservative Party politician who served as the
Member of Parliament (MP) for
Chatham and Aylesford from
2010
The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
to
2024
The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
. Crouch was appointed as
Minister for Sport, Civil Society and Loneliness in 2017, but resigned in 2018 due to a delay over the introduction of reduced limits on the stakes of
fixed odds betting terminals.
Early life and career
Tracey Crouch was born on 24 July 1975 in
Ashford, Kent
Ashford is a town in the Borough of Ashford, Ashford district, in the county of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Great Stour at the southern or Escarpment, scarp edge of the North Downs, about by road southeast of centr ...
. She was educated at
Folkestone School for Girls and graduated from the
University of Hull
The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...
with a
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
in law and politics in 1996.
[‘CROUCH, Tracey Elizabeth Anne’, Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012; online edn, Nov 201]
accessed 1 Jan 2013
/ref>
Crouch was a parliamentary researcher from 1996 to 1998 before working in PR for Harcourt Public Affairs from 1999 to 2000. She returned to Westminster
Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
and held posts as chief of staff to three shadow ministers, including the shadow Home Secretary between 2003 and 2005. Crouch was then employed by the Aviva
Aviva plc is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It has about 19 million customers across its core markets of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada. In the United Kingdom, Aviva is the largest general ...
insurance company where she was the head of public affairs between 2005 and 2010. Before becoming a minister, she coached a junior girls' football team.
Parliamentary career
At the 2010 general election, Crouch was elected to Parliament 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 ...
MP for Chatham and Aylesford with 46.2% of the vote and a majority of 6,069. ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' listed her as one of their "pragmatic, Eurosceptic
Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...
" new MPs who seeks to "anchor the onservativeparty to the right of centre".
On 9 December 2010, Crouch abstained in the vote to raise university tuition fees. She was one of two Conservative MPs to abstain, while six voted against the proposals.
Crouch is a vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on dementia
Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...
, alcohol misuse
Alcohol abuse encompasses a spectrum of alcohol-related substance abuse. This spectrum can range from being mild, moderate, or severe. This can look like consumption of more than 2 drinks per day on average for men, or more than 1 drink per ...
and athletics. In February 2011, Crouch was elected to the 1922 Committee
The 1922 Committee, formally known as the Conservative Private Members' Committee, or sometimes simply the 22, is the parliamentary group of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party in the British House of Commons of the United Kingdom, H ...
executive.
Crouch voted against the badger cull, speaking during the debates on the subject in October 2012 and June 2013. She congratulated other Conservative MPs for voting against or abstaining on the vote, describing the cull as "barbaric and indiscriminate". She has also rebelled against the government in voting against press regulation and in support of mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops from the thin layer of tissue that covers many of the internal organs (known as the mesothelium). The area most commonly affected is the lining of the lungs and chest wall. Less commonly the lini ...
victims.
In 2014, Crouch described herself as a "compassionate, One-Nation Conservative".
At the 2015 general election, Crouch was re-elected as MP for Chatham and Aylesford with an increased vote share of 50.2% and an increased majority of 11,455.
She is an opponent of fox hunting
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, normally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of hounds" ...
, and is among those Conservative MPs who oppose relaxation of the Hunting Act 2004
The Hunting Act 2004 (c. 37) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which bans the hunting of most wild mammals (notably foxes, deer, hares and mink) with dogs in England and Wales, subject to some strictly limited exemptions; the ...
.
Ahead of the 2016 referendum on the UK's continued membership of the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
, Crouch stated that she had yet to decide. Subsequently, she chose to keep the way she had voted private "to avoid conflict in her Kent constituency".
At the snap 2017 general election, Crouch was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 57% and a decreased majority of 10,458.
As Minister for Civil Society, which was added to her existing ministerial brief in June 2017, she was, in January 2018, appointed to lead a government-wide group with responsibility for policies connected to loneliness
Loneliness is an unpleasant emotional response to perceived or actual isolation. Loneliness is also described as social paina psychological mechanism that motivates individuals to seek social connections. It is often associated with a perc ...
.
Crouch resigned as a minister in November 2018 over the delay in the reduction of the maximum stake for fixed odds betting terminals from £100 to £2. She, among others, had called for the new legislation to come into force in April 2019, with Crouch resigning when it was announced that the legislation would be delayed until October 2019. However, following parliamentary pressure, the Government announced that the measure would come into effect on 1 April 2019 after all.
Crouch initially backed Matt Hancock
Matthew John David Hancock (born 2 October 1978) is a British politician who served as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General from 2015 to 2016, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from January to July 20 ...
during the 2019 Conservative leadership election, but subsequently gave her support to 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 ...
upon Hancock's withdrawal. She was offered a job in Johnson's cabinet, which she turned down due to family commitments.
At the 2019 general election, Crouch was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 66.6% and an increased majority of 18,540.
In December 2019, Crouch proposed the loyal address to the Queen's Speech
A speech from the throne, or throne speech, is an event in certain monarchies in which the reigning sovereign, or their representative, reads a prepared speech to members of the nation's legislature when a session is opened. The address sets fo ...
.
In April 2021, Crouch was appointed to chair a review of English football following the controversy over the proposed European Super League.
On 14 December 2021, Crouch broke the party whip to vote against elements of the government's 'Plan B' COVID-19 restrictions
During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions), were implemented in numero ...
, including the introduction of vaccine passports and mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for NHS
The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...
staff. However, she voted in favour of the expansion of rules requiring mandatory face coverings in public places.
Crouch was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(CBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours
The 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those ...
for parliamentary and public service. She was promoted to Dame Commander of the same Order (DBE) in the 2024 Special Honours, again for parliamentary and public service.
In February 2024, Crouch announced that she would not seek re-election as an MP at the 2024 general election for "entirely personal and positive" reasons.
Personal life
Crouch is a qualified FA football coach and manages a youth girls' football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
team. She is a keen Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...
fan.
Crouch had always wanted to be sports minister, but had a miscarriage during the 2015 general election campaign, leaving her initially uncertain as to whether to take up David Cameron's offer of the post. She gave birth to her first child in February 2016 with her partner Steve Ladner, and became the first Conservative minister ever to take maternity leave
Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" and "paternity leave ...
.
On 24 June 2020, it was announced that Crouch had been diagnosed with breast cancer
Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...
but that her cancer was caught early and she had begun treatment. In February 2021, Crouch announced that she had completed her treatment.
On 14 February 2023 Crouch married her partner Steve Ladner at The Castle Westenhanger, near Hythe.
References
External links
Tracey Crouch MP
''official constituency website''
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crouch, Tracey
1975 births
Living people
People educated at Folkestone School for Girls
Alumni of the University of Hull
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
21st-century British women politicians
UK MPs 2010–2015
UK MPs 2015–2017
UK MPs 2017–2019
UK MPs 2019–2024
21st-century English women
21st-century English politicians
Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire