Sarah Olney
Sarah Olney | |
|---|---|
 Olney in 2019 | |
| Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Energy and Climate Change | |
| Assumed office 1 September 2020 | |
| Leader | Sir Ed Davey |
| Preceded by | Wera Hobhouse |
| Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Business and Industrial Strategy | |
| Assumed office 6 January 2020 | |
| Leader | Sir Ed Davey |
| Preceded by | Sam Gyimah (Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) |
| Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Transport | |
| Assumed office 6 January 2020 | |
| Leader | Sir Ed Davey |
| Preceded by | Wera Hobhouse |
| Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Education | |
| In office 8 May 2017 – 16 June 2017 | |
| Leader | Tim Farron |
| Preceded by | John Pugh |
| Succeeded by | Layla Moran |
| Member of Parliament for Richmond Park | |
| Assumed office 12 December 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Zac Goldsmith |
| Majority | 7,766 (11.9%) |
| In office 2 December 2016 – 3 May 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Zac Goldsmith |
| Succeeded by | Zac Goldsmith |
| Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for International Trade | |
| In office 6 January 2020 – 1 September 2020 | |
| Leader | Sir Ed Davey & Mark Pack (Acting) |
| Preceded by | Chuka Umunna |
| Succeeded by | Christine Jardine |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Sarah Jane McGibbon 11 January 1977 Frimley, Surrey, England |
| Political party | Liberal Democrats |
| Spouse |
Benjamin Olney (m. 2002) |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | King's College London |
| Website | Official Website |
Sarah Jane Olney (née McGibbon; born 11 January 1977)[1][2] is a former CFO, British Liberal Democrat politician and an accountant[3] serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond Park since 2019, and previously from 2016 to 2017. Olney has served as the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Transport and for Business and Industrial Strategy since January 2020. She has also served as the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Energy and Climate Change under Sir Ed Davey since September 2020.
She was initially the constituency's MP for six months, from a by-election in December 2016 to the general election in June 2017, having won the seat from Zac Goldsmith of the Conservative Party. Two years later, she regained the seat at the 2019 general election. She was the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for International Trade from January 2020 to September 2020, and was Spokesperson for Education from May 2017 to June 2017.
Early life and career
Olney was born in Frimley, Surrey.[4][5] She was educated at All Hallows Catholic School in Farnham and then studied English literature at King's College London.[6][7]
Olney is a qualified accountant.[8] She worked as an accountant at Barclays, Arts & Business, Distilled Ltd, SCi Sales Group and the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington until she entered politics after the 2015 General Election.[9][10]
Political career
Olney joined the Liberal Democrats in July 2015, soon after the general election, in realisation that she was a liberal dissatisfied with the direction of the United Kingdom.[10][11]
On 25 October 2016, Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith announced his resignation from the House of Commons over his objection to his party's support for a third runway at Heathrow Airport, triggering a by-election in his seat of Richmond Park.[12] Goldsmith stood in the by-election as an independent candidate although he remained a Conservative party member with the support of Nigel Farage's UKIP, who along with the Conservative party, did not put forward a candidate. On 30 October 2016, Olney was announced as the Liberal Democrats' candidate for the by-election.[13][14]
On 1 December 2016, after overturning a majority of over 23,000 votes, Olney was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond Park.[15] She received 20,510 votes (49.6% of total votes), giving her a majority of 1,872 votes (4.5%).[11] She was the only female Liberal Democrat MP in the 2015–2017 parliament. Shortly after her election, Olney ended a radio interview in which she was pressed on her support for a second Brexit referendum. Supporting a second referendum became official Liberal Democrat policy shortly after.[16][17]
In the run-up to the 2017 General Election, Olney was recorded urging Liberal Democrats to vote for Labour MPs in seats where Labour candidates stood a better chance of defeating Conservatives than the Liberal Democrat candidates.[18] Olney referred to the Liberal Democrat candidate for Ealing Central and Acton as a "paper candidate" and voiced her support for the Labour Party incumbent Rupa Huq. It was reported by the Evening Standard in April 2018 that Olney had been interviewed under caution by the police for allegedly breaking official spending limits in the Richmond Park by-election. The Crown Prosecution Service ruled that there was no evidence and closed the case.[19]
In the 2017 general election, Olney narrowly lost her seat to Goldsmith, who stood as the Conservative candidate, polling 45.07% of the vote to Goldsmith's 45.14%, giving Goldsmith a majority of 45.[20]
On 9 September 2017 it was announced that she would be taking up the post of chief of staff for Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable.[21]
In 2019, she was officially confirmed as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Richmond Park at the next general election.[22] She won the election.[23]
Views
On the topic of Brexit, Olney voted against the triggering of Article 50, as she had indicated during the by-election campaign that she would do.[24][15] She believes another referendum should be held once the exact terms of Britain's exit from the EU have been announced.[25] When challenged about this in an interview by Julia Hartley-Brewer, Olney could not defend her position.[26] Olney opposes the building of a third runway at Heathrow Airport.[27]
Personal life
Olney has two children with her husband Ben, a town planner.[13]
See also
References
- ^ Hope, Christopher; Henderson, Barney. "Richmond Park by-election: Lib Dems' Sarah Olney defeats Zac Goldsmith". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
- ^ "Perspective on Politics" (PDF). InTouch. London: King's College London. Spring 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
- ^ "Interview: Sarah Olney ACCA, Liberal Democrat MP | ACCA Global". www.accaglobal.com. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
- ^ "Sarah Olney interview part 1: Before becoming an MP". Liberal Democrat Voice. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
- ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
- ^ "All Hallows Catholic School Newsletter" (PDF). allhallows.net. All Hallows Catholic School. December 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
- ^ Nagesh, Ashitha (2 December 2016). "Who is Sarah Olney, Richmond Park's new MP who ousted Zac Goldsmith?". Metro. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
- ^ Henderson, Barney (2 December 2016). "Richmond Park by-election: Lib Dems' Sarah Olney defeats Zac Goldsmith in Brexit backlash". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016.
- ^ "Sarah Olney". uk.linkedin.com. LinkedIn.
- ^ a b Murphy, Joe (23 November 2016). "Lib Dem Sarah Olney: 'Beating Zac Goldsmith in the Richmond Park by-election would be a Brexit game-changer'". London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016.
- ^ a b "Lib Dems oust Goldsmith in by-election". BBC News. 2 December 2016. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
- ^ Mason, Rowena; Topham, Gwyn; Elgot, Jessica (25 October 2016). "Zac Goldsmith to resign as Heathrow decision sparks Tory unrest". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 December 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
- ^ a b "Sarah Olney selected for Richmond Park". libdems.org.uk. Liberal Democrats. 30 October 2016. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
- ^ Press Association (30 October 2016). "Lib Dems' Sarah Olney to contest Richmond Park byelection". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
- ^ a b Craig, Jon (2 December 2016). "Lib Dem Sarah Olney beats Zac Goldsmith in Richmond Park by-election". Sky News. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
- ^ Horton, Helana (2 December 2016). "Lib Dems' new MP Sarah Olney dragged off-air after Brexit grilling in car crash radio interview". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
- ^ Elgot, Jessica (25 December 2016). "Sarah Olney: 'There is something symbolic about this victory'". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
- ^ Laura Hughes, Political Correspondent (8 May 2017). "Revealed: Sir Vince Cable urges Lib Dem supporters to back Labour candidates in general election". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
{{cite web}}:|author=has generic name (help) - ^ Murphy, Joe (27 April 2018). "Police quiz ex-Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney over by-election 'spending breach'". Evening Standard. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
- ^ "Election 2017: Richmond Park". BBC News. 9 September 2017. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
- ^ Mark Pack (9 September 2017). "Vince Cable appoints new Chief of Staff". Archived from the original on 3 December 2017. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
- ^ Pack, Mark. "Sarah Olney re-selected in Richmond Park constituency". www.markpack.org.uk. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
{{cite web}}: External link in|ref= - ^ https://www.bbc.com/news/politics/constituencies/E14000896
- ^ Batchelor, Tom (1 February 2017). "Article 50 Brexit vote: Full list of MPs who backed Theresa May starting official EU negotiations – and those who voted against". The Independent. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
- ^ Asthana, Anushka (2 December 2016). "Push for hard Brexit led to Richmond Park win, says new Lib Dem MP". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-DHqFikHoA
- ^ Gillett, Francesca (2 December 2016). "Who is Sarah Olney? What you need to know about the Liberal Democrat who ousted Zac Goldsmith from Richmond Park". London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
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