Chris Loder
Chris Loder | |
|---|---|
 Loder in 2020 | |
| Member of Parliament for West Dorset | |
| In office 12 December 2019 – 30 May 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Oliver Letwin |
| Succeeded by | Edward Morello |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 September 1981 Sherborne, Dorset, England[1] |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Occupation | Politician |
Christopher Lionel John Loder[2] (born 5 September 1981)[3] is a British Conservative politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Dorset from 2019[4] to 2024.[5]
Early life and career
[edit]Christopher Loder was born on 5 September 1981 in Sherborne. He grew up near Folke in Dorset on his parents' farm and attended The Gryphon School in Sherborne. Aged 18, he joined South West Trains as a train guard. He stayed in the rail industry, rising to becoming head of new trains for South Western Railway,[6] until his election to Parliament in 2019.[1]
Political career
[edit]Loder became parish clerk for Bishops Caundle in 1998, and was awarded the young person's merit award for commitment to the local community.[1] He was elected to West Dorset District Council to represent the ward of Cam Vale in a 2013 by-election. The district was subject to a boundary review and Loder was not re-elected in 2015 when the seat became a two-member ward. Loder was chairman of West Dorset Conservatives for more than three years until August 2019.
Parliamentary career
[edit]At the 2019 general election, Loder was elected to Parliament as MP for West Dorset with 55.1% of the vote and a majority of 14,106.[7]
He was a member of the Common Sense Group which represents the socially conservative wing of the Conservative Party.[8][9] Following an interim report on the connections between colonialism and properties now in the care of the National Trust, including links with historic slavery, Loder was among the signatories of a letter to The Daily Telegraph in November 2020 from the Common Sense Group. The letter accused the National Trust of being "coloured by cultural Marxist dogma, colloquially known as the 'woke agenda'".[10][11]
Loder attracted controversy in February 2022, when he implied police should not prioritise investigating the death of a white-tailed eagle, after it emerged he received a £14,000 donation from Ilchester Estates, who operate shoots in his constituency.[12][13] The police investigation was later abruptly closed.[14]
In February 2024, Loder was re-selected as the Conservative candidate for West Dorset at the 2024 general election,[15] but lost the seat to Liberal Democrat challenger Edward Morello by 26,999 votes to 19,210, a margin of 7,789.[5] Notably this historic defeat meant that he became the first Conservative ever to have lost in West Dorset since the constituency was created in 1885.[16]
Personal life
[edit]One of Loder's hobbies is bell ringing at local churches in Dorset.[17]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "About Chris Loder". Conservative Party (UK). Archived from the original on 29 January 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
- ^ "Members Sworn". Hansard.parliament.uk. 17 December 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
- ^ Brunskill, Ian (19 March 2020). The Times guide to the House of Commons 2019 : the definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General Election. HarperCollins Publishers Limited. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC 1129682574.
- ^ "Dorset West Parliamentary Constituency results". BBC News. 12 December 2019.
- ^ a b "Results of the UK Parliamentary General Election on 4 July 2024". Dorset Council. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
- ^ Lea, Martin (1 October 2019). "Chris Loder new Conservative Parliamentary candidate for West Dorset". Retrieved 12 December 2019.
- ^ "Statement of Persons Nominated" (PDF).
- ^ Steerpike (12 May 2021). "Tories unveil anti-woke manifesto | The Spectator". www.spectator.co.uk. Archived from the original on 17 May 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
- ^ Maddox, David S. James (8 May 2021). "Common Sense book launched by MPs to take on wokeism in British culture war". Daily Express. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
- ^ "Britain's heroes". Letter to the Daily Telegraph. 9 November 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
{{cite press release}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ "Letter to the Telegraph". Sir Edward Leigh. 11 November 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
- ^ Horton, Helena; reporter, Helena Horton Environment (15 February 2022). "MP who said eagles not welcome in constituency received funds from shooting estate". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
- ^ "Dorset MP criticises police for investigating eagle deaths". BirdGuides. 12 February 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
- ^ "Dorset Police drops investigation into poisoned White-tailed Eagle". BirdGuides. 30 March 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
- ^ "Chris Loder MP reselected as Conservative candidate to contest West Dorset". Chris Loder. 16 November 2023. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
- ^ "West Dorset (UK Parliament constituency)". Retrieved 9 July 2024.
- ^ "Bell ringing in Dorset". Twitter.com. 27 October 2019.
