Felicia Jane "Flick" Beatrix Drummond[3] (née Shepherd; born 16 June 1962) is a British Conservative Party politician. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Meon Valley from 2019 until 2024, having previously represented Portsmouth South from 2015 to 2017.
Flick Drummond | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2019 | |
| Member of Parliament for Meon Valley | |
| In office 12 December 2019 – 30 May 2024 | |
| Preceded by | George Hollingbery |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South | |
| In office 7 May 2015 – 3 May 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Mike Hancock |
| Succeeded by | Stephen Morgan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Felicia Jane Beatrix Shepherd[1] 16 June 1962[2] Aden, Aden Protectorate (now Yemen) |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | Hereward John Heneage Drummond |
| Children | 4 |
| Education | Roedean School, East Sussex |
| Alma mater | University of Hull University of Southampton |
| Website | www |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Branch/service | Territorial Army Intelligence Corps |
Early life
editDrummond was born on 16 June 1962 in Aden, then part of the Aden Protectorate. She is the daughter of diplomat George Anthony Shepherd (1931–1996), who had served in the 4th Royal Tank Regiment, Trucial Oman Scouts, and 2nd Royal Tank Regiment,[1] and Sarah Eirlys, née Adamson.[4] She was privately educated at Roedean School, before studying at both Hull University and Southampton University. Drummond is also a graduate of the Royal College of Defence Studies and has completed two terms on the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme
Political career
editDrummond sat on Winchester City Council from 1996 to 2000, before being expelled from the council after failing to attend a meeting for six months.[5] During this time, she moved to the United States.
Drummond returned to the UK in 2004, and was selected to stand for Parliament in Southampton Itchen in the 2005 general election, where she won 26.8% of the vote and came second behind the incumbent Labour MP John Denham.[6] At the 2010 general election, Drummond stood for Parliament in Portsmouth South, where she won 33.3% of the vote and came second behind the incumbent Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock.[7][8]
At the 2015 general election, Drummond contested Portsmouth South again, and was elected to Parliament, winning 34.8% of the vote and a majority of 5,241 over the Liberal Democrats' Gerald Vernon-Jackson.[9] From 2015 to 2017, Drummond was a member of the Women and Equalities Committee.
Drummond campaigned to remain in the European Union in the 2016 Referendum.[10] She stated in 2016 that the referendum result diminished and would lessen Britain's influence in Europe.[11]
At the 2017 general election, Drummond was defeated in Portsmouth South by Labour's Stephen Morgan, coming second with 37.6% of the vote.[12]
In October 2018, Drummond was elected Voluntary Director of the Conservative Policy Forum by the National Conservative Convention.
In November 2019, Drummond was selected as the prospective parliamentary candidate for the safe Conservative seat of Meon Valley to replace the retiring incumbent George Hollingbery. At the 2019 general election, she was elected as MP for Meon Valley with 64.3% of the vote and a majority of 23,555.[13] As a consequence she stood down as the Conservative candidate for Hampshire at the 2020 England and Wales police and crime commissioner elections.[14]
Between February and September 2020 Drummond served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Anne-Marie Trevelyan as Secretary of State for International Development[15] before becoming PPS to Thérèse Coffey at the Department for Work and Pensions.[16] In October 2022, Drummond was appointed to the Commons Public Accounts Committee and the Education Select Committee.
As a result the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, her Meon Valley constituency was dissolved ahead of the 2024 general election, with its territory divided between several new or revised constituencies, and not forming the majority or largest segment of any new constituency.[17] On 5 April 2023, she faced a vote of local party members to become the candidate for the new seat of Fareham and Waterlooville, which took in the largest segment (45.7%) of her dismembered Meon Valley constituency; her opponent and then Home Secretary Suella Braverman, whose Fareham constituency formed the (slight) majority of the new seat.[18][17] Braverman won the vote by 77 votes to 54.[19]
In July 2023, Drummond was selected to contest the 2024 general election as the Conservative candidate for the redrawn Winchester constituency, which had its boundaries changed to include slightly less than a quarter of Drummond's abolished Meon Valley seat.[20][21] The election took place on 4 July 2024; she lost to Liberal Democrat Danny Chambers by a wide margin of 13,821 votes (24.2%).
Personal life
editIn 1987, she married Heneage Drummond, a descendant of the Jacobite soldier William Drummond, 4th Viscount Strathallan, of the family of the Earls of Perth. They have four children and three grandchildren.[1] Before entering politics, Drummond was a lay inspector for Ofsted. She has also served as Chair of Governors at Milton Park Primary School and a trustee of Salterns Academy Trust in Portsmouth.
Publications
edit- No Blame Game – The Future for Children's Social Workers for the Conservative Party Commission on Social Workers (October 2007)
- Women Returners, Annual report for Women and Work APPG (2016)
- Brexit and Beyond edited by George Freeman MP – chapter on Coastal Communities (2019)
- The Future of Education, One Nation Conservatives (2020)
References
edit- ^ a b c Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage. Vol. 3 (107th ed.). Burke's Peerage. p. 3107.
- ^ Dale, Iain; Smith, Jacqui (2019). The Honourable Ladies : Volume II: Profiles of Women MPs 1997–2019. La Vergne: Biteback Publishing. ISBN 9781785904479.
- ^ "No. 61230". The London Gazette. 18 May 2015. pp. 9124–9125.
- ^ Who was Who, St Martin's Press, 1996, p. 527
- ^ "Gearing up for a good, clean fight". Daily Echo. 19 April 2000. Archived from the original on 14 November 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
- ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ^ "Politics". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ "Portsmouth South parliamentary constituency – Election 2019 – BBC News". Archived from the original on 14 February 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
- ^ Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 22 October 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
- ^ Elgot, Jessica; Mason, Rowena (2 October 2016). "Don't trust Brexit 'three blind mice', says Tory former minister". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 August 2024. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
- ^ "Portsmouth South parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". BBC News. Archived from the original on 14 February 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
- ^ "Meon Valley parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Archived from the original on 30 January 2024. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
- ^ "New MP Flick Drummond stands down as Tory PCC candidate". Hampshire Chronicle. 3 January 2020. Archived from the original on 24 August 2024. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- ^ "Flick appointed PPS". Conservative and Unionist Party. 25 February 2020. Archived from the original on 24 December 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
- ^ "Flick joins Department for Work and Pensions". Conservative and Unionist Party. 22 February 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
- ^ a b "South East: New Constituency Boundaries 2023". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 8 May 2024. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
- ^ Atkinson, William (28 February 2023). "Braverman, Drummond, and Fareham. The Home Secretary is not the local champion that some party members are looking for". Conservative Home. Archived from the original on 19 March 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
- ^ James, Liam (5 April 2023). "Suella Braverman wins 'battle of Waterlooville' in Tory contest for new seat 6 April 2023". Independent. Archived from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
- ^ "Boundary review 2023: Which seats will change in the UK?". House of Commons Library. Archived from the original on 8 November 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
- ^ "Conservatives choose candidate for the next General Election". Hampshire Chronicle. 21 July 2023. Archived from the original on 23 July 2023. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
External links
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