Member of Parliament for Worcester
Minister for the Union, Northern Ireland Office & Scotland Office
Robin has been the MP for Worcester since 2010. He has championed the cause of fairer funding in education; he led the cross party f40 campaign which in 2014 secured £390 million extra for lower funded areas.
Robin has also led campaigns for local hospices and to support the free debt advice sector. In 2014 he was named C.A.B Parliamentarian of the Year on this issue and was elected Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Credit Unions in 2015.
As an Apprentice Champion, Robin is a member of the all-party group for Apprenticeships and the all-party group for Youth Employment. Within his PPS capacity, he supports the Education Secretary in her drive to ensure apprenticeships deliver valuable education and qualifications as well as to reform careers advice to strengthen the understanding of apprenticeships. He ran his own ‘100 in 100 campaign’ and put on an Apprenticeship and Enterprise Fair in conjunction with the Worcester News in the last Parliament and helped local companies to recruit hundreds more apprentices.
Robin served on the Business Innovation and Skills Committee from 2012 to 2015 where he focused on skills, apprenticeships, SME policy and business rates reform to improve opportunities for young people and businesses. He has supported cross party campaigns on fuel duty, prevention of metal theft, better regulation of payday lenders and financial education for young people. Robin spoke out to secure an EU referendum in 2011 and has consistently supported trusting the British people on this issue.
Robin served on the Welsh Affairs Select Committee between 2011 and 2012 and is an officer of a number of All Party Parliamentary Groups including Regeneration through Innovation, China and Trade out of Poverty. In 2013, Robin was appointed his first PPS role to the Minister of State for Northern Ireland which he undertook until 2014, when he was made PPS to the Secretary of State at DEFRA and worked with the Ministerial Team up until the 2015 General Election.
Having grown up in Worcestershire, Robin is passionate about making Worcester an even better place and has campaigned for better transport links, more jobs and apprenticeships, help for the High Street, and improvements to local health services. When he was first elected, he promised to be Worcester’s man in Westminster, and his record in Parliament proves that he has and continues to be.
After gaining a scholarship in Ancient and Modern History from Balliol College, Oxford, he set up his own business on leaving university. From 2003 to 2010 he pursued a successful career in business, working his way up from executive to partner at Finsbury Group, and he advised the Chief Executives and Finance Directors of some of the country’s leading industrial companies on their communications with the press and the financial community.
Robin is a regular supporter of both the Worcester Warriors and the Worcestershire County Cricket Club. He is married to Charlotte and when they have time they enjoy walking, reading, and travel.
Following Theresa May's appointment as Prime Minister in July 2016, Robin was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union.