Early life and career
Craig Whittaker was born on 30 August 1962 in Radcliffe,Greater Manchester. Whittaker emigrated to Australia at the age of five with his parents. In 1984,he returned to England and settled in Yorkshire. His father was a boiler maker and his mother a seamstress. [5] He was a Retail General Manager for a high street retailer and was involved in Retail Management from leaving high school in Australia,after completing his Higher School Certificate. [6] He was the Branch Manager at Wilkinson for six years and then became the Retail General Manager for PC World for an eleven-year period until 2009. [7] During his time living in Heptonstall,a village in the borough,he served on the Parish Council from 1998 to 2003. [8]
In 2003,Whittaker was elected for the Conservative Party to Calderdale Council for the Brighouse Ward,gaining the seat from the Labour Party. [9] He stood down from the Council at the 2004 local elections. In 2007,he was once again elected to Calderdale Council,this time for the neighbouring ward of Rastrick,securing 1,336 votes for the Conservatives and increasing the Party's majority. [10] During this period,Whittaker served as the Cabinet Member for Children &Young People. [6] Whittaker is a former Chair of the Calder Valley Conservatives [8] and a former Conservative Party agent who managed the unsuccessful 2005 general election campaign of Liz Truss,then the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Calder Valley. [11]
Parliamentary career
Whittaker was selected to be the Conservative Party's candidate for Calder Valley in March 2007. [6] At the 2010 general election,he was elected as MP for Calder Valley with 39.4% of the vote and a majority of 6,431. [12] [13] [14] [15]
Whittaker served on the Education Select Committee in the 2010–2015 Parliament. [16] He set up a charity,Together for Lookeing after Children,to support the life chances of children in care in Calderdale,which he discussed in his maiden speech in Parliament in 2010. [17] [18] During his time on the committee,he spoke out against the Government on occasion and criticised policy in relation to transferring responsibility for careers advice to schools,describing it as a "bit of a pigs ear". [19] He also served as chair for the Parliamentary group for children in care. [20]
Whittaker was one of 79 Conservative MPs who supported a 2011 rebel motion calling for a referendum on the EU. [21] [22]
In May 2012,he argued against legalising same sex-marriage on the basis it could lead to successive governments supporting polygamy or "three way marriages". [23]
He also joined a 2013 rebel amendment expressing regret at not including the referendum in the government's plans. [24]
In the run up to the 2015 general election,Whittaker was criticised on social media for sharing,via a tweet,a Daily Mail newspaper column by Richard Littlejohn headlined "Vote Labour? I'd rather trust Jimmy Savile to babysit". [20] [25] Whittaker was re-elected as MP for Calder Valley at the 2015 general election with an increased vote share of 43.6% and a decreased majority of 4,427. [26] [27]
In June 2015,he was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Immigration Minister James Brokenshire. He was subsequently appointed as PPS to the Secretary of State for Culture,Media and Sport,Karen Bradley. [4]
Whittaker supported Remain during the 2016 EU membership referendum. [28] Following the referendum he said he supported the result and the government's position on triggering Article 50. [29]
At the snap 2017 general election,Whittaker was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 46.1% and a decreased majority of 609. [30]
In October 2019,Whittaker was among 11 West Yorkshire MPs to urge the government go ahead with the Leeds branch of the HS2 railway. [31]
Whittaker was again re-elected at the 2019 general election,with an increased vote share of 51.9% and an increased majority of 5,774. [32]
In July 2020,Whittaker said that BAME people in the United Kingdom were responsible for increases in COVID-19 cases and that they were failing to exercise precaution,stating in a radio interview with LBC that:"If you look at the areas where we've seen rises and cases,the vast majority –but not by any stretch of the imagination all areas –it is the BAME communities that are not taking this seriously enough". [33] [34] He pointed to Muslim,immigrant and Asian communities particularly in West Yorkshire. [33] [35] The Muslim Council of Britain criticised Whittaker's claims. [36]
In March 2022,Whittaker argued against reform of the gambling industry during a Westminster Hall debate. Despite this,he had accepted Euro 2020 tickets worth more than £3,000 from Entain,which owns a number of betting companies including Coral,Partypoker and Ladbrokes. [37]
Whittaker was appointed as deputy chief whip,serving under chief whip Wendy Morton,on 7 September 2022,after Liz Truss became Prime Minister. During the October government crisis,Whittaker and Morton were thought to have resigned after a contentious vote on fracking plunged the government into further turmoil. [38] Morton and Whittaker,in the event,were not replaced by Truss and stayed in their posts until after Truss's own resignation less than 48 hours later. After Rishi Sunak became prime minister,Whittaker was replaced as deputy chief whip on 27 October 2022 by Marcus Jones.
In March 2023,he announced that he would stand down at the next general election. [39]
In November 2023,Whittaker criticized the Gambling Commission in an article published by ConservativeHome,arguing that "all too often [the Commission] takes a heavy-handed approach to their work". Over the course of 2023 Whittaker received more than £8,000 in hospitality and payments from the betting industry. [40]
