Andrew Rosindell - Parliamentary Career

Parliamentary Career

After unsuccessful attempts to win seats in Glasgow and Thurrock, Rosindell finally reached Parliament in the 2001 general election, defeating the former teacher and Labour MP, Eileen Gordon. Rosindell won 18,931 votes (53% share) – a swing of 9.2% from Labour to Conservative. It was one of the few seats the Conservatives managed to regain after the Labour landslide at the 1997 election. During the election he campaigned with his Staffordshire Bull Terrier Spike, who wore a union flag waistcoat.

At the 2005 election Rosindell increased his majority to 11,589, winning 21,560 votes on a 59.1% share. This was the second highest Conservative share of the vote anywhere in the UK. During the election campaign a clash between Labour and Conservative activists distributing leaflets at Romford railway station resulted in the police being called.

Blogger Paul Staines has said Rosindell is "becoming a left-wing hate figure", as well as calling him a future Mayor of London. He has also been called a "local champion who defied the trend in 2001 winning Romford from Labour. He is 'Mr Romford' in tune with his voters and viewed as a local son and 'our MP'".

Rosindell's political views are firmly right-wing: he is a Eurosceptic and supports the re-introduction of the death penalty and the detention of asylum seekers. He is a member of the Freedom Association, and was a member of the Monday Club, until he was compelled to resign in 2001 by the then Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith.

Rosindell was elected a vice-chairman of the Conservative Party in 2004, and in December 2005, he became an Opposition Whip. In July 2007, he was appointed as a Shadow Minister for Home Affairs. On 5 February 2008 Rosindell became founding chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Flag Group (APPFG) on which day he also introduced The Union Flag Bill (under the Ten Minute Rule, SO No 23). In April 2010 the APPFG changed its name to the Flags & Heraldry Committee.

At the 2010 election Rosindell increased his majority to 16,594, winning 26,031 votes on a 56.0% share. He has since been elected onto the Foreign Affairs Select Committee as well as taking the Chairmanship of various all-party parliamentary group's. In July 2010 Rosindell was appointed by the Chairman of the Conservative Party, Sayeeda Warsi, onto the board of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy.

In September 2010 Rosindell again courted controversy when he sponsored the first Erotica event to be held in the Houses of Parliament. Rosindell maintained that he was promoting the hosts, a Romford based business, as is his constituency duty.

On June 23, 2011, Rosindell opposed the ban on animals in circuses, saying that "these animals are born in captivity and know no different". The ban was introduced by fellow MPs without the need for a vote.

In January 2012, he proposed that Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories should be represented in the UK parliament like dependencies of Australia, Denmark, France and the Netherlands have been.

On 11 July 2012, Rosindell introduced the United Kingdom Borders Bill, a private member's bill "to allow subjects of Her Majesty's realms to enter the United Kingdom through a dedicated channel at international terminals, to ensure that all points of entry to the United Kingdom at airports, ports and terminals display prominently a portrait of Her Majesty as Head of State, the Union Flag and other national symbols; to rename and re-establish the UK Border Agency as 'Her Majesty's Border Police'; and to enhance the Agency's powers to protect and defend the borders of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland." In support of the bill, Rosindell stated, inter alia, that "it is a travesty that citizens from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Jamaica have to queue up in the foreign nationals channel at London Heathrow airport, while citizens from European Union countries that have never had any historical connection to the Crown or the United Kingdom — and that, in recent times, have fought against us in war — are allowed to enter alongside British citizens by virtue of their EU membership. We should surely extend that basic courtesy to all Her Majesty's loyal subjects from the overseas realms that have enjoyed an enduring relationship with the United Kingdom and the Crown since long before the genesis of the European Union."