Brian Binley - Parliamentary Career

Parliamentary Career

Binley was the Parliamentary Agent for the Wyre Forest Conservative Association during the 1997 general election campaign. He was elected to Northamptonshire County Council in 1997, where he was a Cabinet Member. He was selected to contest the Labour-held the Parliamentary marginal seat of Northampton South, and defeated the sitting Labour MP Tony Clarke at the 2005 general election by over 4,000 votes. Binley made his maiden speech on 25 May 2005.

He was also a Northamptonshire County Councillor for Hackleton division but did not restand for the county council at elections held 4 June 2009.

Binley was re-elected in the 2010 general election, with an increased majority of 6,004.

In March 2012, Binley was reported as being one of the Conservative MPs to have spoken critically of Party Co-Chairman Sayeeda Warsi at a meeting of the 1922 Committee, following Lady Warsi's handling of Roger Helmer MEP's defection to UKIP and later called on her to resign saying she was guilty of "self-destructive lunacy". He is also a critic of David Cameron calling on him to "smell the coffee" after the Conservatives faced a terrible defeat in the 2012 local elections and even criticised Number 10 more widely and their attitude towards Conservative backbenchers. He also criticized David Cameron's decision to hire Andy Coulson.