James Duddridge

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James Philip Duddridge (born August 26, 1971) British politician. He is the Conservative MP for Rochford and Southend East.

Born in Bristol, James Duddridge was educated at the Huddersfield New College, The Blue School, Wells, and the University of Essex where he received a BA degree in government in 1993. He was elected as the chairman of the university's Conservative Association in 1990. He was previously the chairman of the Wells Young Conservatives in 1989 and at the same time he worked as a researcher in the Conservative Campaigns Department. In 1991 he became a researcher for Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin, until he joined Barclays Bank in 1993, originally as a retail and merchant banker, and then as a banker with the Swaziland branch, becoming a sales director in 1997 at the Banque Belgolaise in the Ivory Coast and the national sales manager for Barclays in 1998, where he was employed until his election to Westminster. He was a director of YouGov from 2000 until his election.

He unsuccessfully contested the Rother Valley constituency at the 2001 General Election, where he finished second some 14,882 votes behind the sitting Labour MP Kevin Barron. He then returned to Africa and worked as a banker in Botswana. He was selected to contest the Rochford and Southend East seat at the 2005 general election, after Teddy Taylor stepped down. James Duddridge held the seat with a majority of 5,494 and is the current sitting MP. He made his maiden speech on June 9, 2005. [1] Since his election he has been a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, he has also been a member of the International Development Committee since 2006. In January 2008 he was made a party whip.

James Duddridge married to Kathryn (Katy) Thompson in May 2004 in St Albans and they live in Southend-on-Sea; with their sons Tom and Henry, and their two cats. He is a keen supporter of both Southend United and Southampton.

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Preceded by
Teddy Taylor		 Member of Parliament for Rochford and Southend East
2005 – present		 Incumbent


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