Damien Moore (born 26 April 1980) is a British Conservative Party politician, who was Member of Parliament for Southport from 2017 to 2024.[2] He served as Assistant Government Whip from September to October 2022.[3]

Damien Moore
Official portrait, 2019
Assistant Government Whip
In office
20 September 2022 – 27 October 2022
Prime MinisterLiz Truss
Member of Parliament
for Southport
In office
8 June 2017 – 30 May 2024
Preceded byJohn Pugh
Succeeded byPatrick Hurley
Personal details
Born (1980-04-26) 26 April 1980 (age 44)[1]
Workington, Cumbria, England
Political partyConservative
Alma materUniversity of Central Lancashire
Websitewww.damienmooremp.com

Early life and career

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Damien Moore was born on 26 April 1980 in Workington, Cumbria.[4] He studied history at the University of Central Lancashire.[5] After graduating, he worked in various roles in the retail sector, gaining promotion to be a retail manager for Asda.[6]

Political career

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He was first elected as a councillor for the Conservative Party on Preston City Council in 2010 for the Greyfriars Ward.[7] He was re-elected with an increased majority on 5 May 2016. He has served as deputy leader of the Conservative group on the Council and as Chairman of the Preston Conservative Association. He unsuccessfully stood as the Conservative candidate in the Preston West division in the Lancashire County Council elections in 2013 and 2017.[8][9]

At the 2015 general election, Moore stood in Southport, coming second with 28% of the vote behind the incumbent Liberal Democrat MP John Pugh.[10][11]

Parliamentary career

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At the snap 2017 general election, Moore was elected to Parliament as MP for Southport with 38.7% of the vote and a majority of 2,914.[12]

On 11 September 2017, Damien Moore was appointed to the Petitions Committee. The committee assists members of the public in raising issues directly.[13] In January 2018 he was also appointed the Science and Technology Committee.[14]

In advance of the 2018 Preston City Council election, Moore resigned as a city councillor to focus on his parliamentary work.

In December 2019, Moore was placed 611 of 650 MPs in the 2019 People-Power Index, a health check of how Parliament is working and how our MPs are listening to and engaging with, their constituents.[15]

Moore was re-elected as MP for Southport at the 2019 general election with an increased vote share of 47.6% and an increased majority of 4,147.[16] His election campaign was viewed as contentious as Moore claimed he had secured £25 million from the New Towns Fund for Southport, when in fact the town actually had only the opportunity to bid for up to £25 million.[17]

On 21 October 2020, Moore was the only MP from Merseyside to vote against extending the 80% furlough rate for people forced out of work in tier three lockdown areas, despite his own constituency and Merseyside being in tier three lockdown at the time.[18]

Following Labour's motion calling to extend free school meals for the poorest children on 21 October 2020, Moore abstained and protestors sent a message of dissatisfaction by leaving paper plates with messages written on them outside Moore's office in Post Office Avenue, Southport.[19]

In October 2020, a group of Conservative MPs in northern England launched a new campaign group, The Northern Research Group. The aim of the group said was to pressure the government to stick to their post-election pledge of "levelling up" the north by spending money and increasing infrastructure projects in the area. Moore signed up to this group.[20] However, in a letter sent to the Boris Johnson from the Northern Research Group on the 26th October 2020 in which 41 named MPs expressed fears that the government's "levelling up" is being abandoned, Moore's name is absent.[21]

Personal life

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Moore lives in Southport.[22] He is openly gay.[23][24][25]

References

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  1. ^ "Members' Names Data Platform query". UK Parliament. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  2. ^ "Damien Moore MP". UK Parliament.
  3. ^ "Ministerial Appointments: September 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  4. ^ "Damien Moore selected as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Southport". Southport Conservatives. 30 April 2017.
  5. ^ "Moore, Damien". Who's Who. Vol. 2018 (February 2018 online ed.). A & C Black. Retrieved 13 February 2018. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  6. ^ Bona, Emilia (28 April 2017). "Conservatives choose Southport Parliamentary candidate for General Election". Southport Visiter.
  7. ^ "Councillor Damien Moore". Preston City Council. Archived from the original on 4 July 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  8. ^ "New leaders announced in Preston's Conservative group". Lancashire Evening Post. 14 May 2015. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  9. ^ Dale, Iain (7 September 2017). The Politicos Guide to the New House of Commons 2017.
  10. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  11. ^ "Southport". BBC News. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  12. ^ "Southport parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
  13. ^ "Membership - Petitions Committee". parliament.uk. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  14. ^ "Damien Moore MP". GOV.UK. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  15. ^ "Damien Moore MP - poor showing in the People Power Index". 6 December 2019.
  16. ^ "Southport Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  17. ^ "Labour accuse Tory MP of 'lying' about £25m funding for town". 11 December 2019.
  18. ^ Lally, Kate (21 October 2020). "Southport MP votes against 80% furlough for workers in his town". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  19. ^ "Empty Plates Protest mounted against Southport's MP Damien Moore". 27 October 2020.
  20. ^ "'Red Wall' Tory MPS form backbench group to campaign for northern England". 10 October 2020.
  21. ^ "Over 50 Tory MPS in northern England press PM for roadmap out of lockdown | World news | the Guardian". www.theguardian.com. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020.
  22. ^ "Making Britain the Best Place to Grow Up and Grow Old". 16 May 2022.
  23. ^ Hovden, Martin (12 June 2017). "Damien Moore. As a gay MP I support Prime Minister's equal rights assurance". Qlocal Southport. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  24. ^ Reynolds, Andrew (5 June 2017). "General Election 2017: UK Set to Break Record for Highest Number of LGBTQ MPs After General Election". Pink News.
  25. ^ "As a gay MP, I Support PM's Equal Rights Assurance". OTS News. 12 June 2017.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Southport

2017–present
Incumbent