Christopher Pincher MP Overview Christopher Pincher is the new Housing Minister, appointed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in his February re-shuffle. He is the 10th Housing Minister since 2010 and 19th since 1997, taking over the position from Esther McVey. He is the member of Parliament for Tamworth and was first elected in 2010. During his time as an MP he has served as Deputy Government Chief Whip and Treasurer of the Household, alongside Minister of State for Europe and the Americas. Background Before entering Parliament, Pincher’s professional background was as an IT Consultant. He has been an active member of the Conservative Party since the political turbulence of the 80s, previously serving as Chairman of the Islington North Constituency Association. He was vocal on housing issues before he was elected to Parliament, once calling on housebuilding giant, Persimmon, to resume and complete construction of the Tame Alloys Estate in Wilnecote when it was half built at the time. Pincher’s parliamentary career has featured him being vocal on a number of occasions. Notably, he was once a strong critic of HS2 because of the initially proposed route to go through parts of his Tamworth constituency and defended most affected residents against accusations of nimbyism. What can we expect? There is already a significant amount of speculation about what we can expect to see from the new Housing Minister. Based on his past, we know that Pincher has a balanced approach to development without clear biases; this can be seen with his proactive approach to pushing Persimmon with the Tame Alloys Estate on the one hand and taking the side of residents with HS2 on the other. His past voting record has been marked with Pincher: • Voting to reduce housing benefit for social housing tenants • Voting against raising welfare benefits to be in line with prices • Phasing out secure tenancies • Charging a market rent to high earners renting a council home We will need to wait and see how long Pincher is allowed to settle into the role before becoming just another former Housing Minister. In all likelihood, we see him put in this position for his ability to toe the party line (a key theme with some of Boris Johnson’s re- shuffle appointments) expecting him to stick to the Government’s manifesto priorities, namely the key messaging and target of building 300,000 homes a year in England by the mid 2020s and 1 million by the end of the Parliament. In short, we expect more of the same. Contact Email – [email protected] Phone – 020 7219 7169.