Minister without Portfolio
Responsibilities
Current role holder
Richard Holden MP
Richard Holden was appointed Minister without Portfolio in the Cabinet Office on 13 November 2023.
He was previously Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport between 28 October 2022 and 13 November 2023. He was elected as the MP for North West Durham in 2019.
Education
Richard grew up in the Pennine village of Grindleton where he attended the local village primary school, before attending a grammar school in Skipton. He went to sixth form in Blackburn before going on to study at the London School of Economics, where he graduated in 2007.
Political Career
Richard served on the Public Accounts Committee from 2019-2021 and on the European Statutory Instruments Committee until his appointment. He has been part of UK parliamentary delegations to international bodies for democracy, such as the Council of Europe and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. He was a parliamentary private secretary to DCMS, then briefly at DfT and DIT.
Before joining the government, Richard was involved in several campaigns, including leading parliamentary effort to ban hymenoplasty and so-called virginity testing, for which he was given the ‘true honour’ award by IKWRO. Richard also actively led on the campaign for lower duty on draught beer, being awarded ‘Parliamentarian of the Year’ by the All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPG) on pubs. Immediately prior to becoming a minister, he was leading a private members bill to extent auto-enrolment on pensions to younger and part-time workers.
Career outside politics
Richard’s first jobs were as a waiter and barman. He has since worked in both the public and private sectors as well as on political campaigns.
Personal life
Richard lives in Wolsingham, where he enjoys cooking roast dinners, visiting local pubs and walking in the Durham Dales.