Robbie Moore is the Conservative MP for Keighley and Ilkley, having first been elected to parliament for the predecessor seat of Keighley at the 2019 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Moore won 18,589 votes, representing 40.2% of the vote. The Labour candidate, John Grogan, received 16,964 votes (36.7%), while the Reform UK candidate, Andrew Judson, secured 4,782 votes (10.4%). Moore was duly elected with a majority of 1,625 votes.

The Keighley and Ilkley constituency is located in West Yorkshire. Although the constituency name was formally changed for the 2024 election, the boundaries remained unchanged from the previous Keighley seat. It is considered a marginal seat, having changed hands between Labour and the Conservatives several times since 1997.

In 2024, Moore’s vote share of 40.2% outperformed the average Conservative vote share nationally by some 16 points. The national 10:00 pm exit poll on election night put the likelihood of a Labour gain in Keighley and Ilkley at “99%+”.

Political Career

Moore was appointed as shadow minister of state for environment, food and rural affairs in July 2024, taking up the post in the interim/caretaker shadow cabinet created after the general election of that year under Rishi Sunak’s leadership. Kemi Badenoch, elected Conservative leader in November 2024, retained Moore in this post in her inaugural shadow ministerial reshuffle, July 2025 reshuffle and August/September 2026 reshuffle.

Moore is a member of the House of Commons home affairs select committee (since October 2024) – the committee responsible for scrutinising the work of the Home Office and its associated bodies. It examines government policy, spending and the law in areas including immigration, security and policing.

Additionally, Moore is a member of the House of Commons petitions committee (since October 2024) – the committee responsible for considering e-petitions submitted on parliament’s petitions website and public (paper) petitions presented to the commons.

Moore served as parliamentary under-secretary of state for water and rural growth from November 2023 until the July 2024 general election. Before this, he was parliamentary private secretary (PPS) at the Department for Education from October 2022 to November 2023.

Moore was previously a member of the House of Commons environment, food and rural affairs committee from March 2020 to January 2024.

Moore is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for Islamic and ethical finance.

Moore delivered his maiden speech on 5 February 2020 during a debate on local government finance.

In it, he said: “I am going to put Keighley back on the map as the No. 1 place to live, work and thrive. We need to revive and revitalise our town centre and get businesses booming again. We have a rich history, but our potential is so much more exciting.

“We have world-class manufacturing businesses based in Keighley, and now is the time to go forth and seize new trading opportunities, to become nationally – in fact, internationally – recognised as a centre of engineering excellence.”

He added: “It is an awesome feeling to be standing here speaking in this place, having started my role in politics in local government. I will never forget the moment when I walked in here for the first time, with goose bumps on my shoulder, and took my place on these green benches.”

Before entering parliament, Moore served as a Conservative councillor on Alnwick Town Council and Northumberland County Council from 2017 until 2019.

He stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate in the 2019 Northumbria police and crime commissioner by-election.

Political views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Tory leadership 2022 (I): Moore supported Penny Mordaunt’s candidacy in the Conservative Party’s July-September 2022 leadership election. The contest was triggered by the resignation of Boris Johnson, following the mass exodus of more than 60 frontbenchers.

Mordaunt, the international trade minister, was described as a “socially liberal Brexiteer”. She was narrowly overtaken by Liz Truss in the final round. Mordaunt was thereby eliminated in the fifth parliamentary ballot on 20 July after receiving 105 votes.

Tory leadership 2022 (II): Moore also supported Mordaunt’s candidacy in the Conservative Party’s October 2022 leadership election. The contest was triggered by the resignation of Liz Truss after just 45 days in office, following the financial and political tailspin triggered by her “mini-budget”.

Mordaunt, now the leader of the House of Commons, had finished third in the previous contest. Unlike the summer contest, this election featured an expedited process requiring each candidate to secure at least 100 nominations from MPs to proceed. Mordaunt withdrew from the contest on 24 October, shortly before the deadline, after being unable to secure the required number of nominations.

Factional identity and party tradition

Conservative Environment Network: Moore is listed as a member of the Conservative Environment Network (CEN) parliamentary caucus. CEN is an independent forum for conservatives that supports conservation and decarbonisation. It calls for the environment to be given a higher profile at the heart of policy making, describing “biodiversity loss, climate change, and wasteful resource use are threats to our national security”, and promotes “market-based policies” to environmental challenges. Members of its parliamentary caucus, such as Moore, are thought to generally align with the group’s “green” message and environmentalism.

Bright Blue: Moore has been listed as a parliamentary supporter of Bright Blue, an independent centre-right think tank and membership organisation that champions liberal conservatism in the UK. Since its founding in 2014, the organisation has expanded its reach through a new cross-party strategy.

Northern Research Group: In the 2019-2024 parliament, Moore was listed as a member of the Northern Research Group (NRG). The NRG was a faction within the Conservative Party composed of MPs representing constituencies across the north of England. It was founded by Jake Berry, who served as minister of state for the northern powerhouse and local growth from 2017 to 2020. The group’s stated aim was to pressure the Conservative government to deliver on its “levelling up” agenda.

Blue Collar Conservatives: Moore was previously listed as a member of the Blue Collar Conservatives group. This faction within the Conservative party was founded in 2012 by the former cabinet minister Esther McVey, but came to greater prominence following the 2019 general election. The group aimed to “champion working people and develop a conservative agenda to benefit the voters and communities most neglected by Labour”. In October 2022, McVey was succeeded by Lee Anderson as the group’s chair.

Brexit and Europe

Customs union vote (2025): In December 2025, Moore voted against the UK-EU Customs Union (Duty to Negotiate) Bill. The bill, introduced under the ten-minute rule procedure by Liberal Democrat Europe spokesperson Al Pinkerton, sought to mandate the government to enter into negotiations with the European Union to establish a bespoke customs union.

Assisted dying

Moore voted against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at both second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Moore voted against a backbench amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that sought to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in June 2025. The amendment, which was passed by a majority of 242 votes, removed women from the threat of prosecution for ending a pregnancy at any stage. As an issue of conscience, MPs were allowed to vote according to their personal beliefs.

Civil liberties

Covid passes vote (2021): Moore was one of 99 Conservative MPs to vote against Covid passes in England in December 2021.

Before Politics

Born Robert Peter Moore on 28 November 1984, he comes from a farming background.

Moore studied architecture at Newcastle University and rural surveying at the University College of Estate Management.

He is a qualified rural chartered surveyor and operated his own consultancy practice, Brockthorpe Consultancy Ltd, before becoming an MP.

Personal Life

Moore has spoken in parliament about his sister’s 18-month battle with breast cancer.

Trivia

Moore’s family established a plastics recycling business focused on farm waste in 2007.