Griffith, Andrew

Andy Griffith is the Conservative MP for Arundel and South Downs. He was first elected to Parliament in the 2019 General Election with a majority of 22,521 over the Liberal Democrats.

The constituency of Arundel and the South Downs is found in the middle of West Sussex and contains a large portion of the South Downs National Park.  This is an affluent area which includes the towns of Arundel itself, famous for its castle, as well as Hassocks, Petworth, and Pulborough.  Owner occupancy in this part of England is well over three quarters of the housing stock, and this is a safe Conservative seat, with voters in this part of Sussex having supported the party consistently since the Second World War.

In October 2022, Andrew Griffith was appointed Economic Secretary by Rishi Sunak. Griffith was actually demoted from the role of Financial Secretary to the Treasury, which he had held between September and October 2022, upon Rishi Sunak becoming prime minister.

Griffith had formerly served briefly as Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Secretary betrween July and September 2022, and as minister for policy under Boris Johnson between February and July 2022.

Before that Griffith served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Boris Johnson.  In 2020, he had been appointed as the UK’s Net Zero Business Champion.  Griffith was amongst the first figure from the 2019 intake of Conservative MPs to be promoted to the government.

Born in 1971, Andy Griffith was educated at the University of Nottingham.   Before being elected to Parliament he initially worked for Rothschilds Merchant Bank and the accountants, PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Griffith then served as the Chief Operating Officer and then Chief Financial Officer of Sky.  At the time of his appointment, he was the youngest Finance Director in the FTSE 100.

The Register of Members Interests details how Sky continue to provide Mr Griffith with a free open ended television subscription in recognition of his 20 years service to the company.

He has also served as a Non Executive Director of Just Eat.

Andy Griffith was an early supporter of Boris Johnson in his bid for the 2019 Conservative Leadership, and his Westminster house was used as part of Johnson’s campaign.  He bought the house off fellow Conservative MP, Adam Afriyie.

Griffith is married with two children, and has a holiday home in Cornwall.

Griffith previously served as the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Dark Skies and a campaigner to reduce light pollution at night.   Soon after entering Parliament he became Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Wine Group, designed to support the UK wine industry.

He was previously a member of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on the British Overseas Territories, Broadband and Digital Communication, Fair Business Banking, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the Future of Aviation, Hydrogen, Media, Motor, and Technology and Nano Security.

Email – Andrew@GriffithMP.com

Website – andrewgriffithmp.com

Twitter – @griffith