Pudsey MP has campaigned against housing plans in his own constituency
The former deputy chief whip Stuart Andrew has been appointed as the new housing minister, replacing Christopher Pincher, Downing Street has confirmed.
The Brexit-supporting Boris Johnson loyalist Stuart Andrew has been MP for the Pudsey constituency in West Yorkshire since 2010 and has served in the government since the last days of Theresa May’s tenure in 2018.
He has been deputy chief whip for the last two years, before which he has also had roles as a junior defence minister and junior Welsh minister.
Andrew has worked in the Whips’ Office during a controversial period, with the office having been last month accused of using underhand tactics amounting to blackmail to ensure Tory MPs supported the party line.
Andrew’s housing track record includes campaigning against plans by Leeds City Council for 70,000 homes in the city, a move he described in parliament as “over-ambitious” and posing “a threat to the green-belt land that makes our city and my constituency great”.
His website currently lists “saving green spaces” as one of his six central priorities. He was also one of a number of landlord MPs who were criticised for voting against a 2016 amendment to the then Housing and Planning Bill designed to ensure all rented homes should be fit for human habitation.
The openly gay Conservative politician defected to the Labour Party between 1998 and 2000, spending time as a Labour councillor.
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