45 Facts About Charlie Elphicke

Charlie Elphicke read law at the University of Nottingham before working as a solicitor.

Charlie Elphicke was first elected as Conservative MP for Dover at the 2010 general election and served as a government whip and Lord Commissioner of the Treasury from 2015 to 2016.

Charlie Elphicke did not stand for re-election at the 2019 general election and was succeeded by his wife, Natalie Elphicke.

Charlie Elphicke served half of his term and was released in September 2021 from an open prison in Gloucestershire.

Charlie Elphicke had experience working in the pharmaceutical research industry.

Charlie Elphicke was elected to Lambeth London Borough Council in 1994, representing Gipsy Hill.

Charlie Elphicke's election saw the defeat of the Labour leader of Lambeth Council, Stephen Whaley.

Charlie Elphicke served in that position until he was selected as the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for St Albans, in Hertfordshire in 1999.

Charlie Elphicke was Deputy Chairman of the Cities of London and Westminster Conservative Association from 2002 to 2006.

Charlie Elphicke was selected as the Conservative candidate for Dover in June 2007.

Charlie Elphicke made his maiden speech in a debate on European affairs on 3 June 2010.

In November 2010, Charlie Elphicke was named the overall winner at the British Computer Society's MP Web Awards which "recognise MPs who have embraced web technologies, and are using them to engage effectively with their constituents".

Charlie Elphicke was a finalist both in the usability and engagement categories.

Charlie Elphicke welcomed the announcement of the building of the new Buckland Hospital at Dover, as "it would save long journeys to hospitals in other parts of Kent".

Charlie Elphicke described it as "a defining moment for the community".

In May 2012 Charlie Elphicke stood for the post of Secretary of the 1922 Committee.

Charlie Elphicke was regarded as a "leading light" of the modernising "301 group" of Conservative MPs, named after the number of MPs required to win a majority at the 2015 general election.

Charlie Elphicke's defeat was seen as a blow to David Cameron, though 11 out of the other 12 posts went to new MPs and the election removed most of the "historic trouble makers".

Charlie Elphicke said the Commission was "committed to the suppression of religion".

Charlie Elphicke became PPS to Iain Duncan Smith, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in 2014.

Charlie Elphicke became a Government whip, a Lord Commissioner, following the 2015 general election, but was sacked in July 2016 when Theresa May replaced Cameron as Prime Minister.

Charlie Elphicke campaigned to remain in the European Union in the 2016 membership referendum.

Charlie Elphicke contributed to the Conservative Government's first defeat over key Brexit legislation in December 2017, when he abstained in the vote on Dominic Grieve's amendment requiring Parliament to have a vote on the final deal relating to the UK departing the European Union.

Charlie Elphicke argued in the House of Commons that the process of taking back control from the EU should be carried out in a manner that respected the sovereignty of Parliament.

Charlie Elphicke criticised the Department for Transport and the Home Office, who were advised of but unprepared for delays.

Charlie Elphicke compared the requirements with those of the First World War Dover Patrol, which used older ships to detect and deter enemy submarines from using the Channel.

Charlie Elphicke became one of the 8 directors of the People's Port Community Trust who led the campaign to buy the port of Dover for the community.

Charlie Elphicke set out the board structure and steps needed to ensure an enduring solution in the key areas of community involvement, commercial development and regeneration.

Charlie Elphicke said the People's Port Trust priorities were "partnership with the board, a voice for the community in the boardroom, and improvements for Dover with a community fund from the port".

Two months later the Director of Public Prosecutions wrote to Charlie Elphicke confirming that the Crown Prosecution Service's official drug offences guidance had been revised to include Fentanyl for the first time.

Charlie Elphicke published 'Ready on Day One' which called for: resilient roads to the Channel Ports, efficient processing of customs controls, a new Entente Cordiale to extend the Le Touquet Treaty to cover customs co-operation and build a new era of deeper co-operation with France, a Brexit Infrastructure Bill and one government at the border to ensure order.

Charlie Elphicke has been a prominent campaigner for fathers' rights, "leading a campaign by Families Need Fathers" and introducing a private members bill "to change family law and make it a legal right for children to know both of their parents".

Charlie Elphicke was shortlisted for the Grassroot Diplomat Initiative Award in 2015 for his work on the Families Need Fathers campaign, and he remains in the directory of the Grassroot Diplomat Who's Who publication.

Charlie Elphicke investigated tax avoidance by American multinational companies and showed that some multinational companies, making billions of pounds of profit in the UK, were paying an effective UK tax rate of only 3 per cent.

Charlie Elphicke followed this by calling on George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to force the companies, which included Google, Coca-Cola and Apple Inc, to have to state the effective rate of tax they paid on their UK revenues, and suggested that government contracts could be withheld from multinationals who do not pay their fair share of UK tax.

In June 2014 Charlie Elphicke was one of a number of Conservative MPs who criticised Oxfam's Twitter and poster campaign against the government's austerity programme.

Charlie Elphicke described the campaign as shamefully political and an abuse of taxpayers' money.

In November 2017 it was reported that Charlie Elphicke had been suspended from the Conservative Party after "serious allegations" made against him were referred to the police.

Charlie Elphicke's wife, Natalie Elphicke, immediately defended him, asserting that the manner of his suspension was a threat to British values and an injustice.

On 12 December 2018 Charlie Elphicke had the Conservative whip reinstated prior to a confidence vote in Theresa May.

Charlie Elphicke appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 6 September 2019 and denied all three charges.

In October 2019 Charlie Elphicke appeared at Southwark Crown Court and was granted bail to return for trial on 29 June 2020.

Charlie Elphicke sought leave to appeal against the sentence, but this was denied in March 2021.

Charlie Elphicke was released from HMP Leyhill in Gloucestershire on 14 September 2021 after serving half of his sentence.

In 2012, Charlie Elphicke was living in London with his wife Natalie, two children, and Star, the 2012 Westminster Dog of the Year.