70 Facts About Philip Davies

Sir Philip Andrew Davies was born on 5 January 1972 and is a British Conservative politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Shipley in West Yorkshire following the 2005 general election until 2024.

Philip Davies voted against the Conservative Party whip over 250 times in the course of his parliamentary career.

Philip Davies was criticised for filibustering parliamentary bills not supported by the government and "killing off legislation he doesn't like".

Philip Davies played a lead role in securing the first International Men's Day debate in Parliament in 2015, which now takes place annually.

Philip Davies has regularly been criticised by other politicians and prominent public figures for comments he has made on gender equality and women, homosexuality, ethnic minorities, as well as people with disabilities.

Philip Davies has stated that people with disabilities should have the option of working for less than the minimum wage.

Philip Davies has said that white, male ministers risk being "hoofed out" of the government to make way for women or minority ethnic MPs.

Philip Davies was educated at the state-sector boarding school, Old Swinford Hospital School in Stourbridge, before studying at Huddersfield Polytechnic, where he was awarded a 2:1 BA Hons degree in history and political studies in 1993.

Philip Davies has worked at Marilyn Davies Bookmakers and Mark Jarvis Bookmakers.

Philip Davies received donations toward his successful campaign from Bearwood Corporate Services, a company set up by non-domicile Lord Ashcroft to give out donations to marginal seats such as Davies'.

Philip Davies recalled Titus Salt and then mentioned the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Saltaire.

Philip Davies announced that he wanted to remain a backbencher and not to be a shadow spokesman or a minister, and that he wanted to feel able to speak for his constituents.

Philip Davies was re-elected onto the executive committee of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs after the general election and became a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.

Philip Davies became a member of the newly established backbench business committee and a member of the Speaker's Panel, chairing Westminster Hall debates.

In November 2012, Philip Davies wrote to the Metropolitan Police requesting it to open a second investigation into ex-Labour MP Denis MacShane's expenses claims.

In 2020 Philip Davies became one of four Vice-Chairs of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Whistleblowing.

Philip Davies is rated as one of the Conservatives' most rebellious MPs.

Philip Davies was defeated in the 2024 general election losing to Labour candidate Anna Dixon.

Philip Davies has been repeatedly criticised for his use of the filibuster to block legislation, particularly when private members' bills under the Ten Minute Rule are debated.

The practice can be stopped if 100 MPs attend Parliament, and Philip Davies has noted that if "not even 100 MPs out of 650 showed up" then it indicated a bill "did not have full support".

Philip Davies did it for fun and he was brilliant at it.

Philip Davies taught me that lots of these have all got a worthy sentiment behind them but you can't pass legislation on the whim of a worthy sentiment because it affects people's lives and livelihoods.

In October 2015, Philip Davies spoke for 93 minutes, thereby successfully blocking a proposed bill that would have given free hospital parking to carers.

Philip Davies had pledged his support for carers four months earlier.

In November 2015, Philip Davies gave the longest speech in a sequence by Conservative MPs that resulted in 'talking out' a bill backed by St John Ambulance, the British Red Cross, and the British Heart Foundation to provide first-aid training to children.

In November 2018, Tracey Crouch resigned as sports minister since she believed Philip Davies successfully went above her and secured a delay to curbs on fixed odds betting terminals.

In February 2023, having been entertained at Les Ambassadeurs luxury casino in Mayfair, central London, Philip Davies wrote to the culture secretary Lucy Frazer, urging her to introduce a measure that was included in the UK Government's 'Gambling Act Review White Paper'.

Philip Davies placed a bet on his wife, Esther McVey, winning and retaining her current seat in Tatton.

Philip Davies is on the governing council of The Freedom Association pressure group, and is an organiser for the TaxPayers' Alliance.

Philip Davies has called for government to "scrap the Human Rights Act for foreign nationals and chuck them out of the country" and in 2016 expressed admiration for Donald Trump.

Philip Davies was criticised by a Liberal Democrat councillor as being "disgracefully reactionary" for his public comment in 2011 that he wanted to see "an increase in the prison population".

Philip Davies believes that prison works and that it reduces the UK crime rate.

In 2009, Philip Davies called for the scrapping of the minimum wage in the UK.

Philip Davies advocated British withdrawal from the European Union, starting the Better Off Out campaign, and campaigning at the Conservative Party Conference in 2005.

Philip Davies was the parliamentary spokesman for the inactive Campaign Against Political Correctness and was accused of wasting the Equality and Human Rights Commission's time by sending a stream of correspondence to its chair, Trevor Phillips, between 2008 and 2009.

Philip Davies asked whether it was racist for a policeman to refer to a BMW as "black man's wheels" and whether the Metropolitan Black Police Association breaches discrimination law by restricting its membership to black people.

Philip Davies rejected "positive discrimination" and said he believed in "true equality".

In May 2018, Philip Davies said that police stop and search numbers had reduced dramatically as a result of "politically correct chatter".

Philip Davies said that black people are "more likely to be murderers".

Philip Davies said the evidence showed the community much more likely to be stopped and searched and yet found to have done nothing wrong were white people.

Philip Davies complained, while calling for a Parliamentary debate on "political correctness", about a school production of Romeo and Julian during LGBT History month.

Philip Davies was called a "troglodyte" in 2009 by the Conservative MP John Bercow for his opposition to debating the Equality Bill, the effect of the recession on women and International Women's Day.

In 2013, Philip Davies voted against same-sex marriage because the bill did not allow for opposite-sex civil partnerships.

In July 2016, Philip Davies gave a speech on the justice gender gap at the International Conference of Men's Issues organised by Justice for Men and Boys.

Philip Davies rejected a suggestion that his appearance at a J4MB event meant that he subscribed to the party's viewpoint.

Philip Davies did not receive a fee for his participation in the event.

Philip Davies responded by providing figures from the Ministry of Justice collected by men's-rights lobby group Parity, which he argued suggest that the courts favour women when sentencing.

Philip Davies said that Corston is thus "ill-informed or deliberately lying when she accuses me of lying".

An International Men's Day debate, instigated by Philip Davies, took place for the first time in the House of Commons on 17 November 2016.

Philip Davies rejected claims that it is a stunt and hoped it would become an annual event.

Philip Davies was elected, unopposed, to the women and equalities select committee in December 2016.

Philip Davies argued that the Bill was "sexist against men" because of its focus and ignored other victims which if recognised equally would have been "true equality".

At the bill's third reading on 24 February 2017, Philip Davies spoke for 91 minutes and proposed amendments, but was unsuccessful in blocking the Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence Bill, which was passed by 138 votes to 1, with Philip Davies being the only MP to vote against.

In June 2018, Philip Davies spoke for 148 minutes on the Mental Health Units Bill, which had over 100 amendments tabled to it.

In May 2021 it was announced that Philip Davies had been re-elected to the Women and Equalities Committee.

Philip Davies said in Parliament in 2011 that some disabled workers were, by definition, not as productive in their work as others and that the minimum wage may be a "hindrance" to some disabled jobseekers.

Philip Davies' response was that the furore over his comments was "left-wing hysteria".

Philip Davies spoke for 90 minutes to "talk out" the bill proposed by Labour MP Julie Cooper.

Philip Davies said he objected to the bill because he was concerned it would cause higher parking charges for disabled people and a reduction in revenue for hospitals.

The piece was corrected to state: "Mr Philip Davies had said that people with disabilities should have the option of working for less than the minimum wage".

In March 2010, Philip Davies was criticised by The Guardian, and religious organisations, for using Parliamentary rules to "wreck" the Debt Relief Bill, an anti-poverty measure designed to stop "vulture funds" from buying up the debt of third-world countries in order to aggressively pursue repayments through the international courts.

Philip Davies is against introducing proportional representation and having an elected House of Lords.

The Power 2010 campaign ran a full-page advertisement in The Guardian stating Philip Davies was one of six MPs accused of "failing our democracy" by opposing parliamentary reform.

Philip Davies responded in the local press saying that it was "misleading not to put on the poster which issues I am for or against", but had "no complaints about them including things that are correct, but they must be clear on my views on ID cards and English voting".

Philip Davies said he was against proportional representation, in common with "many Tory and Labour MPs", and any change to the House of Lords.

Philip Davies objected to banning smoking in cars with children in a 2011 debate on a private members' bill proposed by the Labour MP Alex Cunningham who said the "science was clear" about the risks from passive smoking.

Philip Davies married Deborah Gail Hemsley, whom he met whilst studying at Huddersfield Polytechnic, in July 1994 in Doncaster.

Philip Davies was continuing to work for Davies as his part-time secretary in late 2016.

On 19 September 2020, Philip Davies married McVey in a private ceremony.

In September 2024, Philip Davies announced he had undergone a quadruple heart bypass on the NHS following a heart attack.