Who Is Adam Afriyie?

Who Is Adam Afriyie?

You probably had never heard of Adam Afriyie MP until recently, when he was all over the news as a potential leadership challenger to David Cameron, But who is he?  Adam was a Businessman before entering Parliament, and he is a self-made millionaire.  This is probably the reason why he does not claim expenses for his London home, or travel to and from his constituency.  Adam is no Tory toff he was bought up on a council estate in Peckham, this is likely to help him if there is a leadership election as it is a significant contrast between him and the Prime Minister who is seen as an out of touch old Etonian.

   

Adam was became MP for the Conservative safe seat of Windsor in 2005 and retained his seat in 2010 increasing his majority by just under 10,000 votes to a massive majority of 19,054.  As an MP Adam has served as Shadow Minister for Science and Innovation (2007-2010), however he has not served as a government minister but then again Blair and Cameron both served as PM without any prior experience as government ministers.  Adam has sat on numerous standing committees he is also has had roles as chairman of several committees and is the current chairman of three committees (space, science and technology and Expenses).  The majority of the committees Adam has either chaired or served on have revolved around science or finance.

Having seen Adam on the daily politics recently it is clear to me he has ideas for how the country should be run.  He also has a charm and charisma, which is essential for a Prime Minister in the era of 24-hour news.  Although what is most important about Adam as a potential leadership candidate is that, he is apparently popular in the parliamentary party, which is essential for a potential leadership campaign.  Whether he has enough support to defeat the Prime Minister is a different question, also is he experienced enough?  It is true ministerial experience does not make or break a Prime Minister, it would be nice to see how he could cope running a government department before he runs the country or even just the party.  Although he is clearly got the qualities of a leader I hope he does not try to overthrow Cameron as it would just damage the party and in my opinion make defeat in 2015 inevitable, as divided parties are always unpopular.  If he does hold back until after 2015 you have to ask will he get the leadership, he is likely to come up against Boris Johnson if the election is lost.  And if the election is won he will have to face a David Cameron who would have won the first Conservative Majority in over 20 years and it is unlikely he will win.  I think it is unlikely he will be the next leader of the Conservative party, but he is defiantly one to watch and he is made of the right stuff to one day have a crack at the leadership one day.