Neil Hudson | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament for Penrith and The Border | |
Assumed office 12 December 2019 | |
Preceded by | Rory Stewart |
Majority | 18,519 (38.7%) |
Personal details | |
Nationality | British |
Political party | Conservative |
Alma mater | University of Cambridge University of Edinburgh |
Occupation |
|
Website | www |
Neil Peter Hammerton Hudson[1] FRCVS (born 1969) is a British politician, academician, and veterinary surgeon who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Penrith and The Border since 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee since 2020.
Hudson was born in 1969 in Islington, London.[2][3] He is the son of obstetrics and gynaecology professor Christopher Hudson and nurse Caryl Shaw. Hudson has a sister Jayne who works as a physiotherapist and brother Grahame who is an associate head at De Montfort University.[4][5] He studied at Queens' College, Cambridge, which was the alma mater of his father,[6] qualifying from the veterinary school in 1994. While there he was in the Footlights theatrical group and was in charge of auditions.[7] He later performed four times at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[8]
Hudson completed an internship at the University of Sydney, gaining a diploma in 1995, and later a PhD in Grass Sickness and Equine Gastroenterology at the University of Edinburgh.[9] Hudson is a senior lecturer at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies but, after becoming an MP, he has been on sabbatical leave since January 2020.[10] He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2018.[9]
Hudson reports that he first became interested in becoming a politician following the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak.[11] He unsuccessfully contested the Newcastle upon Tyne North and Edinburgh South seats in the 2005 and 2010 general election respectively.[12][13] In the 2010 election, his brother Grahame also stood as a candidate but for the Liberal Democrats in Rutland and Melton.[7]
Hudson was elected as the Conservative Party MP for Penrith and The Border in the 2019 general election with a majority of 18,519.[14] The constituency's previous Conservative MP Rory Stewart had stood down in October 2019.[15] He was the first veterinarian MP since 1884.[11] Hudson has been a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee since March 2020.[16]
He announced in September 2021 that he no longer supported the building of the Woodhouse Colliery, a proposed coal mine in Cumbria.[17][18] The project was approved by the government in December 2022.[19]
As part of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, Penrith and The Border was abolished and he lost selection for the new seat of Penrith and Solway in February 2023 to fellow Conservative MP Mark Jenkinson.[20] Hudson also lost out on the selection for the West Suffolk seat in July 2023 to former political adviser Nick Timothy.[21] West Suffolk MP Matt Hancock had previously announced that he would stand down at the next general election in December 2022.[22]
Hudson is married to Nicola Chedgey. They have two children.[6][23]