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Profile: Andrew Mitchell MP
April 2005
Andrew Mitchell is the Conservative MP for Sutton Coldfield. He’s married with two teenage daughters and has a dog called Molly. He says politics isn’t about ‘strutting your stuff’ on the Westminster stage but he likes Rod Stewart and he likens being in the army to road running.
Andrew’s upbringing undoubtedly nurtured his political instincts – his father was also an MP – but while he was at school he never harboured ambitions to follow the family tradition.
“I grew up in an atmosphere where the concerns of constituents were discussed around the kitchen table,” explained Andrew, “and when I was little that must have had an effect on me.
“But if you have a parent in politics you know the plusses and the minuses, the stresses and the strains, from having observed it close up without actually having to suffer that.
“But some people who go into Parliament, I think, don’t understand what the stresses and strains are in full and it comes as a bit of a shock to them.”
But before embarking on a political career, Andrew went to Cambridge University, but he chose a rather unconventional way to spend his gap year… by joining the Tank Regiment.
“I think looking back I felt that there were a lot of my friends who had wasted their year off,” he explained, “and I thought I must do something really positive before I go up to Cambridge and the army seemed to be it and it was a sort of mixed experience really.
“I mean I’m incredibly glad I did it and it taught me things I would never have learned otherwise and in some ways it was a more enjoyable experience afterwards. It’s like road running – all the pleasure comes when you’ve finished.”
Andrew began his political career in 1987 as MP for Gedling. It has been eighteen years since he first set foot in the House of Commons. So was it a scary experience?
“Yes, but as you go into Westminster for the first time, the sense of achievement and excitement is enormous,” he said.
The busy schedule of MPs leaves Andrew little time for hobbies but he still likes to read whenever he can.
“It’s sporadic really. I read a little bit if I have time but it’s not very often. I’ve probably got Rod Stewart on the turntable there and I listen to classical music as well. I have a very, very broad taste in music – or lack of taste in music.”
A keen cyclist, Andrew rides his bike to work whenever he’s in London and he believes staying focussed is the key to staying safe.
“I think I am sufficiently strong-minded to keep to my lane,” said Andrew, “People get killed on bicycles, by and large, by going down the inside and someone turns in on them but I’m quite good at maintaining my lane.”
With an election looming, voters are weighing up their options. So what qualities are we looking for in our politicians?
“To have a clear moral compass,” said Andrew, “Blair’s compass is pure cynicism; it is borne of cynicism, not principal. But I think John Smith certainly had a moral compass.
“Michael Howard has a clear moral compass. There’s no doubt about that at all. He’s doing this job at a time when many people might be thinking of retiring, Michael has taken on this task and he has given back the Tory party its self-respect.”
Andrew Mitchell is the Conservative MP for Sutton Coldfield.
Related Links: Andrew Mitchell The Conservative Party Houses of Parliament More election stories
Profile: Richard Burden MP (Lab)
