Alex Story (born 6 December 1974) is a British former rower, who rowed in the British men's eight at the

1996 Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in Atlanta. Story has unsuccessfully stood as a candidate for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

on several occasions.

Rowing

Story was on the Great Britain rowing team for the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, competing in the men's eight. He rowed for Great Britain as a junior, an under-23 and a senior athlete. His career spanned from 1992 to 1998. In 1995, at the World Rowing Championships in Tampere, Finland, he qualified for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He retained his place for the

1997 World Rowing Championships The 1997 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 31 August to 7 September 1997 at Lac d'Aiguebelette, France. The annual week-long rowing regatta was organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation), ...

in Aiguebelette where the British

eight 8 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 8 or eight may also refer to: Years * AD 8, the eighth year of the AD era * 8 BC, the eighth year before the AD era Art *The Eight (Ashcan School), a group of twentieth century painters associated with the As ...

finished fourth. He rowed for Cambridge against Oxford in the

Boat Races A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on inl ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

. In the former he was the heaviest man competing, and was credited with having been the difference between the two crews. He was described as a hero by coach Harry Mahon. His 1998 crew set the course record. A back injury ended his rowing career.

Political and media career

He has subsequently been active in the

. In

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, he contested

Denton and Reddish Denton and Reddish is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Andrew Gwynne of the Labour Party. Boundaries The constituency presently consists of an electorate of about 65,500 in eastern Greater ...

at the general election; in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, he fought Wakefield, and in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, at short notice, he stood for

Leeds North West Leeds North West is a constituency in the City of Leeds which has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Alex Sobel, of Labour Co-op. Boundaries 1950–1955: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Far He ...

. In Denton and Reddish, a

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district (constituency) in a legislative body (e.g. Congress, Parliament, City Council) which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combinat ...

for the Labour Party, Story came a distant second. At the next election, his candidacy in the

marginal Marginal may refer to: * ''Marginal'' (album), the third album of the Belgian rock band Dead Man Ray, released in 2001 * ''Marginal'' (manga) * '' El Marginal'', Argentine TV series * Marginal seat or marginal constituency or marginal, in polit ...

Wakefield constituency saw Story finish less than 2,000 votes behind the incumbent Labour MP. In 2015, Story came third behind the Liberal Democrats and Labour, in what was a marginal contest between those two parties. He was placed second on the Conservative

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

for the Yorkshire and the Humber region for the 2014 European election; however, only one Conservative was elected. After the elevation of MEP Timothy Kirkhope to the House of Lords in October 2016, Story was asked by the region's returning officer to take the vacant seat. To be returned, Story needed the Conservative Party to re-nominate him, which they refused to do; Story unsuccessfully asked the High Court to intervene. The Conservative Party subsequently appointed John Procter, who had been third on the party list, as the replacement, rather than Story. In the

2016 European Union membership referendum The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...

he campaigned for Britain to leave the European Union. He was one of the founders of Story Productions, a media production company that still operates today. Story has written for publications such as '' The Daily Telegraph'', and ''

City A.M. ''City A.M.'' is a freesheet, free business-focused newspaper distributed in and around London, England, with an accompanying website. Its certified distribution was 85,738 copies a day in February 2020, according to statistics compiled by the A ...

''. On 5 November 2017, the Conservative MP for Tamworth, Chris Pincher, resigned as Comptroller of the Household (Assistant Whip) and voluntarily referred himself to the Conservative Party's complaints procedure and the police after Story said that he was previously the subject of unwanted sexual advances from Pincher. Story had allegedly been invited to Pincher's flat, where the latter massaged Story's neck and talked about his "future in the Conservative Party", before changing into a bathrobe. Recounting the episode, Story said that Pincher's advances made him seem like a " pound-shop Harvey Weinstein". Pincher said that "I do not recognise either the events or the interpretation placed on them" and that "if Mr Story has ever felt offended by anything I said then I can only apologise to him". On 23 December 2017, the Conservative Party's investigating panel determined that Pincher had not breached the code of conduct.

Personal life

Story is married and has four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Story, Alex 1974 births Living people English male rowers Olympic rowers of Great Britain Rowers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary candidates