Claire Wright is a British politician. She was a Devon county councillor from 2013 to 2021 and stood as an independent for East Devon in the

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 ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, and

2019 United Kingdom general election The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party receiving a Landslide victory, landslide majority of 80 seats. The Conservatives made a net gain of 4 ...

s, coming second each time.

Career

Wright started working in the National Health Service in a public relations role in 2001, served on the Ottery St Mary Town Council and was elected to

Devon County Council Devon County Council is the county council administering the English county of Devon. Based in the city of Exeter, the council covers the non-metropolitan county area of Devon. Members of the council (councillors) are elected every four years to ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

with 74 percent of the vote. She stood as a parliamentary candidate in the

, and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

elections, receiving increasing shares of the vote. Wright's main policy interests are the NHS, social care and preserving the environment, with her manifesto based on a community survey. The East Devon constituency has only ever been held by the Conservative Party and used to be considered 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 ...

. With growing support in the 2017 general election for Wright, polling indicated that the seat had become marginal. Queen guitarist Brian May endorsed Wright in 2017, while actor Hugh Grant and reporter Martin Bell endorsed Wright at the 2019 election. However, in the December 2019 election, Wright lost to the Conservative Simon Jupp by nearly 7,000 votes. Asked by local radio if she would run again, Wright was unsure. In 2021, she announced she would not stand in the 2021 County Council elections. In ''Diary of an MP's Wife'' (2020), the memoirs of Sasha Swire, Wright is frequently referred to by the name "Claire Wrong". For the

next UK general election The next United Kingdom general election is scheduled to be held no later than January 2025. It will determine the 59th House of Commons. Background The next election is scheduled to be held no later than January 2025, after the Dissolution a ...

in the seats of Exmouth and Exeter East and

Honiton and Sidmouth Honiton and Sidmouth is a proposed constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, it will first be contested at the next general election. Boundari ...

, Wright has endorsed the campaigns of the prospective Liberal Democrat candidates.

Personal life

Wright lives in Ottery St Mary in East Devon.

Electoral record

2019 general election

2017 general election

2015 general election

References

External links

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"High hopes, tears and Hugh Grant: Claire Wright on almost pulling off the biggest upset of the 2019 General Election"
from the '' Express & Echo'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Claire Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Independent British political candidates Independent councillors in the United Kingdom 21st-century British politicians 21st-century British women politicians People from Ottery St Mary