Dean Russell (born 8 May 1976) is a British

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 ...

politician. He has been the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

since the 2019 general election. He served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Enterprise and Markets from September to October 2022.

Early life

Russell is the son of Peter and Anne Russell, and was born in Birmingham. He attended Park Hall School in

Castle Bromwich Castle Bromwich () is a large suburban village situated within the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the English county of the West Midlands. It is bordered by the rest of the borough to the south east; also Sutton Coldfield to the east and ...

, before studying for a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

in Physics and Business Studies and an MPhil in Physics and Material Science at the ex-polytechnic

De Montfort University De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body. The name De Montfort University was tak ...

. He then worked in marketing, initially with Bluewave.

Political career

Russell stood for

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

in Luton North in 2015 and

Luton South Luton South is a constituency in Bedfordshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Rachel Hopkins, a member of the Labour Party. History This seat was created in 1983, primarily from the former seat of Luton ...

in 2017, losing both times to incumbent

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

candidates. In 2019, he stood for election in

in 2019 after Conservative MP Richard Harrington decided not to stand for re-election in the seat. Russell was elected with a majority of 4,433 over Labour. Since being elected, Russell has become a member of the Health & Social Care Select Committee and the

Joint Committee on Human Rights The Joint Committee on Human Rights is a joint committee of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to consider human rights issues in the United Kingdom. Membership As at November 2022, the members of the committee ...

. In October 2021, the

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...

, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, appointed Russell as the Chair of the Speaker's Advisory Committee on Works of Art. In November 2021, he was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreign ...

. In June 2021, Russell presented the Tips Bill to Parliament. This bill would prohibit employers retaining tips and gratuities intended for staff and make provision about the division of tips and gratuities between staff. The bill was withdrawn before its

second reading A reading of a bill is a stage of debate on the bill held by a general body of a legislature. In the Westminster system, developed in the United Kingdom, there are generally three readings of a bill as it passes through the stages of becoming ...

. In June 2022, after the Business Minister, Paul Scully MP, reassured Russell in Parliament that the UK Government would still support his bill, Russell presented the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Bill to Parliament. The bill was immediately granted a second reading in the House of Commons on 15 July 2022. Between 2019 and 2021, Russell sat on the public committee during the

committee stage In the United Kingdom an act of Parliament is primary legislation passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. An act of Parliament can be enforced in all four of the UK constituent countries (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Irelan ...

of the

Telecommunications (Security) Bill The Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021 is an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act builds upon and strengthens the Communications Act 2003, in particular the role of Ofcom, the United Kingdom's Office for Co ...

on its passage through the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

. The Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021 was given royal assent on 17 November 2021. As an MP, Russell has been a strong advocate for

mental health first aid Mental health first aid is a training program that teaches members of the public how to help a person developing a mental health problem (including a substance misuse problem), experiencing a worsening of an existing mental health problem or in a ...

. In a partnership with the Watford & West Herts Chamber of Commerce and a number of local community groups in Watford, Russell pledged to train one thousand people in Mental Health First Aid Awareness. On 23 March 2021, Russell presented the First-Aid (Mental Health) Bill under the

Ten Minute Rule The Ten Minute Rule, also known as Standing Order No. 23, is a procedure in the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the introduction of Private Member's Bills in addition to the 20 per session normally permissible. It is one of the ways in whi ...

in an attempt to change the law to make it compulsory for mental health first-aid to be in every workplace. The bill was designed to make mental health first-aid part of first-aid training requirements in workplaces as well as in wider society. If successful, employers and colleagues would play a part in spotting symptoms, signposting people to further help, or simply just listening. On 29 April, Parliament was

prorogued A legislative session is the period of time in which a legislature, in both parliamentary and presidential systems, is convened for purpose of lawmaking, usually being one of two or more smaller divisions of the entire time between two elections ...

, ending the Parliamentary session, and so the bill failed.First-Aid (Mental Health) Bill – Private Members' Bill (under the Ten Minute Rule)
''UK Parliament.''

Personal life

He married Michelle in 2004; the couple have a daughter. According to '' Who's Who'', his recreations are "painting, writing, playing the guitar" and "spending time with family".

Bibliography

Russell has written five books.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Dean 1976 births Living people UK MPs 2019–present Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies