Mark Simon Eastwood (born 14 March 1971) 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 who was elected as 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

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudder ...

in the 2019 general election.

Early life

Eastwood grew up in

Thornhill Lees Thornhill Lees is a district of Dewsbury, which is a town within the borough of Kirklees in the county of West Yorkshire, England. The district lies to the south of Dewsbury Town Centre, between Savile Town and Thornhill. Thornhill Lees is served ...

, before moving to the Wilton Estate in

Batley Batley is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Batley lies south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield. Batley is part of the ...

at the age of six. He joined the

at the age of seventeen, while he was a student at Batley Boys High School, now Upper Batley High School.

Career

Eastwood had a total of six unsuccessful attempts standing for the Dewsbury East ward of

Kirklees Council Kirklees Council is the local authority providing most local government services for the borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council and one of five constituent councils of the West Yorkshire Combined Aut ...

. Before he became an MP, he worked for a company which provides medical furniture and equipment to the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

, and served as Yorkshire and Humber representative of the

Conservative Workers & Trade Unionists The Conservative Workers & Trade Unionists (CWTU) is an organisation within the British Conservative Party made up of Conservative-supporting trade unionists. in the United Kingdom which aims at reaching out to support working people and trade uni ...

. Eastwood was elected as the MP for Dewsbury at the 2019 general election, gaining the seat from

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 ...

's Paula Sherriff. He is a member of the

Regulatory Reform Committee The Regulatory Reform Committee was a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee was to examine subordinate provisions to amend primary legislation as created under the Deregulati ...

and the

Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union The Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union, commonly known as the Brexit Select Committee and formerly the Exiting the European Union Select Committee, was a select committee of the British House of Commons that examines matt ...

. Eastwood is also a member of the

APPG An all-party parliamentary group (APPG) is a grouping in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that is composed of members of parliament from all political parties, but have no official status within Parliament. Description and functions All-party ...

s on British Muslims, Football, and the Furniture Industry, as well as being a member of the Parliamentary Football Club. His first overseas trip was to

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

in 2020 as part of an all-party delegation. On 23 August 2021, Prime Minister

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

appointed him as the UK's trade envoy to the country.

Political views

Eastwood identifies as a "moderate,

compassionate Conservative Compassionate conservatism is an American political philosophy that stresses using conservative techniques and concepts in order to improve the general welfare of society. The philosophy supports the implementation of policies designed to help the ...

". He is a supporter of

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

, having worked on local

Vote Leave Vote Leave was a campaigning organisation that supported a "Leave" vote in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. On 13 April 2016 it was designated by the Electoral Commission as the official campaign in favour of leavi ...

campaigns during the 2016 referendum.

Personal life

Eastwood has a wife, two children and is a

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

season ticket holder. He has been known to DJ at private events held locally.

References

External links

* Living people Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 2019–present British Eurosceptics People from Batley People from Dewsbury 1971 births {{UK-MP-2019-stub