Graham Riddick

Graham Edward Galloway Riddick(born 26 August 1955,Long Preston,West Riding of Yorkshire) was theConservative PartyMember of Parliament(MP) forColne ValleyinWest Yorkshire,Englandfrom 1987 to 1997.

Family and early life

His father ran the family's cotton mill inNelson, Lancashireuntil its closure in the early 1960s. Riddick's maternal grandfather, SirEdward Ruggles-Brisewas Conservative MP forMaldon,Essexfrom 1922 to 1942.

Riddick was educated atStowe Schooland, for one year only,University of Warwick;he is married with three children. Before he became an MP, Riddick worked for 10 years in various sales management roles withProcter & Gamble(1977–82) andCoca-Cola Schweppes Beverages(1982–87).

He won his seat in Parliament at the1987 electionbecoming the first ever Conservative MP in Colne Valley's 102 year-history. He retained it at the1992 election,increasing his majority from 1,677 in 1987 to 7,224 in 1992.

Sunday Timesallegations

In July 1994, a "sting operation" byThe Sunday Timesimplicated Riddick in the "Cash for Questions"affair.

Two reporters from the newspaper posed as people wishing to have questions asked in the House of Commons. Both Riddick and fellow Conservative MPDavid Tredinnickwere accused of accepting cash for asking questions. Riddick initially agreed to work for the journalist but on receiving a cheque from the reporter, he returned it immediately, before he knew that the reporter was working for a newspaper.

WhenThe Sunday Timesreported the story Riddick immediately apologised to Parliament but was subsequently found to be in breach of Parliamentary rules and was suspended for 10 days.Riddick then lodged a formal complaint with thePress Complaints Commission(PCC). Basing its decisions on the information compiled by the House of Commons' Privileges Committee, the PCC found in Riddick's favour. The Commission judged thatThe Sunday Timesfailed to make clear to its readers that its approach to Riddick had been on the basis of a legitimate consultancy, not on the basis of a one-off payment in return for asking a question and that there was no justification for the newspaper's resort to subterfuge. This overturned a ruling two years earlier by the PCC in favour ofThe Sunday Timeswhen Riddick had been unaware that the PCC was investigating the matter and had therefore not submitted any evidence to the PCC's enquiry.

The PCC apologized to Mr Riddick for ‘this serious breach of our procedures.’In November 2021 Times Newspapers apologised to Mr Riddick saying "Later investigations found the payment was for legitimate consultancy and cleared him of any wrongdoing. We are happy to make this clear and apologise for any distress caused."

Later career

Riddick was Parliamentary Private Secretary toFrancis Maude,Financial Secretary to the Treasury between 1990 and 1992. He was also Parliamentary Private Secretary toJohn MacGregor,Secretary of State for Transport from 1992 until July 1994 when Macgregor left the Cabinet. Riddick served on the Education and Employment Select Committee between 1994 and 1997. He was also a member of the Broadcasting Select Committee and the Deregulation Select Committee between 1995 and 1997.

He contested his seat again at the1997 general election,but lost to theLabour Party'sKali Mountford,who won with a majority of 4,840.

Following his defeat in 1997, Riddick worked for the French-owned waste management company, Onyx Environmental Group Plc as its Marketing and Communications Director. Since 2000, Riddick has been the Business Development Director forDeHavillandInformation Services Plc and its successor company, Adfero Ltd and a director of head hunters Norman Broadbent.