James Duddridge

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James Philip Duddridge (born August 26, 1971) British politician. He is the Conservative MP for Rochford and Southend East.

Duddridge was educated at the University of Essex where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in government, and was elected as the chairman of the university's Conservative Association in 1990. He was previously the chairman of the Wells Young Conservatives in 1989 and at the same time he worked as a reseacher in the Conservative Campaigns Department. In 1991 he became a researcher for Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin, until he joined Barclays Bank in 1993, originally as a retail and merchant banker, and then as a banker with the Swaziland branch, becoming a sales director in 1997 and the national sales manager in 1998, where he was employed until his election to Westminster. He was a director of YouGov from 2000 until his election.

He unsuccessfully contested the Rother Valley constituency at the 2001 General Election, where he finished second some 14,882 votes behind the sitting Labour MP Kevin Barron. He then returned to Africa and worked as a banker in Botswana. He was selected to contest the Rochford and Southend East seat at the 2005 general election, after Teddy Taylor stepped down. James Duddridge held the seat with a majority of 5,494 and is the current sitting MP. He made his maiden speech on June 9, 2005. [1] Since his election he has been a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee.