Alan was first elected on 7 May 2015 as our local MP. He was re-elected in June 2017, and re-elected again in December 2019 with the biggest ever majority and the highest vote share in the Havant Constituency's history. In addition to his role as our local MP, Alan has also served as a Government Minister. The video above is from Alan's 2019 re-election campaign.
Alan won the Best New Conservative MP Award 2017/18 and the Conservative MP of the Year Award 2021/22 at the cross-party MP of the Year Awards hosted by the Speaker of the House of Commons in recognition of his hard work for residents all year round. Alan will continue to work hard and get things done for residents all year round.
Working hard and getting things done for local residents — All Year Round
Alan's vision is for everyone across the Havant Constituency to have a secure and prosperous future. His local priorities include: a strong local economy, successful local schools and supporting our NHS.
Since his election in May 2015, Alan has been actively meeting local residents, understanding local issues, and supporting local businesses, schools and community groups in every part of our diverse constituency.
Since 2015 Alan has launched a range of local community events and initiatives to help local residents, including organising:
- 8 annual Jobs, Apprenticeships and Careers Fairs - helping local people find work, change career or get advice about employment;
- 8 annual Community Information Fairs - showcasing local community groups, charities, voluntary bodies and sports clubs;
- 8 annual Small Business & Community Awards - to support our local independent shops, small businesses and high streets; and
- 2 annual Health & Wellbeing Fairs - to provide help and advice in relation to mental and physical health.
Alan works closely with our local elected Havant Borough councillors and Hampshire County Councillors who also have a wide range of responsibilities that affect our local area.
Locally, Alan holds a range of unpaid, honorary ex-officio roles in the community, including with Havant Rugby Football Club (as a Vice President), Havant & Waterlooville Football Club (as Vice President); the Royal British Legion's Havant Branch (as Vice President); the Havant Borough Sports Association (as Honorary President); and the Manor Trust, Bedhampton (as Honorary Vice President).
Alan in Parliament: Our local champion and national legislator
Alan’s main policy interests are the economy & business, including Britain's leadership of the Fourth Industrial Revolution; education & skills; and keeping Britain safe & successful in a changing world (focusing on defence & foreign policy, and Britain’s international economic competitiveness). These are all relevant across the Havant Constituency and reflect the priorities of local residents.
Alan has spoken regularly in the Chamber of the House of Commons on issues of local importance (such as local economic regeneration across Havant) and national significance (such as UK economic policy and Britain's role in the world); and plays an active role in the legislative process (for example by scrutinising and voting on legislation).
He has served in a number of Government Minister and "payroll" positions under 3 Conservative Prime Ministers, including the following roles:
- Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Ministry of Justice
- Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
- Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG);
- Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party
- Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party Policy Board
- Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
- Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury
Alan is the first-ever Member of Parliament from any political party with British-Chinese heritage. He is also the first ever Member of Parliament of British-Chinese heritage to be appointed as a Government Minister from any party, and the first ever Government Minister of British-Chinese heritage from any party to speak at the Despatch Box in the Chamber of the House of Commons. He co-founded The Blossom Awards project in 2020 to recognise inspiring figures and unsung heroes from the British-Chinese community.
Alan has a strong interest in policy development and delivery, and his policy successes in Parliament and Westminster include:
- Coming up with the idea for the NHS Reserves, a new Health Service reservist scheme.
- Leading the successful campaign to ban new pagers and fax machines being used in the NHS to improve patient safety.
- Developing the policy that become Help to Grow to help SMEs adopt technology to improve productivity.
- Leading the successful campaign to introduce the National School Breakfast Club programme to feed hungry children across the country.
- Identifying critical minerals as key to UK national resilience, and successfully proposing ways to improve our national resilience.
Before his appointment as a Government Minister, he sat on a number of important Parliamentary committees and held a variety of leading roles in Parliamentary groups. For example, the House of Commons Procedure Select Committee (which examined & backed the "English Votes for English Laws" policy); and the Finance Bill Committees (passing the Government's annual Budgets).
He is a graduate of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme and completed a year's "work experience" with the Royal Navy alongside his MP duties. Alan is also an alumnus of a number of programmes for younger political leaders and policymakers: the US State Department's International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP); the British-German Forum and the Munich Security Conference (Munich Young Leaders).
Personal Background
Alan was born and grew up in York, where his parents started and ran a small family business (a small high street shop) for over 20 years. He lived above the shop, and worked in it from a young age and went on to help run it. It's where he learnt his Conservative values. Alan attended local state primary and secondary schools before securing an Assisted Place (a government scholarship introduced by Margaret Thatcher for bright students from poor backgrounds) to St. Peter’s School, York after his state secondary school was earmarked for closure. This was a life changing experience.
Alan became the first person in his family to attend university, reading Law at Peterhouse, Cambridge University and winning the prestigious ECS Wade Prize for Administrative Law (Top of Year), before completing a post-graduate law & business diploma in Oxford, where he was a runner-up for the Oxford Leadership Prize.
In his spare time, Alan enjoys spending time with his family and friends; watching sports (football, rugby, tennis and hockey); films; and travelling.
Alan is married to Cathy, and they celebrated their marriage at St. Faith's Church in Havant.
Real Life Experience: Professional, Business & Charitable
Before he was first elected as our local MP in May 2015, Alan had a successful business and professional career, having started & run his own small business, worked on corporate business deals in the City of London with Clifford Chance LLP, and helped manage his family's small business. He also invested in and/or advised a range of businesses, from an advertising & marketing group to technology start-ups.
Alan has won a number of business & professional awards including from Management Today/Sky (“One to Watch” future business leader), Square Mile Magazine (Top 30 under 30) and the Guardian/Courvoisier (Future 500). He was a member of the Davos World Economic Forum’s young Global Shapers community of leaders, and a former member of business groups like the Institute of Directors and the Financial Times Non-Executive Directors’ Club. He has been awarded the Freedom of the City of London and is a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).
Alan was also active with community-focused charities and good causes. He served as President & Trustee of Magic Breakfast, the UK's leading school breakfast club charity which feeds thousands of hungry children (including at six schools in the Havant Constituency) and he was selected to carry the London2012 Olympic Torch. Alan founded and served as Chairman of the British Legion's Young Professionals' Branch (a network for young supporters of the Legion); served as a primary school governor for 6 years, and sat on Cambridge University's Alumni Advisory Board. He is a speaker for Speakers for Schools, a charity founded by ITV Political Editor Robert Peston that places successful business & public life leaders into state secondary schools to give careers advice and motivational talks.
Political Interests
Alan joined the Conservative Party in 2000 whilst he was a sixth form student as a grassroots rank-and-file member and campaigner in York to help William Hague’s “Save the Pound” campaign. He continued volunteering for the Party until his first election as our local MP in May 2015, building a reputation for working hard, delivering results, and working collaboratively. He is a member of Party groups such as the Conservative Christian Fellowship (CCF), and a former Chairman of the Coningsby Club, an historic Conservative policy discussion group for Oxbridge Conservatives founded in 1921 whose former Chairmen include Cabinet ministers past and present such as Nigel Lawson, Michael Howard and Jeremy Hunt. Alan served on David Cameron’s Globalisation and Global Poverty Policy Group led by former Cabinet Minister Peter Lilley (and advised by Sir Bob Geldof) developing the Party's policies for international trade and aid for the 2010 election.
Alan’s main policy interests are the economy & business including Britain's leadership of the Fourth Industrial Revolution; education & skills and social mobility; and keeping Britain safe & successful in a changing world (focusing on defence & foreign policy, and Britain’s international economic competitiveness). These are all relevant across the Havant Constituency and reflect the priorities of local residents.
