Drax was reinstated on the Active List on 10 September 1984, beginning his second and final period of regular service. He retained the rank of lieutenant with seniority from 10 September 1981 to reflect the three years he had served.[6] He was promoted to captain on 10 March 1986.[7]
He relinquished his British Army commission on 9 September 1987, thereby retiring after nine years' service as a Coldstreamer.[8]
Drax was selected as a Conservativeprospective parliamentary candidate in July 2006. In 2009, Drax faced criticism from political rivals for "hiding his aristocratic roots" by not using his full quadruple-barrelled name. It was suggested the then leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron, had asked wealthy Conservative candidates to shorten their names to appear more in touch with normal people. Drax denied the accusations, saying that he used the shortened version of his name only because of the "logistic mouthful", while Cameron's comments were a "throw away joke".[10]
At the snap 2017 general election, Drax was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 56.1% and a decreased majority of 11,695.[17]
In April 2019, in a speech in the House of Commons, Drax said that he "made the wrong call" by supporting the government's Brexit deal and called for the resignation of Theresa May if she failed to take the UK out of the EU by 12 April.[18] Drax praised May's successor, Boris Johnson, for achieving a trade deal in December 2020,[19] but in February 2021 expressed concern over the Northern Ireland Protocol and disruption to trade in Northern Ireland.[20]
During the 2019 general election campaign, Drax apologised after his Land Rover, with a campaignposter on the vehicle, was photographed parking across two disabled parking spaces outside his campaign headquarters. Drax responded to the incident by saying: "I popped in to get some literature and very thoughtlessly parked on those lines which I immediately regretted and apologise to the organisation straight away. I rushed in and rushed out. I've never done it before and never done it since but it was a real moment of thoughtlessness and it won't happen again."[21][22] He was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, with an increased vote share of 58.8% and an increased majority of 17,153.[23][24]
In June 2020, Drax wrote an article in the Dorset Echo suggesting that rioters linked to the Black Lives Matter protests had been responsible for desecrating The Cenotaph war memorial in London.[25]
In March 2024, Drax was criticised by wildlife charities after he called for the culling of animals, such as deer and foxes, to control their numbers.[31][32]
Drax lives in his family's ancestral seat, Charborough House – a Grade I listed manor house in rural Dorset. He is the largest individual landowner in Dorset, owning approximately 13,870 acres (5,610 ha), equivalent to 2% of the land in Dorset.[34] He also owns the 2,200-acre (890 ha) Ellerton Abbey farming estate in Swaledale, North Yorkshire, and the nearby 520-acre (210 ha) Copperthwaite Allotment grouse moor.[35]
His first wife was Zara Legge-Bourke, younger sister of the royal nannyTiggy Legge-Bourke, relations of the Earl of Dartmouth. They divorced in 1997. Drax married his second wife; Eliza, daughter of Commander James Dugdale, in 1998. Drax since married his third wife, Norwegian-born Elsebet Bødtker, and has four children in total.
A 2020 investigation by The Guardian found that Richard Drax still owns and grows sugar on the same Drax Hall Estate in Barbados that made the family's fortune. Over 200 years, 30,000 slaves died at this and the other Drax plantations, according to Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, Chair of CARICOM's Reparations Commission, who has said: "The Drax family has done more harm and violence to the black people of Barbados than any other."[35]
In 2023, the Barbados Government announced it was seeking reparations from Drax for his ancestors' involvement in slavery.[38] The Reparations Commission wanted Drax Hall to be returned to Barbados, to be made into a museum. However, in 2024, the case was dropped due to public opposition to the proposed purchase.[39]
