Anna Firth

Annalissa Firth
Official portrait, 2022
Member of Parliament
for Southend West
In office
3 February 2022 – 30 May 2024
Preceded byDavid Amess
Succeeded byDavid Burton-Sampson
Personal details
Born
Annalissa Garrett

1966 (age 58–59)
Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England
Political partyConservative
Alma materDurham University
Occupationformer Politician and former barrister
Signature

Annalissa Firth (née Garrett, born 1966) is a British former politician and former barrister who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Southend West from 2022 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, she was also a councillor on Sevenoaks District Council between 2011 and 2022.

Early life and career

Annalissa Garrett was born in 1966[1][2] and grew up in Leigh-on-Sea.[3] Her education was at a private school.[4] Her mother was a teacher and her father was an engineer.[3][4] She has a brother called William.[4] Garrett studied law at Durham University, graduating in 1988.[3][5]

Garrett had a brief career as an investment banker[3][4] before being called to the bar in 1991 at Inner Temple. She specialised in personal injury and professional negligence law.[6]

Firth was elected as a councillor representing Brasted, Chevening & Sundridge ward on Sevenoaks District Council in Kent in 2011 and resigned the seat in 2022.[7] She was elected as the National Voluntary Director of the grassroots think-tank Conservative Policy Forum in April 2020 and has also been a board member of the Conservative Environment Network.[8][9] Firth co-founded the online summer school Invicta Academy in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[10] She supports the expansion of grammar schools in the UK.[4]

Political career

At the 2015 general election, Firth stood unsuccessfully for Erith and Thamesmead, finishing second with 27.4% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour Party MP Teresa Pearce.[11][12]

Firth also stood unsuccessfully at the 2019 general election for Canterbury, finishing second with 45.2% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP Rosie Duffield.[13]

Firth was the sixth candidate placed on the Conservative party list in South East England for the 2019 European Parliament elections, but failed to be elected.[14]

She was selected as the Conservative candidate for the 2022 Southend West by-election on 11 December 2021.[2] The by-election was called after the murder of David Amess, the constituency's incumbent Conservative MP on 15 October 2021.[15] All major opposition parties declined to run candidates in the by-election, all but assuring Firth's victory.[16] At the election, Firth was elected to Parliament with 86.1% of the vote and a majority of 12,280.[17][18][19][20]

Firth has been a member of the Education Select Committee since March 2022.[21] In her maiden speech on 10 May 2022, she paid tribute to her predecessor as MP, Sir David Amess and his family.[22]

Firth visited Archie Battersbee, a 12-year-old boy from Southend at the centre of a life-support withdrawal dispute, in June 2022 and contributed to a fundraiser for him.[23] She criticised how the case was handled stating, "The state process for dealing with the withdrawal of life support for a child where there is a dispute between the parents and the hospital is just not appropriate", and asked for a meeting with the then Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Steve Barclay in August 2022.[24]

She voiced her support for Priti Patel in the July 2022 Conservative Party leadership election on 10 July 2022.[25] Two days later, Patel announced she would not be a candidate in the election.[26] Firth later backed Liz Truss in August 2022.[27] She was then appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Department for International Trade in the Truss ministry.[28] The following month, after the resignation of Truss and the succession of Rishi Sunak, Firth was appointed PPS to the Attorney General for England and Wales Victoria Prentis in the Sunak ministry.[29]

At the 2024 general election, Firth stood for re-election in the renamed seat of Southend West and Leigh, with new boundaries, but the seat was narrowly won for Labour by David Burton-Sampson, with Firth in second place.[30]

Personal life

She is married to Edward Firth who is a managing director of the investment banking firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.[31][32] They have three children.[33]

She is a patron of the Music Man Project, a Southend-based charity that provides musical opportunities to people with learning disabilities.[34]

References

  1. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Conservatives pick candidate for Sir David Amess's seat in Southend West". BBC News. 11 December 2021. Archived from the original on 1 February 2022. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d "About me". Anna Firth. Archived from the original on 4 February 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e Staufenberg, Jess (14 September 2022). "Anna Firth, MP and founder, Invicta National Academy". Schools Week. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  5. ^ "Class Notes". Durham University. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
  6. ^ "Miss Annalissa Garrett". Bar Standards Board. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  7. ^ "Election results". Sevenoaks District Council. Archived from the original on 10 June 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  8. ^ "Anna Firth is elected as new Voluntary Director". Conservative Policy Forum. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  9. ^ "Our People". Conservative Environment Network. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  10. ^ "Online summer school Invicta Academy oversubscribed with thousands of pupils signing up". Kent Online. 27 July 2020. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  11. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  12. ^ 9Jul15
  13. ^ "Canterbury Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  14. ^ "2019 European elections: List of candidates for the South East". BBC News. 27 April 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  15. ^ Walker, Peter; Dodd, Vikram (15 October 2021). "Conservative MP David Amess stabbed in Essex attack". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 October 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  16. ^ "Labour, Lib Dems and Greens won't stand candidates in Southend West by-election". ITV News. 18 October 2021. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
  17. ^ "Statement of persons nominated, notice of poll and situation in polling stations". Southend Council. 11 January 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  18. ^ "Southend West by-election live updates: Residents vote to elect MP after Sir David Amess' death". Essex Live. The turnout for the Southend West by election was 24.03 per cent of an electorate of 66,354
  19. ^ @BritainElects (4 February 2022). "Southend West parliamentary by-election, result" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. ^ "Election Results Southend West by-election 2022". 4 February 2022. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  21. ^ "Parliamentary career for Anna Firth". UK Parliament. Archived from the original on 23 February 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  22. ^ "Anna Firth pays tribute to Sir David in maiden speech". Southend Echo. 10 May 2022. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  23. ^ "Archie Battersbee visited in hospital by Southend MP Anna Firth". Southend Echo. 2 June 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  24. ^ "Anna Firth wants Archie Battersbee meeting with Health Secretary". Southend Echo. 23 August 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  25. ^ "Southend MP calls for Priti Patel to be next Prime Minister". Southend Echo. 10 July 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  26. ^ Tolhurst, Alain (12 July 2022). "Priti Patel Ruled Out Of Tory Leadership Over Fear Of 'Fractured' Right-Wing Vote". PoliticsHome. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  27. ^ @Anna_Firth (8 August 2022). "💙So good to welcome @trussliz to South Essex today! 🌞I am supporting #LizForLeader because she will deliver for Britain and #Southend 🇬🇧She is honest, straight-talking and determined – exactly what we need in a Prime Minister..." (Tweet). Retrieved 10 September 2022 – via Twitter.
  28. ^ "MP Anna Firth accepts new government role but Southend remains her 'guiding principle'". Southend Echo. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  29. ^ "Parliamentary Private Secretaries – November 2022" (PDF). gov.uk. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  30. ^ "Southend West and Leigh - General election results 2024". BBC News. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  31. ^ "Notification of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests". Sevenoaks District Council. p. 2. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  32. ^ "Ed Firth". Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  33. ^ Hayes, Phil (1 August 2019). "Canterbury Conservatives select Anna Firth as parliamentary candidate to take on Labour's Rosie Duffield". Kent Online.
  34. ^ "Order, Order!". The Music Man Project UK. 25 March 2024. Retrieved 26 October 2024. Our patron Anna Firth MP
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Southend West
2022–present 		Constituency abolished