British Conservative politician
Selaine Rachel Saxby ( ; born 25 November 1970) is a British Conservative Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Devon from 2019 to 2024. She was also a councillor on North Devon Council.
Early life and career.
Selaine Saxby was born on 25 November 1970 in Coventry to Kenneth and Pamela Saxby. Her father is a former headteacher.
She attended Eastbourne Sixth Form College, before studying mathematics and management at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where she gained a BA First Class Honours degree in Maths and Management Studies in 1992.
She founded the independent sports bra retailer Lessbounce Ltd. in 2000, and ran the business until 2016, when it went into liquidation. During this period, she was one of the signatories to a letter of support from small business owners endorsing the Conservatives at the 2015 general election.
Saxby also founded Pink Aerobics, which organised aerobics events to raise money for breast cancer charities; it raised over £500,000. She was the chief of staff for Bath MP Ben Howlett between 2015 and 2017. From 2017 to 2018, she was a Business Support Consultant.
In May 2019, Saxby was elected to represent Instow ward on North Devon Council. 
Parliamentary career.
Saxby stood as the Conservative Party candidate in Llanelli at the 2015 general election, coming fourth with 14.3% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP Nia Griffith, the Plaid Cymru candidate, and the UKIP.
In November 2019, Saxby was selected as the Conservative candidate for North Devon. At the 2019 general election, she was elected to Parliament as MP for North Devon with 56.5% of the vote and a majority of 14,813.
She was a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee from March 2020 until her unseating.
In October 2020, following a vote in Parliament against a Labour Party Opposition Day Motion to extend free school meals over holidays, Saxby was criticised for stating in a Facebook post that she hoped if local businesses were able to offer free food, then they would not be seeking further government help. She later deleted her Facebook post, stating her comments had been taken "out of context". She said in a statement that she regretted any offence that "may have been caused", and also criticised "a small but hostile element" on social media who she said had been "aggressive and personally abusive" towards her and her staff.
On 13 June 2022, Saxby was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury. She resigned from the role on 6 July 2022, in connection with the resignations of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid over Prime Minister Boris Johnson's handling of the Chris Pincher scandal.
In the October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, Saxby supported Rishi Sunak.
In February 2023, Saxby was re-selected as the Conservative candidate for North Devon at the 2024 general election. While campaigning in May 2024, she was bitten on the leg by a dog when doorknocking.
In the 2024 United Kingdom general election she was unseated by Ian Roome from the Liberal Democrats.
References.
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