Political career Robert Halfon

1 political career

1.1 trade unions
1.2 petrol promise
1.3 apprenticeships
1.4 cost of living
1.5 alternative medicine
1.6 uk university donations
1.7 2017 parliamentary assistant undercover recording scandal

political career

halfon worked chief of staff conservative mp oliver letwin before becoming political director conservative friends of israel. contested harlow seat in 2001 , 2005 general elections, losing 97 votes on second occasion.

his third run harlow successful , after 2010 general election, elected executive of 1922 committee of backbench conservative mps. delivered maiden speech in house on 2 june 2010. has been member of public administration select committee since 2010. on 19 july 2010 hosted launch of friends of israel initiative @ house of commons.

on 18 july 2014 chosen chancellor of exchequer, george osborne, parliamentary private secretary. announcing appointment, osborne described halfon brilliant campaigner .

trade unions

halfon member of prospect trade union , campaigner conservative supporters become more involved in trade unions. in 2012, published pamphlet through thinktank demos called stop union bashing: why conservatives should embrace trade union movement, relayed history of trade unionism in conservative party, , called these links revived.

petrol promise

after winning seat, halfon founded petrol promise campaign, online website , petition calling lower fuel tax , official inquiry oil market due suspected manipulation of petrol prices. supporter of fairfueluk pressure group , has raised issue of cheaper petrol in parliament. presented petition calling inquiry price-fixing @ office of fair trading signed 30,000 motorists in 2013. led chancellor george osborne calling him champion of people represents . won spectator s campaigner of year award in 2013 work fighting keep petrol duty low.

apprenticeships

halfon supporter of apprenticeships, , campaigned new university technical college built in harlow, open in september 2014. set parliamentary academy, encourages mps employ apprentices in parliament. had first mp s apprentice in house of commons, , of 2013 on third apprentice, came harlow college. work on apprenticeships, robert halfon named avanta s politician of year in 2013.

cost of living

halfon has worked against utility companies making big profits. in 2013 published study of water companies in eastern region examining profits, , called inquiry. has called windfall tax imposed on energy companies found unnecessarily putting prices customers.

halfon has talked need reduce tax workers, arguing near living wage achieved if government reintroduced 10p band of income tax or increased national insurance threshold, citing alternative living wage says damage small, local businesses.

alternative medicine

halfon has signed several day motions in support of national health service funding homeopathy sponsored conservative mp david tredinnick. although halfon signed these motions in 2010, has since campaigned no further on these issues.

uk university donations

halfon has been critical of donations received uk universities abroad, in particular london school of economics , political science.

2017 parliamentary assistant undercover recording scandal

in january 2017, halfon`s former assistant (ms. maria strizzolo) caught on camera in pub drinking former israeli embassy staffer shai masot, made suggestions member of parliament office take down . after reports documentary carried uk news networks, censure attempted. qatar-based newsmedia outlet reported ofcom in january 2017, following exposé israeli diplomatic corp irregularities , influence peddling amongst political , student groups in uk.

after investigations exceeding 8 months, ofcom reported al jazeera in line journalism standards.