Introduction
Sir Alexander John Randall (born 5 August 1955) is a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Uxbridge and then later Uxbridge and South Ruislip. He was the Conservative Deputy Chief Whip between May 2010 and October 2013.
Sir John is a trustee and Vice-Chair of the Human Trafficking Foundation and in February 2016 was appointed Special Envoy on modern Slavery to the Mayor of London, alongside Anthony Steen CBE.
Early life
Randall's family have lived in Uxbridge for many years. The family owned the major local department store Randalls of Uxbridge on Vine Street, which was founded by his great-grandfather Philip Randall in 1891, and closed in 2015.
Born in Uxbridge, Randall was educated at Rutland House School, an independent school in Hillingdon in west London, and later at Merchant Taylors' School, another independent school, in Northwood, Hertfordshire. In 1979, he graduated from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, which is now part of University College London. with an Upper Second Class Honours BA degree in Serbo-Croatian language and literature.
Randall later became managing director of Randall's and one of three shareholders in the business. In 1994, he became Honorary Treasurer of Uxbridge Conservative Association, which later elected him Chairman.
He announced in 2014 that the family store would close, citing decreased turnover and competition from online shopping as causes. Speaking about the closure, he criticised other employers for using zero-hours contracts to cut their costs.
Parliamentary career
Randall was elected Member of Parliament for Uxbridge in a by-election following the death of Sir Michael Shersby in the wake of the Labour Party's 1997 landslide election victory. Randall had been an election agent for Shersby throughout the 1997 General Election campaign. He became the first Conservative candidate to win a parliamentary by-election since William Hague's victory in Richmond in 1989.
During his political career he has sat on the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Select Committee and its Environment Sub-Committee. He is strongly against the expansion of Heathrow Airport.
In 1999 he was appointed as an Opposition Whip, but, due to his opposition to Britain's involvement in the Iraq War, he resigned as a matter of conscience in March 2003. He was later reappointed as a Whip in 2003. At the end of 2005 he was promoted to Conservative Assistant Chief Whip. In 2010 he was appointed the joint Deputy Chief Whip and Treasurer of Her Majesty's Household in the Coalition Government.
He was appointed as a Privy Counsellor on 9 June 2010.
He resigned from the government with praise to David Cameron on 6 October 2013, amid a cabinet reshuffle. On 21 October 2013 it was announced that he was to receive a knighthood. On 10 July 2014, Randall announced that he would not be standing as a parliamentary candidate for the seat at the 2015 general election.
Personal life
John Randall married Katherine Frances Gray in 1986; the couple have two sons and a daughter. Randall is a keen supporter of Uxbridge Football Club.