Dehenna Davison
Dehenna Sheridan Davison (; born 27 July 1993) is a British Conservative politician and broadcaster who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bishop Auckland since the 2019 general election. She is the first Conservative to represent the constituency since its creation in 1885. The seat had previously been represented by a Labour Party MP since 1935. Early life. Dehenna Sheridan Davison was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, where she grew up on a council estate. Her father was a stonemason, and her mother was a nursery nurse. Davison was educated at the independent Sheffield High School , on a scholarship. When she was 13 years old, her father was attacked and killed, his assailant being imprisoned for manslaughter. Three years later, she represented the family at a criminal injuries compensation tribunal. She has commented in interviews that the experience fostered her interest in politics. Davison studied British Politics and Legislative Studies at the University of Hull. During her time at the university, she spent a year working as a parliamentary aide for Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Somerset. Davison was also a National Union of Students (NUS) delegate and played for  the university's lacrosse team. She led a successful campaign to disaffiliate the university's student union from the NUS in 2016. In the same year, Davison was the Conservative candidate for the Kings Park ward in the Hull City Council election, where she finished last. In 2018, she again contested and finished fifth in the Kingswood ward. In her late teens and early twenties, as a student, she had a variety of jobs including in a video games retailer, a casino, a betting shop, and a branch of Pizza Hut. Parliamentary career. Davison was selected as the Conservative candidate  for the Kingston upon Hull North constituency at the 2015 general election. She finished third behind the Labour Party and UK Independence Party candidates. Davison supported Brexit in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. She next contested Sedgefield at the 2017 general election, where she finished second behind the Labour candidate. She was elected as MP for Bishop Auckland at the 2019 general election, with a majority of 7,962 (17.8%) on a swing of 9.5% from Labour to the Conservatives. Davison was the first Conservative MP for the constituency since its creation in 1885. The seat had been  represented by a Labour MP since 1935. Her campaign focused on promises on Brexit, and reopening Bishop Auckland Hospital's emergency department which had been closed in 2009. Prior to becoming an MP, Davison was a research and development analyst for LUMO, a company which advises businesses on tax credits. She made her maiden speech on 16 January 2020. Davison supports scrapping the planned high-speed railway project HS2, and re-investing the money into local transport schemes. On 14 February 2020, it was reported that she had been photographed with two far-right activists at a party to celebrate  Brexit on 31 January in her constituency. Advocacy group Hope not Hate called for the Conservatives to undertake an investigation. In response, Davison distanced herself from the views of the two men, stating, "These photos were taken at an event open to the public and I in no way whatsoever condone the views highlighted of the individuals concerned." In September 2020, Davison was criticised by her own party after she mocked then Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard for having an English accent and suggested that this was the reason for Labour's decline in support in Scotland. A spokesman for  the Scottish Conservatives said that: "This criticism is unacceptable. It plays into the kind of divisive politics that the SNP promote." Conservative MSP Dean Lockhart also distanced himself from Davison's comments and stated that Leonard's accent is "irrelevant". Davison was a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee from March 2020 to November 2021. She is also a member of the European Research Group, on the steering committee of the China Research Group, on the board of the Blue Collar Conservatives, and a member of the parliamentary council of the centre-right think tank The Northern Policy Foundation . Davison also co-chairs with Greg Smith the Free Market Forum, a group of Conservative MPs advocating classical liberalism and is affiliated with the Institute of Economic Affairs think tank. GB News. Davison has been a co-host of "The Political Correction" on GB News on Sunday mornings with Nigel Farage since June 2021. She earns £369 per week for this role. Personal life. In 2018, Davison married John Fareham, a Conservative councillor on Hull City Council, who is 35 years her senior. The couple appeared together on the Channel 4 documentary series "Bride and Prejudice", which showed their  wedding at the Guildhall, Kingston upon Hull. They separated before the 2019 general election. She lives in the village of Coundon in County Durham. Davison came out as bisexual in 2021. As of February 2022, she is in a relationship with diplomat Tony Kay, the head of the Arabian Peninsula department at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. As part of Mental Health Awareness Week 2019, Davison discussed her personal experience of depression and suicidal ideation while working in London as a parliamentary aide, after her grandmother had been diagnosed with and subsequently died of lung cancer. She has also  been open about her past use of antidepressants.