Stephen Hammond

 
Stephen William Hammond (born 4 February 1962) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wimbledon since winning the seat in the 2005 election on 5 May 2005 with a 7.2% swing.
Stephen Hammond was born and educated in Southampton, attending King Edward VI School and afterwards on to the University of London. After graduating in Economics, he began a career in finance at a leading fund management house and subsequently worked for major investment banks. He was appointed a Director of the Equities division of Dresdner Kleinwort Benson in 1994 and four years later joined Commerzbank Securities. In 2000 he was promoted to Director, Pan European Research, with responsibility for seventy professionals based in London and across Europe.
He stood for Parliament for the Wimbledon constituency in the 2001 general election, but failed to improve on the large drop in popularity experienced by the previous Conservative MP. He was elected a councillor for Village ward, Wimbledon in the London Borough of Merton election in 2002 and was deputy leader of the Conservative Group on the Council.
He successfully re-fought the Wimbledon parliamentary seat in May 2005. He was soon promoted to the front bench - in December 2005 David Cameron appointed him Shadow Minister for Transport with special responsibility for rail, buses and London.
On 6 May 2010 he was re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Wimbledon. With 23,257 votes, he won 49% of all votes cast and increased his majority to 11,408. Turnout in Wimbledon was 73%, up from 68% in 2005.
Following the election, Stephen Hammond was appointed PPS to Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.
Stephen Hammond has been married to Sally since 1991. Sally has for many years worked as a private secretary to Members of Parliament based at the House of Commons. They live in Wimbledon Park, with their daughter, Alice.
Stephen used to play hockey for a National League team and for his county. He now plays veterans hockey for Wimbledon. He enjoys reading and cooking as methods of relaxation as well as keeping the company of family and friends.