Brady was selected to contest the
Altrincham and Sale West, following the retirement of the Conservative MP
Fergus Montgomery. Brady was elected as MP for Altrincham and Sale West at the
1997 general election with 43.2% of the vote and a majority of 1,505. He was the youngest Conservative MP to be elected in 1997, having been elected just before his 30th birthday. In the
party leadership election that followed, Brady supported
Michael Howard. Brady made his
maiden speech in the
House of Commons on 2 June 1997. From 1997 to 2001 he was a member of the Education and Employment Select Committee and its Employment Sub-Committee. He was joint secretary of the Conservative Party Committee for Education and Employment from 1997 to 2000. In 1998 Brady made enquiries to
John Bourn, at the time
Comptroller and Auditor General, on his decision not to publish a
National Audit Office report on the controversial
Al-Yamamah arms deal. The same year, Brady was one of only 13 Conservative MPs who voted in favour of an equal age of consent. He was a member of the executive of the
1922 Committee from 1998 to 2000. Brady became
parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to the
Chairman of the Conservative Party,
Michael Ancram in 1999. He was made an
Opposition Whip by
William Hague in 2000. In February 2000, Brady complained about anti-grammar school literature circulated to parents in Altrincham by Michael Evans, then head of
Trinity Church of England High School, arguing that this violated rules about public funds being used for campaign material – a complaint subsequently upheld by
Secretary of State for Education David Blunkett. That same year Brady became an opposition spokesman on
Education and Employment. Brady was re-elected as MP for Altrincham and Sale West at the
2001 general election with an increased vote share of 46.2% and an increased majority of 2,941. Following the election, Brady continued as an opposition spokesman on
Education and Skills under the leadership of both Hague and
Iain Duncan Smith. He became the
parliamentary private secretary to the
Leader of the Opposition,
Michael Howard, in 2003, and an opposition spokesman on foreign affairs and Shadow Europe Minister in 2004. From 2004 to 2005 he was a member of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Select Committee and its Urban Affairs Sub-Committee. He was vice-chair of the all-party Montserrat Group from 2006. He became a member of the
Treasury Select Committee and rejoined the executive of the 1922 Committee in 2007. At the
2005 general election, Brady was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 46.4% and an increased majority of 7,159. On 29 May 2007, Brady resigned his post as Shadow Minister for Europe in protest at Conservative leader
David Cameron's opposition to grammar schools. He told the BBC that "faced with a choice between a front bench position that I have loved and doing what I believe to be right for my constituents and for the many hundreds of thousands of families who are ill-served by state education in this country, there is in conscience only one option open to me", and argued that "grammar schools in selective areas are exactly the motor that does drive social mobility more effectively than comprehensive areas". Brady's own constituency has retained a selective rather than comprehensive education system. Brady was secretary of the all-party Fluoridation Group and Infrastructure Group from 2008. From 2009 he was treasurer of the all-party Thailand Group and vice-chairman of the Cannabis and Children Group. At the
2010 general election, Brady was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 48.9% and an increased majority of 11,595. In 2013, he opposed the
Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, raising concerns that the measure had not been in the Conservative manifesto and that religious freedom could be compromised. At the
2015 general election, Brady was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 53% and an increased majority of 13,290. In the
2016 EU referendum, he was a supporter of
Brexit. At the snap
2017 general election, Brady was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 51% and a decreased majority of 6,426. In July 2018, it was reported that Brady served as editor of
The House, the in-house Parliamentary magazine, earning a salary of £26,000 for the role. Brady was again re-elected at the
2019 general election with a decreased vote share of 48% and a decreased majority of 6,139. In 2024, he was elected as the president of the
Northern Ireland Conservatives party.
1922 Committee Brady succeeded
Sir Michael Spicer as Chairman of the
1922 Committee on 26 May 2010. The committee, sometimes known as "The 22" for short, is the parliamentary group of the Conservative Party and has a central role in the election of the
Leader of the Conservative Party. Since 2010 Brady oversaw the election of 4 Conservative Leaders (
Theresa May in 2016,
Boris Johnson in 2019,
Liz Truss in 2022 and
Rishi Sunak in 2022) all of whom became the Prime Minister since the Conservative Party had been in office throughout his tenure as chairman. On 24 May 2019, he recused himself from overseeing the
2019 Conservative Party leadership election in order to explore launching his own candidacy, but ultimately opted
not to run for Leader. His Deputy Chairmen
Cheryl Gillan and
Charles Walker oversaw the 2019 leadership contest which resulted in the election of
Boris Johnson. Brady returned to his role as Chairman the 1922 Committee on 3 September 2019. He was subsequently re-elected in the
next session of
Parliament on 20 January 2020. Brady's role as Chairman of the 1922 gave him a high public profile, as it fell to him to announce the results of each leadership election or challenge, which was followed on live TV and streaming around the world. In 2022, Brady became the longest-ever serving Chairman of the 1922 Committee, surpassing
Edward du Cann.
Legislation Brexit: anti-Northern Ireland backstop amendment On 29 January 2019, the House of Commons voted 317 to 301 to approve Brady's amendment to the Brexit Next Steps motion, which called for "the
Northern Ireland backstop to be replaced with alternative arrangements to avoid a hard border, supports leaving the European Union with a deal and would therefore support the
Withdrawal Agreement subject to this change".
COVID-19 lockdowns In May 2020, Brady called for the removal of "arbitrary rules and limitations on freedom" brought in by the government because of the
COVID-19 pandemic. He said that the British public had been "a little too willing to stay at home". Speaking out against
a second lockdown, he also spoke about
COVID-related mental health issues, such as increased rates of suicide and
domestic abuse, as well as excess deaths caused due to reduced access for care. Brady is also a steering committee member of the lockdown-sceptic
COVID Recovery Group, a group of Conservative MPs who oppose the UK government's
December 2020 lockdown. The
Telegraph reported that the group was seen in Westminster as an "echo" of the Brexiteer
European Research Group (ERG) of MPs, and a response by backbench Conservatives to
Nigel Farage's anti-lockdown
Reform UK party. He was created
Baron Brady of Altrincham, of
Birch-in-Rusholme in the
County of Greater Manchester, on 19 August 2024. In 2024 he published a memoir of his time leading the 1922 Committee, entitled
Kingmaker. ==Personal life==