At the
2015 general election, Holden stood as the
Conservative candidate in
Preston, coming second with 20% of the vote behind the incumbent
Labour MP
Mark Hendrick. Holden was elected to Parliament at the
2019 general election as MP for
North West Durham with 41.9% of the vote and a majority of 1,144. Holden was a member of the
Public Accounts Committee between March 2020 and March 2022. Since he became an MP he has written a fortnightly column for the political blog
ConservativeHome. He was elected to the
Executive of the 1922 Committee in July 2021. He is on the committee of the
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Gambling-Related Harm, and has spoken and written extensively about his view that there must be tighter regulation of online gambling. In February 2020, he led a campaign to reverse the increase in
Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) paid on new motorhomes. The tax had been increased in September 2019 in response to EU regulation 2018/1832. In the March 2020 Budget the
Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Rishi Sunak, announced that the VED increase would be reversed, a tax cut worth £25 million a year to consumers and the industry. In March 2021 Holden led a group of 80
Conservative MPs in writing to the
Chancellor of the Exchequer asking him to introduce a new lower duty for beer sold on draught in pubs. He continued his campaign alongside fellow Conservative MP
Mike Wood in meetings with
Treasury Ministers, and in October 2021 he gathered more than 100 Conservative MPs to push the issues ahead of the
2021 Budget. In the 2021 Budget the government announced a new Draught Beer Duty rate for pubs and clubs 5 per cent lower than standard beer duty, cutting the tax on beer and cider sold in pubs by £100 million a year. Rishi Sunak credited both Holden and Wood for campaigning on the issue in his Budget Speech. On 22 April 2022 Holden called for
Durham Constabulary to investigate
Keir Starmer, the
Leader of the Labour Party, following reports in the media regarding potential breaches of COVID-19 regulations by attending a
staff gathering during an election campaign that month. Durham Constabulary announced an investigation into the event on 6 May 2022. On 8 July 2022, Durham Constabulary announced that they would not be issuing any
fixed penalty notices as they determined the gathering was covered by the "reasonably necessary work" exception in the regulations. Holden endorsed
Rishi Sunak in the
July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election. He was appointed as
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Roads and Local Transport in October 2022. Holden became
Chairman of the Conservative Party and
Minister without Portfolio on 13 November 2023 as part of a
cabinet reshuffle. He was sworn in as a member of the
Privy Council on 13 December 2023 at
Buckingham Palace following his appointment, entitling him to the
honorific prefix "
The Right Honourable" for life. On 5 June 2024, Holden was controversially made a
parachute candidate for the safe Tory seat of
Basildon and Billericay, to the strong opposition of local members. This was despite Holden having stated he was "bloody loyal to the north-east" earlier in the year. At the
2024 general election, Holden was elected to Parliament as MP for Basildon and Billericay with 30.6% of the vote and a majority of 20. On 8 July 2024, Holden resigned as chairman of the Conservative Party, replaced by Richard Fuller as interim chairman. He became
Shadow Paymaster General in the
Opposition Frontbench of Kemi Badenoch in November 2024. In December 2024, Holden introduced a
ten minute rule bill calling for the outlawing of
marriage between first cousins. In July 2025, Holden was appointed
Shadow Transport Secretary, replacing
Gareth Bacon. ==Personal life==