Andrew grew up in rural Essex, the son of a furniture retailer. He was educated at Felsted School, Trinity College Oxford, the College of Europe Bruges, and Wolfson College, Cambridge. He is a former Woodrow Wilson scholar and Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford.
Until his selection as Parliamentary candidate for Chichester, he was Senior Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
He had previously been a full-time adviser to successive Chancellors of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Nigel Lawson and then the Rt Hon John Major MP. He worked closely with them in the Treasury, giving advice on reducing taxes, particularly income tax, privatisation, encouraging enterprise and cutting red tape. He started his career in industry with British Petroleum.
Andrew Tyrie's Experience
Andrew was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Chichester in the May 1997 general election.
During this Parliament Andrew has served as a member of the Public Accounts Commission and the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee. Andrew is also the Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Parliamentary Reform. From November 2003 to May 2005, he served as a Shadow Minister for Economic Affairs. From 2005 to 2006 he served on the Executive Committee of the 1922 Committee. He is Founder and Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition.
Since entering the House he has published several pamphlets: Sense on EMU (European Policy Forum, 1998), Reforming the Lords: a Conservative Approach (Conservative Policy Forum, 1998), Leviathan at Large: the new regulator for the financial markets (Centre for Policy Studies, 2000 (with Martin McElwee), Mr Blair’s Poodle: an agenda for reviving the House of Commons (Centre for Policy Studies, 2000), Back from the Brink (Parliamentary Mainstream, 2001), Statism by Stealth: New Labour, new collectivism (Centre for Policy Studies, 2002), Axis of Instability: America, Britain, and The New World Order after Iraq (The Bow Group and the Foreign Policy Centre, 2003). Mr Blair’s Poodle goes to War: The House of Commons, Congress and Iraq (Centre for Policy Studies, 2004), The Conservative Party’s proposals for the funding of political parties, The Conservative Party, March 2006.