Mary Robinson

Mary Josephine Robinson (born 23 August 1955) is a British Conservative Party politician. She was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cheadle at the 2015 general election.

Mary was born on 23 August 1955. She went on to study law and worked as a chartered accountant. She ran an accountancy practice in Preston called Robinson Rose Ltd with her husband Stephen, but this went into administration and was acquired by the Champion Group in September 2008. In November 2012 she founded the fashion design business Mary Felicity Design Ltd with her daughter Felicity; although the company is dormant, she remains a Director in 2018.

She unsuccessfully stood as the Conservative candidate in the Howick & Priory ward of South Ribble Borough Council in Preston in 2003, but was subsequently elected in the same ward in 2007; her husband Stephen was also elected as a councillor on the same Council at this time.

Robinson was selected as the Conservative candidate for Cheadle in February 2013 and stood down as a councillor on South Ribble Borough Council in March 2013. Her husband also stood down as a councillor and in the local election that followed on the 7 May 2015, the Liberal Democrats won one of the vacant seats left by the couple. She was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cheadle at the 2015 general election, achieving a swing of 12.2% against the incumbent Liberal Democrat MP Mark Hunter.

In May 2016, it emerged that Robinson was one of a number of Conservative MPs being investigated by police in the United Kingdom general election, 2015 party spending investigation, for allegedly spending more than the legal limit on constituency election campaign expenses; the police passed her file to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). However, in May 2017, the CPS decided that no criminal charges would be brought.

She was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.

Robinson held her seat at the 2017 General Election with a slightly reduced majority.

In Parliament, Robinson currently serves on the Administration Committee and Housing, Communities & Local Government Committee.

In 2020 Robinson became Chair and Registered Contact for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Whistleblowing.The group has been subject to criticism by some campaigners on whistleblowing law reform, questioning their transparency and accountability, following Sir Norman Lamb's resignation from the group.

She is married to Stephen Robinson and they have four grown up children. In May 2016, her husband Stephen stood as the Conservative candidate for the Cheadle Hulme South ward on Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, but lost to Mark Hunter, the former local MP who Mary Robinson had defeated in 2015.