Anne Marie Morris

Morris, born in 1957, was educated at Bryanston School in Dorset. She studied law at Oxford University, before pursuing a legal career. She moved into the field of marketing, working for several firms, before setting up her own business. She also gained an MBA from the Open University. Her move into politics came after her stepfather suffered a heart attack and ended up on a trolley in a hospital corridor. It was this that brought about Morris's desire to campaign for change in the NHS.

Morris was elected as a councillor on West Sussex County Council for the division of Cuckfield & Lucastes in 2005. She chaired the council's Health Scrutiny Committee. In March 2007 Morris resigned after she was selected as the Conservative candidate for Newton Abbot.

In 2006 Morris was selected by the local Conservative Party association to contest the Newton Abbot parliamentary constituency.

In the 2010 general election Morris was elected to the seat of Newton Abbot on a 5% swing from the Liberal Democrats, In a close contest she defeated the incumbent, Richard Younger-Ross, by 523 votes.

Morris attracted attention during Prime Minister's Questions in July 2012 as she shouted a long question on technical colleges in Devon over a noisy and increasingly amused Commons chamber, whilst waving a left arm held in a sling. Video of her "high-pitched outburst" was widely circulated on social media. Morris said she cared about the issue raised and would "always speak passionately about issues in my constituency"

In 2013 she was one of 30 Conservative rebels whose votes helped defeat the government's plans for military action in Syria. She later said she made the decision because the military action plans "felt ill-thought through and smacked of regime change", but supported plans for air strikes against ISIL.

In the 2015 election, she increased her majority to 11,288 and increased it again in the 2017 general election to 17,160.

Morris is interested in small businesses, and co-chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Micro Businesses. In Newton Abbot she has established Teignbridge Business Buddies, a scheme that offers support to small businesses.

In the 2017 general election campaign Morris distanced herself from a "racist remark" made by her election agent and partner, Roger Kendrick, at a hustings.

In July 2017, Morris faced calls for the Conservative whip to be withdrawn from her after being recorded on a parliamentary panel using the racist phrase "nigger in the woodpile" at the launch of a report into the future for the UK's financial sector after Brexit. In response to the criticism, Morris later stated "The comment was totally unintentional. I apologise unreservedly for any offence caused."

In response to her comments, Morris had the Conservative whip suspended.