Chris D. Kelly – Biography

Chris D. Kelly is a father, family businessman and former (retired) Member of Parliament.

Chris is chairman and a shareholder of Keltruck Limited, the largest privately owned distributor in the Scania worldwide network.

He was born in June 1978 and attended Wolverhampton Grammar School from 1989 to 1996. As is typical in a family run business, Chris spent many school holidays & Saturday mornings with his father in the business.

From 1996 to 1999 Chris attended Oxford Brookes University, graduating with a degree in politics & (modern) history before joining Keltruck in sales & marketing. Being strongly influenced by Keltruck’s then non-executive chairman, the late Brigadier Sir Louis Hargroves CBE DL, Chris joined the Oxford University Officers’ Training Corps as an officer cadet, gaining military training qualification (MTQ) part one.

Between 2000 & 2004 Chris assisted Business for Sterling in the West Midlands and No Euro campaign headquarters in London.

From 2002 to 2003 Chris studied for a Master of Business Administration (MBA) post-graduate degree at Imperial College Business School, London.

In 2004 Chris joined the Parliamentary office of the Leader of the Opposition working for the Rt. Hon. Michael Howard QC MP (now Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, PC, KC) during his time as Leader of the Conservative Party.

In 2005 Chris returned full-time to Keltruck, joining the board & working in marketing until his election to Parliament in May 2010.

From 2010 to 2015 Chris was the MP for Dudley South, taking the Conservative whip in the House of Commons. He served on the European Scrutiny (select) Committee for five years (under the chairmanship of Sir Bill Cash MP – photos here) and participated in the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme.

Chris founded the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Combating Metal Theft, successfully leading a campaign – meeting & co-ordinating with Home Office ministers including the then Home Secretary, the Rt. Hon. Theresa May MP – to, firstly, outlaw the sale of metal for cash and, secondly, repeal the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 1964 and replace it with the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013. He served on the Bill Committee for the 2013 Act.

From 2010 to 2015 Chris chaired the APPG for Family Business, which he also founded, working with Family Business UK to recognise the contribution of tens of thousands of family businesses & enterprises to the UK’s economy, levels of employment & prosperity. Chris has been an active member of Family Business UK for several years.

In January 2011 Chris took the principled decision to vote against the Government on a European matter. Following a one-on-one meeting with then Prime Minister David Cameron in the Chief Whip’s office in the House of Commons, Chris informed the PM directly that he would still be voting against the Government on principle. The briefing to a Sunday newspaper which followed, alleging that Chris had been ‘reduced to tears’ by the PM, is categorically untrue.

In July 2011 Chris publicly expressed security concerns about Huawei’s involvement in providing hardware for UK critical communications infrastructure. Today he supports the important work of the China Research Group (CRG).

In October 2011 Chris was one of 81 MPs from the (then) governing Conservative Party to join the largest rebellion of the post-war era up to that point by voting in the Commons for an in-out EU referendum, a rebellion which sowed the seeds of the 2016 referendum.

In 2013 Chris publicly objected to and voted against HS2 in the House of Commons on cost grounds.

Chris was greatly inspired by Baroness (Margaret) Thatcher who he was privileged to spend time with on numerous occasions in her latter years. He was honoured to attend Lady Thatcher’s funeral at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London in April 2013.

In September 2014 Chris announced his decision to retire from Parliament at the forthcoming general election and, in April 2015, he returned to Keltruck as chairman.

More than a decade after assisting Business for Sterling and the No Euro campaign Chris campaigned during the 2016 European Union referendum for Vote Leave (run as CEO by his close friend, Lord (Matthew) Elliott of Mickle Fell), making the case for the UK to leave the EU having consistently called for & voted in the House of Commons for an in/out referendum throughout his political & Parliamentary career. He is today a supporter of the Museum of Brexit.

In December 2019 Chris was pleased to host his former colleague, Chancellor of the Exchequer the Rt. Hon. Sajid Javid – and West Midlands mayor Andy Street – at Keltruck head office. Prime Minister Boris Johnson had also been due to attend but had to remain in London following a double murder on London Bridge committed by an Islamist extremist.

Chris assists with matters relating to his family’s commercial property portfolio.

Chris inputs into the company & his family’s philanthropy & charitable giving.

Like his father, Chris is a private helicopter pilot (PPL(H)). He holds type ratings for both piston & turbine engine rotor craft.

Outside of business Chris’s interests include spending time with family, swimming, skiing, fitness (he ran the 2012 London marathon for Dudley charities), flying & travelling. He enjoys golf, particularly playing with Keltruck customers at the company’s golf days.

Chris is proud to be an alumnus of:

• Wolverhampton Grammar School
• Oxford Brookes University
• Oxford University Officers’ Training Corps
• Imperial College, London
• House of Commons, UK Parliament
• The Aviation Centre

Videos

Keltruck Scania 40^th anniversary (2023)

Photo gallery

Parliamentary career photos