Hunters co-founder named as new shadow housing secretary
Kevin Hollinrake, who is MP for Thirsk and Malton, enjoyed a big windfall when TPFG bought his firm back in 2019.
Estate agents may be happy to know that one of their kind is now shadow housing secretary.
Kemi Badenoch has appointed Kevin Hollinrake, the founder of Hunters, to her shadow cabinet following her recent election as leader of the Conservative party.
Hollinrake ran against her back in July when he was one of the first MPs to flag up his intention to run for leader, but didn’t officially throw his hat in the ring.
All of the other candidates, bar James Cleverly who rules himself out, have been given jobs within Badenoch’s shadow cabinet.
Housing
Hollinrake is MP for Thirsk and Malton and was a junior business minister during the Sunak years, later becoming the department’s secretary of state but has now been named as its shadow levelling up, housing and communities secretary.
He is best known within the industry as the founder of Hunters, which he established with John Waterhouse with an initial branch in York during 1992 but then expanding the firm to a national chain.
The company, which now has 182 branches, was sold to The Property Franchise Group for £24m in January 2019 netting its directors, who included Hollinrake, £9.5 million between them.
Although Hollinrake used to be involved with the business from time to time, his main focus in recent years has been politics after he was election as the Conservative MP for Malton and Thirsk in 2015.
He started his career after studying physics at Sheffield Hallam University, joining the Prudential as a branch manager which, at the time, was the largest estate agency in Britain.
Reaction
Nathan Emerson, CEO at Propertymark, says: “We congratulate Kevin Hollinrake on his appointment as Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, especially at a time when the housing sector is about to see substantial evolution which will require industry wide collaboration, as well as strong cross-party consensus.
“These issues include planning reform, tax structure, regulations, and an urgent need to help inspire long term investment, all of which will form key pillars for the Shadow Minister to address.
“These continuous challenges require strong thinking, and Propertymark looks forward to working with Mr Hollinrake. He is a respected former agent whom we have worked with in the past to ensure progression and balance within the property sector.”
This is significant progress, a political party putting a minister in place who has any idea of the department they are in charge of, remarkable. It is a pity that there is next to no chance that Labour will follow suit.
Congratulations. You will have plenty to do to represent the industry and I hope agents and surveyors.
It’s all a bit late, had the conservative elected him to the position 5 years ago, maybe we wouldn’t be in such a mess? The trouble now is that in 5 years time when hopefully the electorate have seen sense and Labour are out, he will be almost 70 and probably looking to retire. In the meantime, no other party or organisation will have any influence on Labour who will just bulldoze through any legislation that they fancy!