Craig Whittaker (born 30 August 1962)[1] is a British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Calder Valley from 2010 to 2024.

In 2007, he was once again elected to Calderdale Council, this time for the neighbouring ward of Rastrick, securing 1,336 votes for the Conservatives and increasing the Party's majority.

[17][18] During his time on the committee, he spoke out against the Government on occasion and criticised policy in relation to transferring responsibility for careers advice to schools, describing it as a "bit of a pigs ear".

[24] In the run up to the 2015 general election, Whittaker was criticised on social media for sharing, via a tweet, a Daily Mail newspaper column by Richard Littlejohn headlined "Vote Labour?

[20][25] Whittaker was re-elected as MP for Calder Valley at the 2015 general election with an increased vote share of 43.6% and a decreased majority of 4,427.

[30] In October 2019, Whittaker was among 11 West Yorkshire MPs to urge the government go ahead with the Leeds branch of the HS2 railway.

[32] In July 2020, Whittaker said that BAME people in the United Kingdom were responsible for increases in COVID-19 cases and that they were failing to exercise precaution, stating in a radio interview with LBC that: "If you look at the areas where we've seen rises and cases, the vast majority – but not by any stretch of the imagination all areas – it is the BAME communities that are not taking this seriously enough".

Despite this, he had accepted Euro 2020 tickets worth more than £3,000 from Entain, which owns a number of betting companies including Coral, Partypoker and Ladbrokes.

After Rishi Sunak became prime minister, Whittaker was replaced as deputy chief whip on 27 October 2022 by Marcus Jones.

[40] Whittaker is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints[41] and lives with his wife, businesswoman Elaine Wilkinson, in Rastrick.

[45] In June 2015, Craig Whittaker reported employing his daughter as a part-time Constituency Support Officer on a salary just under £20,000.