Richard Michael John Ogilvie Graham CMG (born 4 April 1958)[1] is a British politician and former diplomat who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gloucester from 2010 to 2024.

He started with John Swire and Sons and became general manager of Cathay Pacific Airways in France at 24 and in the Philippines at 26, whilst also vice-chairman of the board of Airline Representatives.

Graham has lived and worked in ten countries and speaks eight languages: Indonesian, Cantonese, Mandarin, Tagalog, French, Malay, Swahili and English.

[21] Graham also apologised to the Serjeant at Arms in 2010 after he shared a photo taken of him in the House of Commons Chamber when it was not sitting with the Gloucester Citizen which also accompanied an article in that newspaper on his maiden speech.

[23] In January 2013, Graham attracted criticism after suggesting to Gloucester Citizen that young women who wear high heels and short skirts put themselves at greater risk of rape.

[31] In April 2015, Graham was ordered by a judge to remove tweets that discussed a murder trial in Gloucester after the defendant's barrister accused him of "a clear attempt to win votes by ingratiating himself with his electors.

The Independent pointed out that former Conservative Foreign Secretary William Hague had also used the same phrase in 2013 whilst Graham dismissed the argument as "clearly absurd" as Goebbels would have spoken in German.

[45][46] In March 2018, Graham voted in favour of changes for any parent of children in Year 3 and above earning more than £7,400 to be ineligible to claim free school meals.

"[50] During a debate on Universal Credit on 15 October 2018 in the House of Commons, Graham raised concerns about the lack of data gathered about local food bank users.

[51] During a Commons debate in December 2018 on Brexit and free movement, Graham mentioned a case of a pregnant "Young Gloucester girl who was badly beaten by her European boyfriend".

Graham said that the girl was "terrified that when he comes out of prison he will return to haunt her and her family, because this country cannot deport European nationals unless they have served a sentence of longer than two years."

[69] In February 2019, Graham along with Chancellor Philip Hammond and Alex Chalk MP formally opened the £5million School of Business and Technology at the University of Gloucestershire.

He handed the letter over to the Chancellor and reiterated the main point that ‘while government policy has protected the incomes of schools and universities, colleges have been dealt an average funding cut of 30% over the last ten years.

The Chancellor’s departmental spending review is a chance to announce an above inflation increase which would boost skills, productivity and social mobility.’ [72] With Alex Chalk, Graham has worked on extending the maximum penalty for stalking.

The then justice minister Sam Gyimah thanked Graham for his “considerable efforts in highlighting this issue.”[73] and the law was changed in January 2017 through the Policing and Crime Bill.

Laura Richards, the founder and director of Paladin, the National Stalking Advocacy Service released this statement in support of the work of Graham.

We are grateful to Alex Chalk MP and Richard Graham MP, as well as Baroness Jan Royall for tabling the amendment in the House of Lords.” [74] In March 2019, a cross party group of MPs led by Graham and Madeleine Moon wrote to Home Secretary Sajid Javid calling for the abolition of visa fees for commonwealth servicemen and women in the British Armed Forces.

Graham said “These men and women are willing to put their life on the line for our country and the current situation doesn’t reflect our and the nation’s respect for them.

[77] On 24 April 2019, he presented a ten-minute rule bill which would require a review of a mandatory levy, for the first time, calling for “immediate and deep investment in research to analyse the extent of gambling addiction, including looking at all aspects of marketing and advertising by gambling companies.” [78] Since 2017, Graham has pushed for the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to extend the legislation on positions of trust (for whom it is forbidden to have sexual relations with anyone under 18) to include those who are coaching or training under-18-year-olds, particularly driving instructors or sports coaches.