Richard John Holden (born 11 March 1985) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Basildon and Billericay and Shadow Paymaster General since 2024.

[2] Holden served as the Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister without Portfolio from November 2023 to July 2024, and as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Roads and Local Transport from 2022 to 2023.

He also worked for Stowell's successor as Leader of the House of Lords, Baroness Evans of Bowes Park,[10] before becoming a special adviser to the Secretary of State for Defence, Sir Michael Fallon, between October 2016 and April 2017.

[11] Holden became a special adviser to former Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling in December 2018,[12] before leaving to work on Boris Johnson's 2019 Conservative Party leadership election campaign.

[13] At the 2015 general election, Holden stood as the Conservative candidate in Preston, coming second with 20% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP Mark Hendrick.

[24] In the March 2020 Budget the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, announced that the VED increase would be reversed, a tax cut worth £25 million a year to consumers and the industry.

[25][26] In March 2021 Holden led a group of 80 Conservative MPs in writing to the Chancellor of the Exchequer asking him to introduce a new lower duty for beer sold on draught in pubs.

[32][33] On 22 April 2022 Holden called for Durham Constabulary to investigate Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Labour Party, following reports in the media regarding potential breaches of COVID-19 regulations by attending a staff gathering during an election campaign that month.

[42] On 5 June 2024, Holden was controversially made a parachute candidate for the safe Tory seat of Basildon and Billericay, to the strong opposition of local members.