Zac Goldsmith

Who is Zac Goldsmith?

Frank Zacharias Robin "Zac" Goldsmith is a British Conservative Party politician, environmental journalist, and entrepreneur, who has been the Member of Parliament for Richmond Park since 2010.

Goldsmith is the middle child of the late financier Sir James Goldsmith. From 1998 to 2007, he was editor of The Ecologist magazine. During this time, he became a London campaigner and commentator on environmental issues. Goldsmith became a Conservative Party parliamentary candidate in 2005. That same year, he was appointed deputy chairman of the Conservative Quality of Life Policy Group, co-authoring its report published in 2007. He was placed on the party's "A-List" of prospective parliamentary candidates by David Cameron, the Leader of the Opposition, in 2006.

Through an open primary in March 2007, Goldsmith was chosen to contest the constituency of Richmond Park against the incumbent Liberal Democrats. In the 2010 general election, Goldsmith won the seat with a majority of 4,091 votes over the Liberal Democrat Susan Kramer. On 15 July 2010, a Channel 4 News investigation raised questions over his election expenses.