A career backbencher whose finest moment came in June 2011 when he publicly accused his own Prime Minister of bribery and threats, then won. His worst is a £900 an hour consultancy for a North Macedonian arms firm whose owner had been arrested over bribery in the trade.

Pre Parliament he ran a marketing business and worked at Conservative Central Office in 1997. Elected for The Wrekin in May 2005 on a 942 majority that grew to 18,726 by 2019 and collapsed to 883 in July 2024, where Reform took roughly 20% of the vote and a marginally more competent Labour campaign would have taken the seat. Six terms in the Commons, never a minister, never a whip, never a PPS or junior shadow on the record. Joint secretary of the 1922 Committee from 2010 to 2012, deputy chairman of the Conservative Party (International) until he resigned in January 2012 citing "lack of national and individual aspiration, immigration, and Europe". Privy Counsellor since February 2021.

The wild animals in circuses motion of 23 June 2011 has to be paid in full. He moved the backbench business motion calling for a ban; Number 10 tried to whip MPs against it; in the chamber he said "I was offered incentive and reward on Monday, and then it was ratcheted, until last night, when I was threatened." The Government withdrew its objection mid debate and the motion passed without a division. It led to the Wild Animals in Circuses Act 2019. A second rebellion in October 2012 defeated Cameron on the EU budget. Animal welfare and intelligence oversight (he sat on the Intelligence and Security Committee from 2020 to 2022) are the consistent threads of his backbench output. NATO Parliamentary Assembly delegate since 2005, currently a Vice President.

The charge sheet is denser. From November 2023 he has been paid £9,000 a month for ten hours work, roughly £108,000 a year, by the ATS Group, a North Macedonian ammunition and ballistics firm whose CEO Shefshet Demirovski was arrested in Belgrade in November 2019 on suspicion of bribing a Serbian arms factory employee for confidential ammunition designs. Charges were later dismissed after a reported €250,000 fine. Pritchard told openDemocracy in 2024 he would not say whether he knew of the bribery case before taking the role. A 2013 Sunday Telegraph sting saw him offer to use political contacts in Albania and Montenegro for a £3,000 a month consultancy fee; he referred himself to the Standards Commissioner, who declined to investigate. He campaigned for Remain in 2016 while sitting in the European Research Group orbit, then voted as a Brexiteer once the result was in.

In December 2014 he attended Holborn police station voluntarily and was arrested on suspicion of rape. He denied the allegation throughout. The Metropolitan Police confirmed no further action on 6 January 2015 on grounds of insufficient evidence, and he afterwards called for anonymity for those accused of sex offences. He was cleared.

The bigger problem is the long tail. Six terms, two genuine rebellions, two committee briefs, and outside earnings that make Westminster nervous. Pritchard cast himself in 2011 as the backbencher willing to take on Number 10. The decade since reads less like rebellion than like a career running quietly in parallel to Parliament.