Richard Irwin Harrington, Baron Harrington of Watford (born 4 November 1957) is a non-affiliated member of the House of Lords and businessman. From 2010 until 2019, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Watford. He was the Minister for Business and Industry from June 2017 to March 2019. Harrington had the Conservative whip removed on 3 September 2019, but on 29 October he was one of ten MPs to have it restored.
On 8 March 2022, Harrington was appointed Minister of State for Refugees, with his ministerial portfolio being in charge of co-ordinating the UK's response to the humanitarian crisis caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He was also elevated to the House of Lords after being given a Life Peerage. In August 2022, the government announced that, under Harrington's leadership, a total of 104,000 Ukrainian war refugees had been given safe refuge in the UK. On 4 September 2022, Harrington stepped down from the role, having completed the task of putting in place a permanent system for arrivals.
In November 2022, he was awarded the Spectator Magazine's 'Peer of the Year' Award at its annual Parliamentarian of the Year Awards. The following month he was also listed on the Sunday Times Alternative Honours list for his work settling Ukrainian refugees.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt asked Harrington in April 2023 to lead a review of the government's approach to attracting foreign direct investment into the UK.
Harrington was born on 4 November 1957 in Leeds to a British Jewish family. His father sold clothes from a market stall and a shop. He was educated at Leeds Grammar School, going up in 1976 to Keble College, Oxford University, where he studied jurisprudence. While at Oxford, he sat on the executive board of the Federation of Conservative Students and was a member of the National Union Executive of the Party. He began his career in business with a graduate scheme at the John Lewis Partnership, where he eventually became the assistant to the managing director of Waitrose; this included a period working at Trewins Department Store in Watford.
In 1983, he founded Harvington Properties, a property development company, with two friends from university. In 1990, Harrington became a shareholder and managing director of LSI Leisure Syndicates International a company active in the development, sales and management of holiday resorts in both the UK and Europe. The company was sold to a listed American company at the end of the decade and is now owned by Hilton Hotels. Other notable work in property development included the restoration of one of Glasgow's most famous hotels, One Devonshire Gardens.
Before he became a minister, Harrington was Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party and was David Cameron's Apprenticeship Advisor and Chairman of the Apprenticeship Delivery Board.
Harrington supports a range of charities and has been a trustee of the Variety Club Children's Society. He is also trustee of several charities in Watford. Harrington also serves as a Trustee of Royal Albert Hall.
After stepping down from the House of Commons in 2019, Harrington resumed his business career, taking on the role of Chair and Senior Advisor at APCO Worldwide. The appointment ceased when he was appointed a Minister in the House of Lords.
Harrington was appointed by the Prime Minister to the post of Minister of State for Refugees on 8 March 2022, working across both the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Home Office, as part of the Response to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. He was made a life peer with the name, style and title of Baron Harrington of Watford, of Watford in the County of Hertfordshire, on 15 March 2022.
In March 2023, the Chancellor, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt, asked Harrington to chair a review into Foreign Direct Investment.
In 2024 Lord Harrington took roles at law firm Stephenson Harwood LLP. He became chair of Regal, one of London’s largest up market residential developers and oversaw its sale to Arada for £150m.
In March 2026, Lord Harrington was appointed Chairman of GeoPura, a UK based pioneer of hydrogen technology. He oversaw the investment of £275m by Ballard Power Inc, a Nasdaq listed Canadian company. Harrington joined the Board of the parent company in August 2026.
In early 2025 he took up the position of Chair of MAKE UK, the UK’s largest trade body, with 26,000 members and 3 operating divisions providing legal services, apprenticeships and other services for its members. Harrington is active in the representation of the sector with the UK government.
In September 2024 he served a term as Advisory Board Chair of the UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF).
In May 2025, Harrington was approached to join the board of Shein ahead of its potential stock market float.
He remains a director and shareholder of Harvington Properties Ltd.
Harrington was a long-time member of the Conservative Party since 1983. Until March 2010, he was chairman of the executive board of the Conservative Friends of Israel, which, during his tenure, had quadrupled in size financially. He was appointed a treasurer of the Conservative Party in 2008, the role in which he launched the Number 10 Club with Sir John Major.