Richard was born in Northampton and has lived here most of his life. He has a degree in politics at Reading University. He is a former director of his family’s business Church’s China, one of Northampton’s oldest established family retail businesses. Richard is the County Councillor for Kingsley in Northampton and former leader of the Liberal Democrat Group for both the Borough and County Councils. Richard was the Borough Councillor for Kingsthorpe from 1983 to 2011 and is a former Mayor of Northampton.

He has served as a member of Northampton Borough Council’s planning committee and represented the Council on the Northampton Area planning committee of WNDC, and has taken a particular interest in planning and regeneration issues.