Crouch was a parliamentary researcher from 1996 to 1998 before working in PR for Harcourt Public Affairs from 1999 to 2000. She returned to Westminster and held posts as chief of staff to three shadow ministers, including the shadow Home Secretary between 2003 and 2005.[4] Crouch was then employed by the Aviva insurance company where she was the head of public affairs between 2005 and 2010.[4][5] Before becoming a minister, she coached a junior girls' football team.[6]
On 9 December 2010, Crouch abstained in the vote to raise university tuition fees. She was one of two Conservative MPs to abstain, while six voted against the proposals.[9]
Crouch voted against the badger cull, speaking during the debates on the subject in October 2012 and June 2013. She congratulated other Conservative MPs for voting against or abstaining on the vote, describing the cull as "barbaric and indiscriminate".[12] She has also rebelled against the government in voting against press regulation and in support of mesothelioma victims.[12]
In 2014, Crouch described herself as a "compassionate, One-Nation Conservative".[12]
At the 2015 general election, Crouch was re-elected as MP for Chatham and Aylesford with an increased vote share of 50.2% and an increased majority of 11,455.[13][14][15]
Ahead of the 2016 referendum on the UK's continued membership of the European Union, Crouch stated that she had yet to decide.[17] Subsequently, she chose to keep the way she had voted private "to avoid conflict in her Kent constituency".[18]
At the snap 2017 general election, Crouch was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 57% and a decreased majority of 10,458.[19]
As Minister for Civil Society, which was added to her existing ministerial brief in June 2017, she was, in January 2018, appointed to lead a government-wide group with responsibility for policies connected to loneliness.[20]
Crouch resigned as a minister in November 2018 over the delay in the reduction of the maximum stake for fixed odds betting terminals from £100 to £2. She, among others, had called for the new legislation to come into force in April 2019, with Crouch resigning when it was announced that the legislation would be delayed until October 2019.[21] However, following parliamentary pressure, the Government announced that the measure would come into effect on 1 April 2019 after all.[22]
On 14 December 2021, Crouch broke the party whip to vote against elements of the government's 'Plan B' COVID-19 restrictions, including the introduction of vaccine passports and mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for NHS staff.[29][30] However, she voted in favour of the expansion of rules requiring mandatory face coverings in public places.[31]
In February 2024, Crouch announced that she would not seek re-election as an MP at the 2024 general election for "entirely personal and positive" reasons.[33]
Crouch had always wanted to be sports minister, but had a miscarriage during the 2015 general election campaign, leaving her initially uncertain as to whether to take up David Cameron's offer of the post.[6] She gave birth to her first child in February 2016 with her partner Steve Ladner, and became the first Conservative minister ever to take maternity leave.[6][36]
On 24 June 2020, it was announced that Crouch had been diagnosed with breast cancer but that her cancer was caught early and she had begun treatment.[37] In February 2021, Crouch announced that she had completed her treatment.[38]
^ abcdef‘CROUCH, Tracey Elizabeth Anne’, Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012 ; online edn, Nov 2012 accessed 1 Jan 2013