Charlie Maynard

Charles Adrian MacFie Maynard (born February 1971) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Witney since 2024. A member of the Liberal Democrats, he gained the seat from Robert Courts, a member of the Conservative Party. Maynard has been a member of West Oxfordshire District Council since 2022.

Early life and education Maynard studied geography at Christ Church, Oxford, from 1990 to 1993.

Career before Parliament Maynard co-founded BDA Partners, an international investment advice company, in 1996. He chaired the Witney Oxford Transport Group, which advocates for a railway linking Carterton, Witney, Eynsham and Oxford, from October 2020 to November 2023. He served as the District Council's Executive Member for Planning and Sustainable Development from November 2023 until standing down in May 2024 to become a Parliamentary candidate for Witney.

Parliamentary career Maynard was elected as Member of Parliament for Witney in the 2024 general election. He received 41.2 per cent of the vote and a majority of 4,339 over the incumbent Conservative MP Robert Courts, then Solicitor General for England and Wales, who had represented the seat since 2016. Maynard became the first non-Conservative MP elected for Witney since 1922.

On 18 February 2025, Maynard participated on behalf of Thames Water customers at a high court hearing, arguing against the approval for an emergency debt package worth up to £3bn. When the judge ruled in favour of Thames Water, Maynard also led an appeal against the decision, and appeared at the Court of Appeal hearing on 11 March 2025, acting on behalf of over 25 MPs, 34 charities and several individual Thames Water customers to argue the judge had been wrong to sanction the bail-out. On 17 June 2025, Maynard announced that he and a group of Thames Water's secondary creditors would be taking their case against the company's restructuring to the Supreme Court. In November 2025, The Guardian revealed that Thames Water had unsuccessfully sought a Supreme Court ruling that Maynard should be required to pay the company's pay legal fees of up to £1,400 an hour.

Personal life Maynard and his wife Sophie have hosted refugees from Ukraine and Syria at their home near Witney.