The subject of this article is standing for re-election to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom on 4 July, and has not been an incumbent MP since Parliament was dissolved on 30 May. Some parts of this article may be out of date during this period. |
Neil O'Brien | |
---|---|
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Primary Care and Public Health | |
In office 8 September 2022 –13 November 2023 | |
Prime Minister | Liz Truss Rishi Sunak |
Preceded by | James Morris (Primary Care) Maggie Throup (Public Health) |
Succeeded by | Andrea Leadsom |
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up,The Union and Constitution | |
In office 17 September 2021 –6 July 2022 | |
Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
Preceded by | Office established |
Succeeded by | Lia Nici |
Member of Parliament for Harborough | |
Assumed office 8 June 2017 | |
Preceded by | Sir Edward Garnier |
Majority | 17,278 (30.1%) |
Personal details | |
Born | [1] Huddersfield,West Yorkshire,England | 6 November 1978
Political party | Conservative |
Alma mater | Christ Church,Oxford (BA) |
Website | www.neilobrien.org.uk |
Neil John O'Brien [2] OBE (born 6 November 1978) is a British politician who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Primary Care and Public Health from September 2022 to November 2023. [3] [4] A member of the Conservative Party,he was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Harborough in 2017. O'Brien was previously a special adviser to Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne from 2012 to 2016 and Theresa May during her tenure as Prime Minister.
O'Brien grew up in Huddersfield,West Yorkshire. He was educated at All Saints High School and Greenhead College,both in Huddersfield,before studying philosophy,politics and economics at Christ Church,Oxford. He graduated with a first-class degree. [5] Prior to entering politics,O'Brien conducted outreach work with homeless people and was a chair of school governors. [6]
Between 2000 and 2003,O'Brien worked for the 'No' campaign against Britain joining the Euro. He led the "Vote 2004" group which campaigned for a referendum on the EU's proposed constitution. [7] Between 2005 and 2008,he was director of Open Europe,a think tank working for free market reform in Europe. [5] He was appointed director of the centre-right Policy Exchange in August 2008,succeeding Anthony Browne and Nick Boles in this role.
In 2009,O'Brien was ranked at number 14 in a Total Politics poll of the top 50 political influencers in Britain, [8] named in The Daily Telegraph as one of the "Top 100 Most Influential people on the Right", [9] described in the Sunday Times as one of the "New Political Elite" [10] and listed in the Evening Standard as one of the "Power 1000 of London's New Influentials". [11]
O'Brien served as a special adviser to George Osborne from November 2012 to July 2016,in relation to Osborne's role as Chancellor of the Exchequer. [12] Subsequently,O'Brien was made a special adviser to Theresa May on the economy and industrial strategy upon her appointment as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. [13]
O'Brien was elected as MP for the safe Conservative seat of Harborough at the 2017 general election with a majority of 12,429 and 52.3% of the vote. [14]
In May 2018,he founded the new think tank Onward,together with Will Tanner and Nick Faith. [15] It is chaired by Daniel Finkelstein,the Conservative peer and columnist for The Times .
Between August 2018 and July 2019,O'Brien was Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to ministers at the Department for Business,Energy and Industrial Strategy. [16] In August 2019,he was appointed as PPS to Justice Minister Robert Buckland. [17]
At the 2019 general election,O'Brien was re-elected with an increased majority of 17,278 and 55.3% of the vote. [18]
A co-founder of the hawkish China Research Group, [19] [20] on 26 March 2021,it was announced that O'Brien was one of five MPs to be sanctioned by China for spreading what it called "lies and disinformation" about the country. He was subsequently banned from entering China,Hong Kong and Macau,and Chinese citizens and institutions are prohibited from doing business with him. [21]
During the COVID-19 pandemic,O'Brien was highly critical of several commentators in the UK who were,in his opinion,playing down the impact of the virus. [22] [23] [24] [25] He was a vocal proponent of lockdowns [22] [26] in order to suppress the coronavirus. However,he also promoted the UK government's "Eat Out to Help Out" scheme during summer 2020, [27] which was subsequently labelled "epidemiologically illiterate" by some epidemiologists. [28]
During 2021,O'Brien and a number of other lockdown proponents authored a website they described as attempting to fight misinformation put out into the public debate by lockdown sceptics styling themselves as 'information warriors'. [29]
In May 2021,O'Brien was appointed as Prime Minister Boris Johnson's adviser on levelling up the UK. [30] [31] He had in September 2020 produced a detailed report setting out the case for levelling up. [32]
On 17 September 2021,O'Brien was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up,Housing and Communities,during the second cabinet reshuffle of the second Johnson ministry. [33] The role focused on the government's Levelling Up policy.
On 6 July 2022,O'Brien resigned from the government,citing a lack of confidence in the leadership of Boris Johnson. He resigned in a joint statement with Kemi Badenoch,Alex Burghart,Lee Rowley,and Julia Lopez. [34]
On 7 September 2022,O'Brien was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care,as Minister for Social Care. [35]
On 28 October 2022,O'Brien was re-appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care,as Minister for Primary Care and Public Health. [36]
On 13 November 2023,O'Brien resigned during the 2023 cabinet reshuffle. [37]
In March 2010,O'Brien co-authored with Ross Clark a wide-ranging book called The Renewal of Government. [38] It was praised by Michael Gove,then Shadow Secretary of State for Children,Schools and Families,and later Secretary of State for Education,who said that it "lays down with admirable clarity and form a set of radical policies ... which in the field of education I think are peerless". [39]
In June 2018,O'Brien published a report on reforming housing and planning policy,"Green,Pleasant and Affordable". [40] The report argued that reforms to planning law are needed to change where new homes are built,avoid piecemeal development,and ensure that developers pay more towards the costs of the infrastructure that is needed to support new development. It also proposed a new form of affordable rented housing for young people in work.
In January 2019,together with Will Tanner and Guy Miscampbell,he published a report on reform of higher education,"A Question Of Degree". [41] It proposed that graduate repayments should be halved,with the cost of this funded by reducing the number of students on what the report called "low value" courses - courses from which graduates do not earn enough of a premium to repay the cost of their study. The BBC reported that "The Onward report urges the government to halve repayments on students loans,by introducing a tax cut for graduates worth 50p in every pound owed" and quoted O'Brien saying:"We should steer people away from courses that don't lead to good outcomes." [42]
In May 2019,O'Brien published "Firing On All Cylinders",a wide-ranging report on economic policy which argued for a new fiscal rule,and a somewhat looser fiscal policy,to enable more investment in public services,particularly in schools and the criminal justice system. [43] The report argued for tax reductions and radically more generous capital allowances to boost investment and tackle Britain's productivity problem. It argued for "bottom up growth" and more generous work allowances in Universal Credit to boost the incomes of low earners and increase employment. The report was praised by several of the contenders in the Conservative Party leadership race which was underway at the time the report was published. [43]
"Small schools and village schools" were the subject of a research note published by O'Brien in July 2019. [44] O’Brien also led a debate in Westminster Hall on the same issue in that month. [45] In Parliament,O'Brien stated that "In 1980 there were 11,464 small primary schools with fewer than 200 pupils,but in 2018 there were just 5,406." He called for increases to the "lump sum" element within the National Funding Formula for Schools in order to support smaller schools,particularly those in rural areas.
The same month,he published a research note on prolific criminals,drawing on answers obtained from a series of Parliamentary Questions. The research note,"Super Prolific Criminals,The Case For Action", [46] highlighted that roughly half of all crime in England and Wales is committed by just 10% of offenders. It called for a review of sentencing policy to increase prison sentences and imprisonment rates among offenders with many previous convictions who re-offend.
O'Brien lives in his Harborough constituency,and is married with two children. [6]
Stephen Twigg is a British Labour Co-op politician who has served as the 8th Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association since August 2020. He served as Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate from 1997 to 2005,and for Liverpool West Derby from 2010 to 2019.
Edward Henry Garnier,Baron Garnier,is a British barrister and former Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. A former lawyer for The Guardian newspaper,Lord Garnier is on the socially liberal wing of his party and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Harborough in Leicestershire from 1992 until 2017. He most recently served as Solicitor General for England and Wales from the election of 2010 until the 2012 ministerial reshuffle. He stood down from the House of Commons at the 2017 general election before entering the House of Lords in 2018.
Owen William Paterson is a British former politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2010 to 2012 and Secretary of State for Environment,Food and Rural Affairs from 2012 to 2014 under Prime Minister David Cameron. A member of the Conservative Party,he served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Shropshire from 1997 until his resignation in 2021. Paterson was also the President of the Northern Ireland Conservatives.
Gregory William Hands is a British politician serving as Minister for London and Minister of State for Trade Policy since November 2023. He has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chelsea and Fulham,previously Hammersmith and Fulham,since 2005. A member of the Conservative Party,he served as its Chairman from February to November 2023. Hands has served as Minister of State for Trade Policy under four prime ministers,holding the office on four occasions,and also served as Minister of State for Business,Energy and Clean Growth from 2021 to 2022.
Mark James Harper is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Transport since 2022. A member of the Conservative Party,he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire since 2005.
Esther Louise,Lady Davies,known as Esther McVey,is a British politician and television presenter who has served as Minister of State without Portfolio since 2023. A member of the Conservative Party,she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tatton since the 2017 general election,having previously been the MP for Wirral West from 2010 to 2015. She previously served in cabinet as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in 2018 and Minister of State for Housing and Planning from 2019 to 2020.
Sir Brandon Kenneth Lewis is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor from September to October 2022. He previously served as Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2018 to 2019 and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2020 to 2022. A member of the Conservative Party,he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Great Yarmouth from 2010 to 2024.
Matthew John David Hancock is a British politician who served as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General from 2015 to 2016,Secretary of State for Digital,Culture,Media and Sport from January to July 2018,and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from 2018 to 2021. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for West Suffolk from 2010 to 2024. He is a member of the Conservative Party.
Damian Patrick George Hinds is a British Conservative politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for East Hampshire since 2010. He has served as Minister of State for Schools since November 2023,and previously served as Secretary of State for Education under Theresa May from 2018 to 2019;he has also held junior ministerial positions under four Prime Ministers.
Dame Harriett Mary Morison Baldwin,is a British Conservative Party politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for West Worcestershire since 2010. She was Minister of State for Africa and International Development between January 2018 and July 2019. In 2022,Baldwin was elected Chair of the Treasury Select Committee.
Stephen Paul Barclay is a British politician who has been the Secretary of State for Environment,Food and Rural Affairs since November 2023,having previously served in various cabinet positions under prime ministers Theresa May,Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak between 2018 and 2023. A member of the Conservative Party,he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Cambridgeshire since 2010.
Nadhim Zahawi is an Iraqi-born British politician who served in various ministerial positions under prime ministers Theresa May,Boris Johnson,Liz Truss,and Rishi Sunak from 2018 to 2023. He most recently served as Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister without Portfolio from 25 October 2022 until he was dismissed by Sunak on 29 January 2023. A member of the Conservative Party,he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Stratford-on-Avon from 2010 to 2024.
Gareth Alan Johnson is a British Conservative politician and former lawyer who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dartford since 2010. He has served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Courts from September to October 2022. He previously served as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury from February to September 2022 and Assistant Government Whip from 2018 to 2019 and 2021 to 2022.
Nigel Paul Huddleston is a British politician serving as Financial Secretary to the Treasury since November 2023. He previously served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Digital,Culture,Media and Sport from 2020 to 2022 and as Minister of State for International Trade from February to November 2023. A member of the Conservative Party,he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Worcestershire since 2015.
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Social Care since October 2022,and previously from 2020 to 2021. She also served as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury from 2021 to 2022. A member of the Conservative Party,she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Faversham and Mid Kent since 2015.
Michelle Emma May Elizabeth Donelan is an English politician serving as Secretary of State for Science,Innovation and Technology since July 2023,having previously served in the position from February to April 2023 before being temporarily replaced during her maternity leave. A member of the Conservative Party,Donelan also held three other cabinet positions from 2020 to 2023 under Boris Johnson,Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. She has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Chippenham in Wiltshire since 2015.
Nusrat Munir Ul-Ghani is a British Conservative Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Wealden in East Sussex since 2015. She currently serves as Minister of State for Europe since 26 March 2024. She has previously served as Minister of State for Industry and Economic Security and Minister of State for the Investment Security Unit. In January 2018,she became the first female Muslim minister to speak from the House of Commons despatch box.
Margaret Ann Throup is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Erewash in Derbyshire since the 2015 general election. Prior to entering politics,Throup worked as a biomedical scientist and business consultant.
Michael Alex Burghart is a British Conservative politician,academic and former teacher who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Brentwood and Ongar since 2017. He was formerly a special adviser to Theresa May. He has been serving as Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office since October 2022.
Lee Benjamin Rowley is a British politician and former management consultant serving as Minister of State for Housing,Planning and Building Safety since November 2023. A member of the Conservative Party,he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Derbyshire since 2017. He previously served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government and Building Safety between October 2022 and November 2023.