Early life and career
Justin Tomlinson was born in Blackburn on 5 November 1976. His mother Vera represents St. Andrews ward on Swindon Borough Council. [7] [8] He studied at Harry Cheshire High School, a state comprehensive in Kidderminster, before going to Oxford Brookes University, where he was chairman of its Conservative Student Branch from 1995 to 1999. He was national chairman of Conservative Future, the youth-wing of the Conservative Party, between 2002 and 2003. [9]
Tomlinson worked as the manager of a nightclub called Eros in Swindon, and later owned a marketing business. [10]
Tomlinson was elected as the Conservative Party candidate for Abbey Meads ward of Swindon Borough Council in 2000, then re-elected for the same ward in 2002 and 2006. [11]
Parliamentary career
Tomlinson stood as the Conservative candidate in North Swindon at the 2005 general election, coming second with 38% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP Michael Wills. [12]
At the 2010 general election, Tomlinson was elected to Parliament as MP for North Swindon with 44.6% of the vote and a majority of 7,060. [13] [14]
Along with fellow Conservative MP Chris Kelly, Tomlinson placed a bet while at university that he would be prime minister before the year 2038. He stands to win £500,000 should this happen. [15]
In November 2014, he reported the Labour MP Sadiq Khan to the police after Khan was photographed apparently driving whilst using a mobile phone. Tomlinson said "those who make the laws should certainly not be above them". Khan was not prosecuted. [16]
At the 2015 general election, Tomlinson was re-elected as MP for North Swindon with an increased vote share of 50.3% and an increased majority of 11,786. [17] [18]
He was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Disabled People following the general election, serving until the new prime minister, Theresa May, reshuffled the government in 2016. [4] It was reported by The Huffington Post that his appointment was controversial as he had previously voted against protecting the benefits of disabled children and those undergoing cancer treatment. [19]
Tomlinson voted for the UK to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum. [20]
In September 2016, Tomlinson apologised for leaking a draft of a public accounts committee report on the credit industry to someone he knew who worked for payday lender Wonga. [21] He was suspended from the House of Commons for two days for contempt of Parliament. [22]
At the snap 2017 general election, Tomlinson was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 53.6% and a decreased majority of 8,335. [23]
On 9 July 2018, Tomlinson was appointed as a junior minister in the Department for Work and Pensions as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Family Support, Housing and Child Maintenance. [5]
In November 2018, Tomlinson was criticised by Labour MP Ruth George after appearing to suggest that families facing a cap under the Universal Credit scheme could take in a lodger. A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson later said that Tomlinson was giving "illustrative examples of how some households subject to the cap may have supplemented income" and denied that Tomlinson said households under the cap could or should consider taking a lodger. [24] Tomlinson was Parliamentary Under-Secretary (junior government minister) for Family Support, Housing and Child Maintenance within the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
At the 2019 general election, Tomlinson was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 59.1% and an increased majority of 16,171. [25]
Tomlinson left government during the cabinet reshuffle on 16 September 2021 and returned to the backbenches. [26]
Tomlinson was appointed Deputy Chair of the Conservative Party on 16 September 2021. [27] He resigned from this position on 9 July 2022 in order to support Kemi Badenoch's campaign in the July 2022 Conservative Party leadership election. [28]
In February 2022 Tomlinson was accused of bullying and sending inappropriate "unprofessional" and "belittling" messages to employees at Conservative Campaign Headquarters. [29]
Personal life
Tomlinson announced his engagement to Jo Wheeler in August 2011, having proposed on The Peak, the highest point on Hong Kong Island. [30] The couple married at the House of Commons on 2 June 2012. [31] In July 2016, Tomlinson confirmed that he had divorced his wife and was in a relationship with his office manager, Kate Bennett. [32] They married in October 2018 and have one daughter, born in August 2019. [33] [34]
Tomlinson employs his partner as Office Manager on a salary up to £40,000. [35] The practice of MPs employing family members, has been criticised by some sections of the media on the lines that it promotes nepotism. [36] [37] Although MPs who were first elected in 2017 have been banned from employing family members, the restriction is not retrospective – meaning that Tomlinson's employment of his partner is lawful. [38]
