Ben Howlett | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament for Bath | |
In office 8 May 2015 –3 May 2017 | |
Preceded by | Don Foster |
Succeeded by | Wera Hobhouse |
Personal details | |
Born | 21 August 1986 |
Political party | Conservative |
Alma mater | University of Durham University of Cambridge |
Website | Official website |
Benjamin John Howlett [1] (born 21 August 1986) is an English Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bath between the 2015 and 2017 general elections.
Ben Howlett was born on 21 August 1986. He was educated at Manningtree High School in Essex,then studied History and Politics at the University of Durham,and a Masters in Economic History at the University of Cambridge. [2] [3] He served as President of the Durham University Conservative Association in 2007. [4] He lived in Little Oakley,which is on the outskirts of Harwich. [5]
Howlett worked as a recruitment consultant from 2008 to 2015,latterly specialising in non-medical positions in the healthcare sector. [3] [6] [7]
Howlett joined the Conservative Party in 2004,working for MP Douglas Carswell, [8] and from 2007 to 2010 for London MEP Syed Kamall. [7] He has been leader of the Conservative group on Harwich Town Council. [9] He was chair of Conservative Future from 2010 to 2013. [6] [10] In November 2015,following the suicide of a young Conservative activist,Elliott Johnson,Howlett told the BBC's Newsnight programme that "institutionalised bullying" in the youth team had been "swept under the carpet" because the party did not want to lose the 2015 general election. [11] [12]
Howlett moved to Bath after spending two weeks in the city campaigning to be selected as the Conservative candidate in November 2013. [13] In January 2015,he said his party "wouldn't have a hope in hell here if it weren't for Don Foster standing down". [14] He subsequently gained the seat at the 2015 general election,succeeding the retiring Liberal Democrat MP. [15] [16]
Howlett sat on the Women and Equalities Select Committee and the Petitions Select Committee from July 2015 to May 2017. [17]
Howlett was opposed to Brexit. [18] In the wake of the referendum result,he argued that Britain should stay in the European single market. [19] In October 2016,he asked the Minister of State for Universities and Science Jo Johnson to leave international students out of immigration figures in order to ensure British universities remain attractive on the global stage. [20]
Howlett later said,in support of allegations made in the 2022 Partygate political scandal,that Conservative whips had threatened that funding to investigate a new link road for Bath would be withheld if he did not support key Brexit votes. [21]
He lost Bath to the Liberal Democrat Wera Hobhouse in the 2017 general election. [22]
In July 2017 Howlett became joint director,later managing director,of consultancy Public Policy Projects,working in the areas of health,care and other public policy,and also works on the Hospital Times publication. [23] [24]
Howlett is gay and is a proponent of same sex marriage. [25] [26] He is a Christian. [27]
Ann Noreen Widdecombe is a British politician and television personality. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone and The Weald,and the former Maidstone constituency,from 1987 to 2010 and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South West England from 2019 to 2020. Originally a member of the Conservative Party,she was a member of the Brexit Party from 2019 until it was renamed Reform UK in 2021;she rejoined Reform UK in 2023.
Crispin Jeremy Rupert Blunt is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Reigate since 1997. Formerly a member of the Conservative Party,he was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prisons and Youth Justice within the Ministry of Justice from 2010 to 2012 and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee from 2015 until 2017.
Bath is a constituency in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom represented by Wera Hobhouse of the Liberal Democrats.
Stephen William Hammond is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wimbledon since 2005. He is a member of the Conservative Party.
Stewart James Jackson,Baron Jackson of Peterborough is a British politician and adviser. Jackson served as a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Peterborough from 2005 to 2017. After being ousted by Labour's Fiona Onasanya at the 2017 general election,he served as Chief of Staff,and Special Adviser to David Davis,Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union,until July 2018 when Davis resigned his position.
Uxbridge and South Ruislip is a constituency in Greater London represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 2010 creation. The seat has been held by Steve Tuckwell of the Conservative Party with a majority of 495 since a by-election on 20 July 2023. The seat's previous holder,former Prime Minister (2019–2022) Boris Johnson,also of the Conservative Party,had formally resigned after receiving a copy of the Standard Committee's report into Partygate,which recommended a recall petition.
Sir Jacob William Rees-Mogg is a British politician and member of the Conservative Party serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Somerset since 2010. He served as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council from 2019 to 2022,Minister of State for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency from February to September 2022 and Secretary of State for Business,Energy and Industrial Strategy from September to October 2022. Rees-Mogg previously chaired the eurosceptic European Research Group (ERG) from 2018 to 2019 and has been associated with socially conservative views.
Sarah Wollaston is a British former Liberal Democrat politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Totnes from 2010 to 2019. First elected for the Conservative Party,she later served as a Change UK and Liberal Democrat MP. She was chair of the Health Select Committee from 2014 to 2019 and chair of the Liaison Committee from 2017 to 2019.
Stephen Charles Brine is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Winchester since 2010. A member of the Conservative Party,he worked as a BBC radio journalist and in public relations prior to his political career. Brine identifies as a one-nation conservative. In November 2022,he was elected chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee.
Chinyelu Susan "Chi" Onwurah is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Newcastle upon Tyne Central since 2010. She is a member of the Labour Party.
Ruth Lauren Smeeth,Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-on-Trent North from 2015 until 2019. Since 2022 she has been a member of the House of Lords.
Huw William Merriman is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bexhill and Battle in East Sussex since the 2015 general election. A member of the Conservative Party,he has served as Minister of State for Rail and HS2 since October 2022. He previously chaired the Transport Select Committee between January 2020 and October 2022. Prior to his parliamentary career,Merriman was a barrister and a local councillor.
Melanie Onn is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Great Grimsby from 2015 to 2019. A member of the Labour Party,she previously served as Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons from September 2015 to June 2016 and Shadow Minister for Housing from July 2017 to March 2019. At the 2019 general election,she lost the seat to the Conservative candidate Lia Nici-Townend.
Heidi Suzanne Allen is a British businesswoman and former politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Cambridgeshire from 2015 to 2019. Initially elected as a Conservative,she resigned from the party in February 2019,joining and later serving as leader of Change UK. She resigned from Change UK in June of the same year,and joined the Liberal Democrats in October 2019. She announced on 29 October that she would not stand for re-election at the next general election.
Felicia Jane "Flick" Beatrix Drummond is a British Conservative Party politician. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Meon Valley since 2019,having previously represented Portsmouth South from 2015 to 2017.
The 2016 Conservative Party leadership election was held due to Prime Minister David Cameron's resignation as party leader. He had resigned after losing the national referendum to leave the European Union. Cameron,who supported Britain's continued membership of the EU,announced his resignation on 24 June,saying that he would step down by October. Theresa May won the contest on 11 July 2016,after the withdrawal of Andrea Leadsom left her as the sole candidate.
On 1 December 2016,a by-election was held in the UK parliamentary constituency of Richmond Park. It was triggered by the resignation of the Conservative Member of Parliament Zac Goldsmith on 25 October 2016 over the Government's proposal for a third runway at the nearby Heathrow Airport. It was won by Sarah Olney of the Liberal Democrats,after a campaign focused on opposition to Brexit.
Wera Benedicta Hobhouse is a British-German politician. A member of the Liberal Democrats,she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bath since 2017 and serves as the Liberal Democrat Shadow Leader of the House of Commons and the Spokesperson for Energy and Climate Change and Transport under Ed Davey.
Claire Wright is a British politician. She was a Devon county councillor from 2013 to 2021 and stood as an independent for East Devon in the 2015,2017,and 2019 United Kingdom general elections,coming second each time.
Lee Anderson is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashfield since 2019. He is a member of the Conservative Party.