Brendan Clarke-Smith | |
---|---|
Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party | |
In office 28 November 2023 –16 January 2024 | |
Leader | Rishi Sunak |
Succeeded by | James Daly |
Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office | |
In office 8 September 2022 –27 October 2022 | |
Prime Minister | Liz Truss |
Preceded by | Heather Wheeler |
Succeeded by | Alex Burghart |
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families | |
In office 8 July 2022 –7 September 2022 | |
Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
Preceded by | Will Quince |
Succeeded by | Kelly Tolhurst |
Member of Parliament for Bassetlaw | |
Assumed office 12 December 2019 | |
Preceded by | John Mann |
Majority | 14,013 (27.6%) |
Personal details | |
Born | [1] Clifton,Nottingham,England | 17 August 1980
Political party | Conservative |
Alma mater | Nottingham Trent University |
Occupation | Politician |
Brendan Clarke-Smith (born 17 August 1980) [1] is a British politician and former teacher. A member of the Conservative Party,he has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bassetlaw since 2019,having been elected in the 2019 general election. [2] [3] He served under Rishi Sunak as a deputy chairman of the Conservative Party from November 2023 to January 2024, [4] under Liz Truss as Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office from September and October 2022 [5] [6] [7] and under Boris Johnson as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister without Portfolio and Minister of State from February 2022 to July 2022 and [8] as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families from July to September 2022. [9] [10]
Clarke-Smith was born in Clifton,Nottingham,in 1980. He grew up on Clifton Grove,next to the Clifton council estate in Nottingham. He went to secondary school in East Leake,and was the first member of his family to go to university,studying politics at Nottingham Trent University and later gaining a PGCE in religious education. Clarke-Smith earned his MSc in European Studies at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. He became a teacher at an international school in Romania. [11] [12]
Clarke-Smith first stood as a Conservative Party candidate in 2003 when he was elected as a councillor for the Clifton North ward of Nottingham City Council. He was re-elected to this position in 2007 and subsequently contested the neighbouring Clifton South Ward in 2011 but failed to be elected by a margin of 676 votes. [13] He stood as one of the Conservative Party candidates for the European Parliament elections in 2014 and 2019 in the East Midlands region but was not elected. Clarke-Smith campaigned to leave the EU in the 2016 EU referendum and was a member of the Vote Leave campaign. [14] In May 2019,Clarke-Smith overturned a Labour majority in Boughton and Walesby to be elected as a councillor on Newark &Sherwood District Council. [15]
Clarke-Smith was elected as the Conservative Party MP for Bassetlaw in the 2019 general election when the sitting MP John Mann stood down. He overturned a 4,852 Labour majority to a 14,013 Conservative majority,the biggest swing that election. [16] This was the first time Bassetlaw had been represented by a party other than Labour since Malcolm MacDonald won the seat in 1929. [17] When elected,Clarke-Smith said his three main priorities were getting Brexit done,improving Bassetlaw Hospital and attracting more money for Retford and Worksop town centres. [18] He also became the chair of the British–Finnish all-party parliamentary group. [19]
In December 2019,Clarke-Smith became one of the members of the eurosceptic European Research Group. [20]
In March 2020,Clarke-Smith was appointed to the International Development Committee in Parliament. [21]
Clarke-Smith has received media attention for his views on food banks and public provision of free school meals for children from more economically deprived families. He has described food banks as a "political weapon",saying it is "simply not true" that "people can't afford to buy food on a regular basis" and "If you keep saying to people that you're going to give stuff away,then you're going to have an increase I'm afraid." [22] In October 2020,he opposed a Labour Party opposition day motion to extend free school meals over holidays until Easter 2021. Campaigning on the issue of free school meals was led by the footballer Marcus Rashford. Clarke-Smith said:"We need to get back to the idea of taking responsibility. This means less celebrity virtue signalling on Twitter by proxy and more action to tackle the real causes of child poverty." [23] [24]
Following an interim report on the connections between colonialism and properties now in the care of the National Trust,including links with historic slavery,Clarke-Smith was among the signatories of a letter to The Telegraph in November 2020 from the "Common Sense Group" of Conservative Parliamentarians. The letter accused the National Trust of being "coloured by Cultural Marxist dogma,colloquially known as the 'woke agenda'". [25]
He has expressed concern over plans to close the mental health facilities at Bassetlaw Hospital and move provision to Mansfield, [26] campaigned for the Robin Hood train line to be extended to Retford [27] and was a signatory to the successful East Midlands bid to be one of ten Freeports. [28]
In June 2021,Clarke-Smith opposed the England football team's intention to take the knee at the forthcoming European championship,saying:"Fans understand [racism] perfectly well –they are just sick and tired of being preached and spoken down to. They are there to watch a football match,not to be lectured on morality." [29]
In November 2021,he became an advocate of the Down Syndrome Bill,which would recognise people with Down syndrome as a specific minority group. [30]
In May 2022,when asked by Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman if he was "content to back a law-breaker in office",he replied:"I certainly am. And I think the Prime Minister's done many achievements so far. I think he's still got a long time in office as well." [31] Clarke-Smith later took issue with being quoted on the matter,asking Cathy Newman on Twitter:"Not sure why your sub-editor is using quotation marks here". [32]
On 6 June 2022,after a vote of no confidence in the leadership of Boris Johnson was called,Clarke-Smith announced that he would be supporting the Prime Minister,describing the vote as "one of the most ridiculous acts of self-harm I have witnessed in a long time". [33] The following day,Clarke-Smith was criticised on social media following an appearance on Jeremy Vine ,during which he accused people of "using personal tragedies" during the COVID-19 pandemic for "party political agendas". [34]
Brendan Clarke-Smith briefly served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister without Portfolio and Minister of State from 11 February 2022 to 8 July 2022 and [8] as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Children and Families) at the Department for Education between 8 July and 7 September 2022. [35]
In February 2023,Clarke-Smith was part of a delegation of UK Parliamentarians consisting of several MPs and members of the House of Lords who visited Northern Cyprus and met with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) government. [36] [37]
Clarke-Smith was one of 10 parliamentarians personally named in a Commons Select Committee of Privileges special report on the “Co-ordinated campaign of interference in the work of the Privileges Committee”,published 28 June 2023. The report detailed how said parliamentarians “took it upon themselves to undermine procedures of the House of Commons”by putting pressure on the Commons Privileges Committee investigation into Boris Johnson. [38]
Brendan was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party on 28 November 2023. [39] He resigned on 16 January 2024 along with Lee Anderson in order to vote for an amendment on the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill. [40] The amendment,put forward by Bill Cash,would "ensure UK and international law could not be used to prevent or delay a person being removed to Rwanda." [41]
Clarke-Smith lives in the market town of Retford in his Bassetlaw constituency with his Romanian wife,who is a doctor at Bassetlaw Hospital.
Kenneth Harry Clarke,Baron Clarke of Nottingham,,is a British politician who served as Home Secretary from 1992 to 1993 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1993 to 1997. A member of the Conservative Party,he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Rushcliffe from 1970 to 2019 and was Father of the House of Commons between 2017 and 2019. The President of the Tory Reform Group since 1997,he is a one-nation conservative who identifies with economically and socially liberal views.
John Mann,Baron Mann is a British independent politician who is a Member of the House of Lords. Before being granted a peerage,he was the Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Bassetlaw from the 2001 general election until 2019.
Sir Robert James MacGillivray Neill KC (Hon) is a British barrister and Conservative Party politician. He has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bromley and Chislehurst since a by-election on 29 June 2006,following the death of the previous incumbent Eric Forth. He served as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Communities and Local Government from 14 May 2010 to 4 September 2012. He is the current Chair of Parliament's Justice Select Committee.
Newark is a constituency in Nottinghamshire,England. It is currently represented by Robert Jenrick of the Conservative Party who won the seat in a by-election on 5 June 2014,following the resignation of Patrick Mercer in April 2014.
Bassetlaw is a parliamentary constituency in Nottinghamshire,represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since the 2019 general election by Brendan Clarke-Smith,a Conservative. Before that election,the seat had been part of the so-called "red wall",being held by the Labour Party since 1935.
Chloe Rebecca Smith is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich North since 2009. She previously served as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from September to October 2022 and Secretary of State for Science,Innovation and Technology from April to July 2023.
Christopher James Skidmore is a British former Conservative Party politician and author of popular history who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingswood in South Gloucestershire from 2010 to 2024.
Sir Mark Steven Spencer is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Food,Farming and Fisheries since 2022. He previously served as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council from February to September 2022 and as Chief Whip from 2019 to 2022. A member of the Conservative Party,he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Sherwood since 2010.
Major James Stephen Heappey is a British politician and former soldier who served as Minister of State for the Armed Forces from 2020 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party,he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wells in Somerset since 2015.
Trudy Lynne Harrison is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Copeland since the February 2017 by-election. It was the first time Copeland had elected a Conservative MP since 1931,and the first time the constituency had elected a female MP. Three months after her by-election victory,Harrison was re-elected in the 2017 general election and held her seat in 2019.
Sir Simon Richard Clarke is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland since 2017. A member of the Conservative Party,he briefly served as Secretary of State for Levelling Up,Housing and Communities from September to October 2022 and Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2021 to 2022.
On 3 September 2019,the British Conservative Party withdrew the whip from 21 of its MPs who had supported an emergency motion to allow the House of Commons to undertake proceedings on the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill on 4 September. In the hours after the vote,the Chief Whip Mark Spencer informed the rebel MPs that they were no longer entitled to sit as Conservatives. This led to the loss of the Conservative/DUP majority in the Commons.
Marco Andrea Longhi is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament for Dudley North since 2019.
Ruth Rosamond Edwards is a British politician who was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rushcliffe in the 2019 general election. A member of the Conservative Party,she worked in cybersecurity policy prior to her political career.
Lee Anderson is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashfield since 2019. Elected as a member of the Conservative Party,he defected to Reform UK in March 2024 after having the whip suspended. He is Reform UK's first and only MP.
Jacob Young is a British Conservative Party politician serving as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up since 18 September 2023. He previously served as Assistant Government Whip between September 2022 and September 2023. He was elected as MP for Redcar at the 2019 general election. He is the first Conservative MP to represent the constituency.
Alexander Paul Thomas Stafford is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rother Valley since the 2019 general election. He is the first Conservative to be elected for the seat.
James Barry Daly is a British politician who has served as a Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party since 6 February 2024 and as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bury North since the 2019 general election. He is a member of the Conservative Party. He has written articles for both the Daily Express and the Bury Times while holding office.
Jonathan Edward Gullis is a British politician and former teacher who has served as a Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party since 26 March 2024 and as Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-on-Trent North since the 2019 general election. He was previously appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for School Standards by Liz Truss in September 2022 but was dismissed shortly after Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister in October 2022. In March 2024,Gullis was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party,replacing Luke Hall who had been appointed Minister of State for Skills,Apprenticeships and Higher Education.
The July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election was triggered by Boris Johnson's announcement on 7 July 2022 that he would resign as Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,following a series of political controversies.
{{cite press release}}
: CS1 maint: others (link)