Career
Charity
He was for many years a trustee of The Roundhouse, a North London arts venue and charity founded by his father, Sir Torquil Norman. [9] He has also served on the board of the Hay Festival, the Kindle Centre in Hereford, and the Friends of St Mary's church, Ross-on-Wye. [10]
Think tanks and writing
He was a Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange and writes regularly for the national press. His book Compassionate Conservatism (2006), co-written with Janan Ganesh, has been described as "the guidebook to Cameronism" by The Sunday Times . Its successor, Compassionate Economics, was favourably reviewed by Daniel Hannan. [11] His other policy publications include "Living for the City" (2006) and "From Here to Fraternity" (2007).
His books include The Achievement of Michael Oakeshott (ed.) (1992), Breaking the Habits of a Lifetime (1992) and After Euclid (2006); The Big Society: The Anatomy of the New Politics (2010), published by University of Buckingham Press.
His biography of Edmund Burke was long-listed for the 2013 Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, [12] and was described as "A must-read for anyone interested in politics and history" by the Sunday Telegraph.
His book Adam Smith: What He Thought, and Why It Matters (2018), [13] won the Parliamentary non-fiction book award in 2018., [14] and was described as "superb" in the Financial Times.
Norman's first novel, The Winding Stair, about the rivalry between Francis Bacon and Edward Coke, was published in June 2023. [15]
Parliamentary career
At the 2010 general election, Norman was elected to Parliament as MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire with 46.2% of the vote and a majority of 2,481. [17] [18]
He was a member of the Treasury Select Committee from July 2010 to March 2015, is Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Employee Ownership, founder of the PFI Rebate Campaign and founding member of the Campaign for an Effective Second Chamber which campaigns for the House of Lords to be appointed rather than elected. [19]
On 10 July 2012, Norman was reported to be the organiser ringleader of the rebellion over the House of Lords Reform package presented to the House of Commons. [20] [21] Ed Miliband, the then leader of the Labour Party, described the scene involving Cameron and Norman as "fisticuffs in the Lobby" at Prime Minister's Questions. [22] [23]
In 2013, Norman said that so many Old Etonians were in government positions because of Eton's "ethos" of public service that "other schools don't imbue the same commitment". Later on Twitter, Norman said his comments were "defending one institution, not attacking others". [24] Norman describes his educational background as following "an educational argument between my mother, who despised any form of privilege, and my father, who took the view that he had set up his own business, so he was entitled to spend money on his kids' education". [25]
Norman was dismissed from Downing Street's Policy Board in September 2013 after rebelling against the Government again in opposition to military intervention in Syria. [26]
On 27 June 2014, prior to the nomination of Jean-Claude Juncker to the presidency of the European Commission, Norman gave his wholehearted support of Cameron's stance, as being "absolutely right... in opposing Mr Juncker". He argued that the EU constitution requires elected heads to choose its "President" and secondly that Juncker's manifesto fails to tackle what he (Norman) sees as the President's duty to address the unpopularity of EU mandates. Norman also said that democracy, for the British, involves legitimacy derived from the ballot box, whereas for some Europeans, it involves centralised bureaucracy. [27]
In September 2014, Norman raised the issue of rules concerning football club ownership in the House of Commons, alleging the then-Chairman of Hereford United had a criminal conviction, [28] in support of Supporters Trust's campaign to oust the Agombar régime at Hereford Utd FC. On 19 December 2014, the club was wound up in the High Court. [29]
At the 2015 general election, Norman was re-elected as MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire with an increased vote share of 52.6% and an increased majority of 16,890. [30]
On 19 June 2015, he was elected as Chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee. [31]
On 8 September 2015 at a hearing of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee convened to discuss recent allegation of blood doping in athletics, Norman said the following "When you hear the London Marathon, potentially the winners or medallists at the London Marathon, potentially British athletes are under suspicion for very high levels of blood doping... " thus seemingly using parliamentary privilege to implicate Paula Radcliffe as being involved, since she is the only British London Marathon winner since 1996. This prompted Radcliffe to respond with a statement denying any involvement in doping, [32] though Norman said it was not his intention to implicate any individual. [33]
Ministerial career
Following Theresa May's appointment as Prime Minister in July 2016, Norman was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Industry and Energy.
Norman was again re-elected at the snap 2017 general election, with an increased vote share of 53.5% and a decreased majority of 15,013. [34] [35]
Norman was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport after the 2017 general election, before advancing to Minister of State at the same department in November 2018.
In May 2019, Norman was appointed Paymaster General and Financial Secretary to the Treasury by May; he remained in the latter position under her successor, Boris Johnson, until he stepped down in September 2021. [36] During his time at the Treasury, he managed the UK Pandemic Furlough and self-employed schemes, launched a 10 year strategy to digitize the tax system, and set up the UK Infrastructure Bank. At the time of stepping down, he was said to have done so over Boris Johnson's bid for more diversity in Government. [37]
At the 2019 general election, Norman was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 61.2% and an increased majority of 19,686. [38]
On 6th June 2022, Norman sent his letter of no confidence to Boris Johnson, in reaction to the Partygate scandal and policy propositions that Norman opposed, such as Johnson's Rwanda plan and the privatisation of Channel 4. He also denounced the sidelining of Parliament by Johnson's Government, accusing him of "trying to import elements of a presidential system of government that is entirely foreign to our constitution". [39] After Johnson's resignation a month later, Norman backed Nadhim Zahawi in the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election. [40] After Zahawi was eliminated, he backed Liz Truss for the leadership. [41]
In September 2022 he returned to Government as Minister of State for the Americas and the Overseas Territories, appointed by Liz Truss following her election as Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister. [42] [43]
In October 2022 he moved to the Department for Transport, having been appointed by the new PM Rishi Sunak (who he had backed in the October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election [44] ) to the role of Minister of State for Decarbonisation and Technology from October 2022 to November 2023. [45] [46]
On 13 November 2023 he stood down from his Ministerial role citing that it would enable him to spend more time campaigning locally, and saying that he had indicated his wish to step down to the whips some months previously. [47]
