Mel Stride | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assumed office 8 July 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leader | Rishi Sunak | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Liz Kendall | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chair of the Treasury Select Committee | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 23 October 2019 –25 October 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Nicky Morgan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Harriett Baldwin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Member of Parliament for Central Devon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assumed office 6 May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Constituency created | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Majority | 61 (0.1%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Ealing,London,England | 30 September 1961||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Political party | Conservative | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse | Michelle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Children | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alma mater | St Edmund Hall,Oxford (BA) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | Official website | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Melvyn John Stride [1] (born 30 September 1961) [2] is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Central Devon since 2010. He served as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from October 2022 to July 2024. He previously served in the May Government as Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General from 2017 to 2019 and as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council from May to July 2019. He also served as Chair of the Treasury Select Committee from 2019 to 2022.
Melvyn Stride was born in Ealing on 30 September 1961. [3] He was educated at Portsmouth Grammar School,and then studied Philosophy,Politics and Economics at St Edmund Hall,Oxford, [4] where he was elected President of the Oxford Union. In 1987,Stride set up a business specialising in trade exhibitions,conferences and publishing (Venture Marketing Group) which he and his wife jointly controlled [5] before selling it to a United States subsidiary. [6]
Stride was selected as the prospective Conservative candidate for Central Devon in June 2006 after his name was added to the Conservative A-List in 2006. [7] He was the first A-Lister to be selected. [8]
At the 2010 general election,Stride was elected as MP for Central Devon with 51.5% of the vote and a majority of 9,230. [9]
On 28 October 2011,Stride was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of State for Further Education,Skills and Lifelong Learning,John Hayes. [10]
At the 2015 general election,Stride was re-elected as MP for Central Devon with an increased vote share of 52.2% and an increased majority of 21,265. [11] Stride was promoted to the frontbench as Lord Commissioner of the Treasury after the election. Stride was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum. [12]
Stride was appointed Comptroller of the Household following the appointment of Theresa May as Prime Minister.
At the snap 2017 general election,Stride was again re-elected,with an increased vote share of 54.1% and a decreased majority of 15,680. [13] He was again re-elected at the 2019 general election,with an increased vote share of 55.3% and an increased majority of 17,721. [14] At the 2024 general election,Stride was again re-elected,with a decreased vote share of 31.5% and a decreased majority of 61. [15]
Following the 2017 general election,Stride was appointed Financial Secretary to the Treasury. [16] In this role in April 2019,Stride was accused by MPs of breaking the Ministerial Code over comments he had made in relation to the Loan Charge. [17] [18] Stride was appointed Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council on 23 May 2019,following the resignation of Andrea Leadsom. [19] Stride endorsed Michael Gove to become Leader of the Conservative Party in the 2019 leadership election. Following Boris Johnson's election as party leader and appointment as Prime Minister he was dismissed from his role as Leader of the House of Commons and replaced by Jacob Rees-Mogg.
On 23 October 2019,Stride was elected Chair of the Treasury Select Committee,replacing Nicky Morgan. [20] Stride supported Rishi Sunak in the July-September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election,serving as his campaign chief,and lent his support to him again in the October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election. [21] [22]
Upon the appointment of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister,Stride returned to the frontbench having been appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. [23] In September 2023,Stride commented on the state pension system in the United Kingdom. Stride said that the triple lock system was not sustainable in the long term. The comments came in response to reports that the government was considering scrapping the mechanism used to uprate the state pension having seen several years of large increases. [24] [ needs update ]
Following the Conservative Party's defeat in the 2024 United Kingdom general election and the subsequent formation of the Starmer ministry,Stride was appointed Shadow Work &Pensions Secretary in Rishi Sunak's caretaker Shadow Cabinet. On 26 July 2024,Stride announced he was running in the 2024 leadership election to be the new Conservative Party leader. [25] [26] He was voted out on the second ballot. [27]
Stride is married to Michelle (born 1975) [28] and has three daughters. [29]
Christopher Ian Brian Mynott Philp is a British politician who is the current Shadow Leader of the House of Commons since July 2024. He held the post of Minister of State for Crime,Policing and Fire from October 2022 to July 2024. He was previously appointed to Liz Truss's cabinet from September to October 2022 as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and then as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General. A member of the Conservative Party,he is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Croydon South following his election in 2015.
Damian Patrick George Hinds is a British Conservative Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for East Hampshire since 2010. He has served as Shadow Secretary of State for Education since July 2024. He 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.
Richard Quentin Fuller is a British politician who has served as the interim Chairman of the Conservative Party since July 2024. He previously served as the Economic Secretary to the Treasury from July to October 2022. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for North Bedfordshire,formerly North East Bedfordshire,since 2019. A member of the Conservative Party,he represented Bedford from 2010 to 2017. He had previously achieved prominence as leader of the Young Conservatives from 1985 to 1987.
Stephen Paul Barclay is a British politician who served in various cabinet positions under prime ministers Theresa May,Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak between 2018 and 2024,lastly as the Secretary of State for Environment,Food and Rural Affairs from 2023 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party,he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Cambridgeshire since 2010 and Shadow Secretary of State for Environment,Food and Rural Affairs since July 2024.
Gareth Alan Johnson is a British politician and former lawyer who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dartford from 2010 to 2024. A member of the Conservative party,he served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Courts from September to October 2022 in the Truss ministry. Johnson 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.
Victoria Mary Prentis,is a British politician and barrister. A member of the Conservative Party,Prentis served as the Member of Parliament for Banbury from 2015 until her defeat in 2024.
Rishi Sunak is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2022 to 2024. He has been Leader of the Conservative Party since October 2022;after the general election in July 2024,he became Leader of the Opposition. The first British Asian to hold those offices,he previously held two Cabinet positions under Boris Johnson,latterly as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2020 to 2022. Sunak has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond and Northallerton,previously Richmond (Yorks),since 2015. He is the most recent Conservative Party prime minister.
Miriam Jane Alice Davies,known as Mims Davies,is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Grinstead and Uckfield,previously Mid Sussex,since 2019. She previously served as MP for Eastleigh from 2015 to 2019. Davies has served as Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities since July 2024. She previously served in various ministerial positions between 2018 and 2024.
Alun Craig Williams is a British politician who was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister from October 2022 until June 2024. A member of the Conservative Party,he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cardiff North from 2015 to 2017,when he was defeated for reelection by the Labour Party's Anna McMorrin. In 2019,Williams was elected as the MP for Montgomeryshire,but lost the seat in the 2024 general election.
Sir Oliver James Dowden,is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hertsmere since 2015. He has served as Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster since July 2024. He served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Secretary of State in the Cabinet Office from 2023 to 2024 and as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 2022 to 2024.
Kevin John Foster is a British Conservative Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Torbay from 2015 to 2024. He served as Minister of State for Transport from September 2022 until October 2022. Foster served under Home Secretary Priti Patel as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safe and Legal Migration from 2019 until September 2022.
Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke Badenoch is a British politician who has served as Shadow Secretary of State for Housing,Communities and Local Government since 2024 and was Secretary of State for Business and Trade from 2023 to 2024. She was also President of the Board of Trade and Minister for Women and Equalities from 2022 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party,she has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Essex,previously Saffron Walden,since 2017.
Gillian Keegan is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education from 2022 to 2024. She previously served as Minister of State for Care and Mental Health from 2021 to 2022,and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa from September to October 2022. A member of the Conservative Party,Keegan served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chichester from 2017 to 2024.
Sir Simon Richard Clarke is a British Conservative politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland from 2017 to 2024. 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.
Joyce Rebekah "Joy" Morrissey is an American-born British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Beaconsfield since 2019. She was a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury from November 2023 until July 2024. She has been Shadow Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero and an Opposition whip since July 2024.
Richard John Holden is a British Conservative politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Basildon and Billericay since 2024. He was previously the Member of Parliament for North West Durham from 2019 to 2024. Holden was the Chairman of the Conservative Party from November 2023 until his resignation on 8 July 2024 following the general election. Holden served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Roads and Local Transport from October 2022 to November 2023 and as Minister without Portfolio from November 2023 to July 2024.
Laura Trott is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sevenoaks since 2019 and Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury since July 2024. She previously served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from November 2023 to July 2024,and as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions between October 2022 and November 2023. Before entering parliament,Trott worked as a partner at Portland Communications,and as a special adviser.
Selaine Rachel Saxby is a British Conservative Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Devon from 2019 to 2024. She was also a councillor on North Devon Council.
The October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election was triggered by Liz Truss's announcement that she would resign as Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,amid an economic and political crisis.
The 2024 Conservative Party leadership election was announced on 5 July 2024 when then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared his intention to resign as Conservative Party leader following the party's defeat at the 2024 general election. The leadership race commenced on 24 July and is expected to last for over three months,with Rishi Sunak's successor being confirmed on 2 November,when the result of the party membership vote is set to be announced. Sunak is expected to remain as acting leader at least until his successor is appointed.
The Loan Charge Inquiry has concluded that the way the Financial Secretary to the Treasury has handled the Loan Charge, including demonstrably seeking to mislead over convictions that he knew are not related to loan arrangements, constitutes a breach of the Ministerial Code.