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Justin Tomlinson

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Justin Tomlinson
Official portrait, 2020
Minister of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
In office
12 April 2024 – 5 July 2024
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded byGraham Stuart
Succeeded byThe Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party
In office
16 September 2021 – 9 July 2022
LeaderBoris Johnson
Preceded byLee Rowley
Succeeded byMatt Vickers
Minister of State for Disabled People, Work and Health[a]
In office
4 April 2019 – 16 September 2021
Prime Minister
Preceded bySarah Newton
Succeeded byChloe Smith
In office
8 May 2015 – 15 July 2016
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byMark Harper
Succeeded byPenny Mordaunt
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Family Support, Housing and Child Maintenance
In office
9 July 2018 – 4 April 2019
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byKit Malthouse
Succeeded byWill Quince
Member of Parliament
for North Swindon
In office
6 May 2010 – 30 May 2024
Preceded byMichael Wills
Succeeded byWill Stone
Personal details
Born (1976-11-05) 5 November 1976 (age 48)[1]
Blackburn, England
Political partyConservative
Spouses
Joanne Wheeler
​
​
(m. 2012; div. 2016)​
Kate Bennett
​
(m. 2018)​
Children2
Alma materOxford Brookes
Websitewww.justintomlinson.com

Justin Paul Tomlinson[2] (born 5 November 1976) is a British politician and former marketing executive who served as Minister of State for Energy Security and Net Zero in 2024.[3] A member of the Conservative Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Swindon from 2010 to 2024.

A former councillor on Swindon Borough Council, Tomlinson previously served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Ed Vaizey.[4] He served in Prime Minister David Cameron's government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Disabled People from 2015 to 2016.[4] He was a junior minister during the second May ministry at the Department for Work and Pensions, as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Family Support, Housing and Child Maintenance from 2018 to 2019.[5][6] He later served as Minister of State for Disabled People, Work and Health from 2019 to 2021.

Early life and career

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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

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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][6]

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]

At the 2024 general election, Tomlinson was defeated by the Labour candidate Will Stone, attaining 13,827 votes or 31.3% of the vote.[30]

Personal life

[edit]

Tomlinson announced his engagement to Jo Wheeler in August 2011, having proposed on The Peak, the highest point on Hong Kong Island.[31] The couple married at the House of Commons on 2 June 2012.[32] In July 2016, Tomlinson confirmed that he had divorced his wife and was in a relationship with his office manager, Kate Bennett.[33] They married in October 2018 and have one daughter, born in August 2019.[34][35]

Tomlinson employs his partner as Office Manager on a salary up to £40,000.[36] The practice of MPs employing family members, has been criticised by some sections of the media on the lines that it promotes nepotism.[37][38] 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.[39]

Notes

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  1. ^ Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Disabled People (2015–16)

References

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  1. ^ "Justin Tomlinson MP". BBC Democracy Live. BBC. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  2. ^ "No. 86318". The London Gazette. 13 May 2010. p. 8745.
  3. ^ "Justin Tomlinson MP". GOV.UK. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
  4. ^ a b c "Justin Tomlinson MP". UK.GOV. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  5. ^ a b "Jeremy Hunt named new Foreign Secretary after Boris Johnson quits". PoliticsHome.com. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  6. ^ a b UK Prime Minister (9 July 2018). "UK Prime Minister on Twitter: "The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of @JustinTomlinson MP as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions."". Twitter.com. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  7. ^ "Coronavirus: Community spirit in Swindon delights MPs". Swindon Advertiser. 6 April 2020.
  8. ^ Thomas, Aled (24 April 2019). "Swindon Election 2019: St Andrew's ward is Conservative banker". Swindon Advertiser.
  9. ^ The Telegraph Election 2010 UK Political Database – Justin Tomlinson (Conservative, Swindon North). Published by: The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved: 14 November 2011.
  10. ^ "About". Justin Tomlinson MP. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  11. ^ "Swindon Council Election Results 1996–2012" (PDF). Plymouth University. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  12. ^ "2005 - 2005 General Election - North Swindon". webtest.parliament.uk. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  13. ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  14. ^ "Election 2010 - Constituency - Swindon North". BBC News.
  15. ^ "The curious world of long-term bets". BBC News.
  16. ^ "Sadiq Khan faces police inquiry over mobile phone claims". Telegraph. Press Association. 4 November 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  17. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  18. ^ "Swindon North parliamentary constituency - Election 2017". BBC News.
  19. ^ "Justin Tomlinson, New Disabilities Minister, Voted Against Protecting Disabled Child Benefits". Huffington Post. 13 May 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  20. ^ "Wiltshire and Swindon vote to leave EU". BBC News. 24 June 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  21. ^ Grace, John (15 September 2016). "Justin Tomlinson shows sorry seems to be the easiest word". The Guardian.
  22. ^ "Tories told not to criticise MPs' probe into Boris Johnson". BBC News. 11 August 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2022. The last MP to be suspended for a contempt of Parliament - the charge levelled against Mr Johnson - was Tory MP Justin Tomlinson. He was suspended for two days in 2016 for leaking a select committee report.
  23. ^ "ELECTION 2017: Labour choose North Swindon candidate". Swindon Advertiser.
  24. ^ "Minister tells families to take in a lodger to beat benefits cap". Evening Standard. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  25. ^ Council, Swindon Borough. "Statement of Persons Nominated, Notice of Poll and Situation of Polling Stations North Swindon | Swindon Borough Council". www.swindon.gov.uk. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  26. ^ "Ministerial appointments: September 2021". 16 September 2021.
  27. ^ "Justin Tomlinson appointed Conservative party deputy chairman". Politics.co.uk. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  28. ^ "Justin Tomlinson quits as Deputy Chairman of Conservative Party". Swindon Advertiser. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  29. ^ Pogrund, Caroline Wheeler and Gabriel. "Five employees accuse Tory deputy chairman of bullying". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  30. ^ Coyle, Simon (4 July 2024). "Swindon North general election 2024 results in full". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  31. ^ "Love at first sight brings MP Justin together with Jo". Swindon Link. Archived from the original on 7 November 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  32. ^ "North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson weds in Parliament". Swindon Link. Archived from the original on 16 June 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  33. ^ "MP confirms new romance after splitting from wife". Swindon Link. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  34. ^ Seaward, Tom (2 January 2019). "North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson and wife Kate expecting their first child". Swindon Advertiser.
  35. ^ Mehrez, Hedi (7 August 2019). "MP Justin Tomlinson announces birth of baby girl". Swindon Advertiser.
  36. ^ "IPSA". GOV.UK. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  37. ^ "One in five MPs employs a family member: the full list revealed". The Daily Telegraph. 29 June 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  38. ^ Mason, Rowena (29 June 2015). "Keeping it in the family: new MPs continue to hire relatives as staff". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  39. ^ "MPs banned from employing spouses after election in expenses crackdown". London Evening Standard. 21 April 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for North Swindon
2010–2024 		Succeeded by
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