George Freeman (politician)

George Freeman
MP
Chair of the Prime Minister’s Policy Board
In office
15 July 2016 – 20 November 2017
Prime Minister Theresa May
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
for Life Sciences
In office
15 July 2014 – 15 July 2016
Prime Minister David Cameron
Preceded by Position established
Succeeded by Nicola Blackwood
Member of Parliament
for Mid Norfolk
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded by Keith Simpson
Majority 16,086 (28.9%)
Personal details
Born (1967-07-12) 12 July 1967
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England
Nationality British
Political party Conservative
Alma mater Girton College, Cambridge
Website georgefreeman.co.uk

George William Freeman MP (born 12 July 1967) is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament for Mid Norfolk since 2010.

In July 2014 he was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Life Sciences, and left the government when the office was closed in 2016. Freeman was appointed chair of the Prime Minister's Policy Board in July 2016, and resigned in November 2017.

He is a founder of 2020 Conservatives group and a member of Bright Blue's advisory board.

Early life

Freeman was born on 12 July 1967 to jockey Arthur Freeman and Joanna Stockbridge.[1][2][3] His parents divorced soon after he was born, and he had no contact with his father until he reached adulthood, growing up as a ward of court.[1][4] Freeman would later buy at auction the trophy his father received as winner of the 1958 Grand National.[1]

He counts former Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone as his great great great uncle, and Mabel Philipson as his great-aunt.[5][6][7] He was educated at Radley College and Girton College, Cambridge, graduating with a Geography degree in 1989.[3]

After university, Freeman worked in Westminster as a lobbyist for the National Farmers Union.[8] Before entering Parliament, Freeman had a career in biomedical venture capital.[9]

Political career

Freeman stood unsuccessfully in Stevenage in the 2005 general election. He was subsequently added to the Conservative A-List and was selected for Mid Norfolk in October 2006.

Freeman was elected in the 2010 general election as MP for Mid Norfolk. The previous incumbent, Keith Simpson, contested the neighbouring Broadland constituency instead.

The Independent highlighted Freeman as one of a small number of MPs who claimed Parliamentary expenses for rent in London despite owning and letting out property in the city.[10]

Shortly after entering Parliament, Freeman was elected Chair of the All Party Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture. He was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Climate Change, Greg Barker MP, in the Coalition Government's first tranche of appointments. In July 2011, Freeman was appointed Government Life Science Advisor.

At a 2011 Boxing Day hunt, he called for a review of the ban on hunting with dogs, calling it "class war against the countryside".[11] In the same year, he opposed holding a referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union.[12] In 2013, Freeman opposed the legalisation of same-sex marriage and supported military intervention in Syria.[13][14][15]

After a number of accidents on the A47 road in his constituency, Freeman campaigned for investment in safety.[16][17] The road was included in a programme of investment announced in December 2014.[18]

In 2014, he was appointed Minister for Life Sciences at the Department of Health and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.[19] The role had not previously existed in any country.[7] Freeman was nicknamed "High Tech Hezza", after Michael Heseltine whose former office he occupied while minister.[7] During this role, Freeman was criticised by Labour opponents for describing use of prosecutions to enforce the minimum wage as "the politics of envy".[20] In 2015, he asked the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to establish an enquiry into disabilities caused by hormone pregnancy tests.[21]
At a party conference fringe meeting in 2018, Freeman described 'his horror' being given £4.2B by the Treasury to computerise the NHS which was then still relying on paper records. He had not been invited to any of the meetings about the project, authorised by George Osbourne and Jeremy Hunt, and had received no clear directions on how it was to be spent.[22]


Freeman is a co-founder of the 2020 Group of Conservative MPs, which he described as the "radical progressive centre ground" of the Conservative Party.[23]

In 2017, Freeman criticised a tribunal ruling that people with extreme anxiety who struggle to leave the house should have the same legal status as the partially sighted, saying that the former were not "really disabled". After criticism from opposition MPs, disability charity Scope, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission, he said that he regretted if his comment "inadvertently caused any offence which was not intended", and that he didn't "need any lectures on the damage anxiety does" after childhood experience of anxiety and depression.[24][25][26]

Freeman chaired the Prime Minister's Policy Board until his resignation in November 2017.[27] He warned the party not to be defined by "nostalgia, hard Brexit, public sector austerity and lazy privilege".[28] In September 2018 he called for Prime Minister Theresa May's resignation once a deal on the UK's departure from the European Union was secured through Parliament.[29] He said he would stand to be her successor if supported by his party, before ruling out the possibility shortly after.[30][31]

Personal life

George Freeman was married from 1996 to 2016 and has two children.[3][32]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Armytage, Marcus (2012-12-17). "National treasure finds its natural home as George Freeman MP stumps up for 1958 trophy". ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  2. ↑ "George Freeman MP". BBC Democracy Live. BBC. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 Who's Who. Ukwhoswho.com. Retrieved on 17 June 2011.
  4. ↑ Freezer, David. "Three Norfolk MPs left shocked after meeting foster carers". Norwich Evening News. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  5. ↑ Mance, Henry (5 August 2017). "Tory activists plan Conservative answer to Glastonbury". Financial Times. Retrieved 6 August 2017. Mr Freeman — a descendant of the Liberal prime minister William Gladstone and a former biotechnology investor — said he envisions the Conservative Ideas Festival as a “cross between Hay-on-Wye and the Latitude festival”.
  6. ↑ MP, George Freeman. "Yes this is my GreatAunt Mabel Philipson MP, first British @Conservatives Woman MP after #NancyAstor. Former GaietyGirl & ardent campaigner for children & disabilities. (Am working on her biography to publish later this year)@ConHistGrp @Women2Win @SophyRidgeSky @ConHomepic.twitter.com/78EhTRDBQ9".
  7. 1 2 3 Pagano, Margareta (24 July 2014). "George Freeman: Just the man for a matter of life and death". The Independent.
  8. ↑ Armitstead, Louise (9 December 2012). "George Freeman unites science, business and NHS". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  9. ↑ Armitstead, Louise (2012-12-09). "George Freeman unites science, business and NHS". ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-09-15.
  10. ↑ "MPs who own London homes still claim rent". The Independent. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  11. ↑ Bareham, Chris Bishop, Donna-Louise Bishop and Dominic. "Norfolk MP calls for review of Hunting Ban, as thousands attend Boxing Day meets". Eastern Daily Press. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  12. ↑ "EU referendum: how the MPs voted". 2011-10-25. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  13. ↑ "MPs who voted against gay marriage: full list | Coffee House". Coffee House. 2013-02-05. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  14. ↑ "Blow for Cameron as 128 Tory MPs vote against gay marriage". www.newstatesman.com. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  15. ↑ Beattie, Jason (2013-08-30). "Syria: How did your MP vote in the Commons over military action?". mirror. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  16. ↑ Walsh, Adam Gretton and Peter. "Family's tribute to Sprowston motorcyclist killed in A47 crash". Eastern Daily Press. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  17. ↑ George, Martin. "Facebook appeal for blackspot action after man killed on A47 at Scarning, near Dereham". Norwich Evening News. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  18. ↑ Graham, Georgia (2014-12-01). "£15 billion for road schemes: Where will they be?". ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  19. ↑ "Battleground Anglia: Mid Norfolk". ITV News. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  20. ↑ Dickson, Annabelle. "Conservative MP George Freeman "politics of envy" comment provokes Labour outrage". Eastern Daily Press. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  21. ↑ Carding, Nicholas. "Mother searches for answers as inquiry is launched into disabilities caused by pregnancy tests". Eastern Daily Press. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  22. ↑ "MP's 'horror' at getting £4.2bn to digitise NHS with no plan". BBC news:politics. 2 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  23. ↑ Dominiczak, Peter (2014-06-22). "Tory plans for retired pensioners to retrain as teachers". ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  24. ↑ "Theresa May's adviser says people with anxiety aren't 'really disabled'". The Independent. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  25. ↑ Stewart, Heather (2017-02-27). "May adviser regrets saying benefits should only go to 'really disabled' people". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  26. ↑ "Benefits should be for 'really disabled'". BBC News. 2017-02-26. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  27. ↑ "Theresa May's policy chief George Freeman resigns".
  28. ↑ "The head of Theresa May's policy unit just resigned". The Independent. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  29. ↑ "Theresa May should sort Brexit deal and then go, former policy chief says". Sky News. Retrieved 2018-09-15.
  30. ↑ Porritt, Richard. "Norfolk MP: 'I'll stand to be next PM'". Eastern Daily Press. Retrieved 2018-09-15.
  31. ↑ Grimmer, Dan. "'I do NOT plan to stand' - Norfolk MP George Freeman rules out Conservative leadership bid".
  32. ↑ Sylvester, Rachel (11 June 2016). "Philip Green should remember that with privilege comes responsibility: Tory business minister George Freeman sends a moral message to big corporate chiefs". The Times.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Keith Simpson		 Member of Parliament for Mid Norfolk
2010–present		 Incumbent
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