Justin Tomlinson

Justin Tomlinson
MP
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Family Support, Housing and Child Maintenance
Assumed office
9 July 2018
Prime Minister Theresa May
Preceded by Kit Malthouse
Minister for Disabled People
In office
8 May 2015 – 15 July 2016
Prime Minister David Cameron
Theresa May
Preceded by Mark Harper
Succeeded by Penny Mordaunt
Member of Parliament
for North Swindon
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded by Michael Wills
Majority 8,335 (15.2%)
Personal details
Born (1976-11-05) 5 November 1976[1]
Blackburn, Lancashire, England
Nationality British
Political party Conservative
Spouse(s) Joanne Wheeler (m. 2012; div. 2016)
Domestic partner Katie Bennett (since 2016)
Relations Brother Mark Hicken
Alma mater Oxford Brookes
Website www.justintomlinson.com

Justin Paul Tomlinson[2] (born 5 November 1976) is a Conservative Party politician and former marketing executive. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Swindon since the general election in May 2010. A former Conservative Councillor on Swindon Borough Council, he has served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Disabled People and Parliamentary Private Secretary to Ed Vaizey.[3] On 9 July 2018, he was appointed as a junior minister in the Department for Work and Pensions as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Family Support, Housing and Child Maintenance.[4][5]

Early life and career

Tomlinson was born in Blackburn on the 5 November 1976. He studied at Harry Cheshire High School, a state comprehensive in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, and Oxford Brookes University, where he was Chairman of its Conservative Student Branch from 1995–99. He was National Chairman of Conservative Future, the youth-wing of the Conservative Party, between 2002 and 2003.[6]

Tomlinson was manager of a nightclub called Eros in Swindon, Wiltshire. He also operated a small marketing business.[7]

Tomlinson stood as the Conservative Party candidate for Abbey Meads ward on Swindon Borough Council and was elected in 2000, before being re-elected in the same ward in 2002 and 2006.[8]

Parliamentary career

Tomlinson unsuccessfully stood in North Swindon at the 2005 general election, losing to the defending Labour MP Michael Wills by 2,571 votes. However, he won the seat from Labour at the 2010 general election, defeating the new Labour candidate Victor Agarwall by 7,060 votes. In total, Tomlinson received 22,408 votes (44.6% of the vote), with a swing of 10.1% from Labour to the conservatives.[9]

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.[10] Kelly stood down at the 2015 general election after having served a single term.

He reported then Labour MP Sadiq Khan to the police in 2014 after Khan was photographed apparently driving whilst using a mobile phone. Tomlinson said "those who make the laws should certainly not be above them".[11] Khan was not prosecuted and went onto become elected as Mayor of London in 2016.

He was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Disabled People following the 2015 general election victory of the Conservative Party, serving until new Prime Minister Theresa May reshuffled the government in 2016.[3] Prior to that he was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Ed Vaizey.[3] 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.[12][13]

Tomlinson voted for the UK to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum.[14]

In the House of Commons he sits on the Work and Pensions Committee. He has sat on the Public Accounts Committee and Consolidation Bills (Joint Committee).[15]

Controversies

Tomlinson employs his partner as Office Manager on a salary up to £40,000.[16] The practice of MPs employing family members, has been criticised by the media on the lines that it promotes nepotism.[17] [18] 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.[19]

Tomlinson faced calls for his resignation in October 2015 after it was revealed that he had leaked information from the Public Accounts committee regarding regulation of short term high cost credit "payday lenders" to Wonga.com back in 2013. Tomlinson accepted he had broken the rules and apologised, claiming that his "strongly-held belief that action needed to be taken on payday lenders" had caused his "judgement to be clouded".[20] Tomlinson arranged £30,000 of sponsorship for Swindon Supermarine F.C., a local football team by the same payday lender wonga.com. The football club's chairman, Jez Webb has made donations of £30,218 to both Tomlinson's and local Conservative party funds since 2014. Webb stated that he donated in a personal capacity and that the very similar amounts "were coincindental."[21][22] Tomlinson was subsequently accused of trying to remove references to previous links to Wonga from his website, including the arrangement of a sponsorship deal with Swindon Supermarine F.C. in 2011[22]

In September 2016, Tomlinson was forced to apologise for leaking "a draft of a public accounts committee report on the credit industry to someone he knew who worked for payday lender Wonga. And when his mate (sic) emailed four suggested amendments back, he had forwarded them virtually word for word on to the committee as if they were his own".[23]

In May 2015, it was reported that his appointment as Minister for Disabled People was controversial as he had previously voted against protecting the benefits of disabled children and those undergoing cancer treatment.[24]

Personal life

Tomlinson announced his engagement to Jo Wheeler in August 2011, having proposed on The Peak, the highest point on Hong Kong Island.[25] The couple married at the House of Commons on 2 June 2012.[26] In July 2016 Tomlinson confirmed he had divorced his wife and was dating his office manager Katie Bennett, who is 14 years younger than him.[27]

References

  1. ↑ "Justin Tomlinson MP". BBC Democracy Live. BBC. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  2. ↑ "No. 59418". The London Gazette. 13 May 2010. p. 8745.
  3. 1 2 3 "Justin Tomlinson MP". UK.GOV. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  4. ↑ https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/foreign-affairs/brexit/news/96669/jeremy-hunt-named-new-foreign-secretary-after-boris
  5. ↑ https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1016428954444599297
  6. ↑ The Telegraph Election 2010 UK Political Database – Justin Tomlinson (Conservative, Swindon North). Published by: The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved: 14 November 2011.
  7. ↑ "Biography – Justin Tomlinson". www.justintomlinson.com. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  8. ↑ "Swindon Council Election Results 1996-2012" (PDF). Plymouth University. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  9. ↑ McPherson, Scott (7 May 2010). "Swindon turns Blue as Labour suffer double dose of defeat". Swindon Advertiser. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  10. ↑ "The curious world of long-term bets". BBC News.
  11. ↑ "Sadiq Khan faces police inquiry over mobile phone claims". Telegraph. Press Association. 4 November 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  12. ↑ https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/foreign-affairs/brexit/news/96669/jeremy-hunt-named-new-foreign-secretary-after-boris
  13. ↑ https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1016428954444599297
  14. ↑ Staff writer (24 June 2016). "Wiltshire and Swindon vote to leave EU". BBC News. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  15. ↑ "Justin Tomlinson". Parliament UK. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  16. ↑ "IPSA". GOV.UK. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  17. ↑ "One in five MPs employs a family member: the full list revealed". \Daily Telegraph. 2015-06-29. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  18. ↑ Mason, Rowena (29 June 2015). "Keeping it in the family: new MPs continue to hire relatives as staff". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  19. ↑ "MPs banned from employing spouses after election in expenses crackdown". London Evening Standard. 21 April 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  20. ↑ "MP Justin Tomlinson sent Wonga draft parliamentary report". BBC News. 21 October 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  21. ↑ "Tory minister caught leaking document to Wonga whitewashes his part in sponsorship deal from his website". Daily Mirror. 23 October 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  22. 1 2 Cork, Tristan (25 October 2015). "Tory minister denies cover-up over Wonga sponsorship of local football club". Western Daily Press. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  23. ↑ Grace, John (15 September 2016). "Justin Tomlinson shows sorry seems to be the easiest word". The Guardian.
  24. ↑ "Justin Tomlinson, New Disabilities Minister, Voted Against Protecting Disabled Child Benefits". Huffington Post. 13 May 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  25. ↑ "Love at first sight brings MP Justin together with Jo". Swindon Link. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  26. ↑ "North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson weds in Parliament". Swindon Link. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  27. ↑ "MP confirms new romance after splitting from wife". Swindon Link. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Michael Wills		 Member of Parliament
for North Swindon
2010–present		 Incumbent
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