Mims Davies

Davies was educated at the Royal Russell School in London and Collyers Sixth Form College in Horsham, and studied Politics and International Relations at Swansea University;[4] she was the first in her family to enter higher education.[5] She worked primarily as a local radio presenter, reporter and producer.[4] She later worked as a road safety communications officer with the Automobile Association, the police force and Sussex Safer Roads Partnership.[5]

Davies served as a Conservative Party town councillor and as a District councillor on Mid Sussex District Council for the Haywards Heath Lucastes ward from 2011 to 2015. Davies was initially co-opted onto Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common Parish Council, which began her political involvement.

At the 2015 general election on 7 May, Davies was elected as MP for Eastleigh defeating Liberal Democrat incumbent Mike Thornton by over 9,000 votes. She was re-elected in the 2017 general election, increasing her share of the vote by 8.2% and receiving over half of the total votes in the constituency,[6] the first majority vote in Eastleigh since the 1992 election. In addition to this, Davies is the first and to date only woman to represent the Eastleigh constituency since its creation in 1955.

She campaigned for the UK to leave the European Union during the 2016 referendum.[7]

Davies was appointed an Assistant Government Whip on 9 January 2018 and subsequently to the role of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Wales on 26 July 2018.[8]

In the House of Commons she sat on the Commons Reference Group on Representation and Inclusion and previously sat on the Consolidation Bills (Joint Committee) and Women and Equalities Committee.[9] On 23 October 2018, Davis resigned from a committee chaired by Commons Speaker John Bercow, citing lack of confidence in Bercow's ability to tackle bullying and sexual harassment problems in Parliament.[10][11][12][13]

On 5 November 2018, Davies was appointed Minister for Sport and Civil Society at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, after the resignation of Tracey Crouch over a delay to the introduction of reduced limits on the stakes of fixed odds betting terminals.

In February 2019, in her role as Sports Minister, she called for an urgent summit with football leaders in order to address issues relating to abuse in the sport.[14] She suggested there should be a zero tolerance approach to problems concerning racist, homophobic and antisemitic chanting.[15]

In May 2019, she attended the "End the cage age" event campaigning against caged birds. This event was organised by Compassion in World Farming. Davies stated that she was against caged laying hens.[16]

In July 2019, Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed Davies to the position of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment. She joined the Department for Work and Pensions.

On 30 October 2019, Davies announced she would be standing down as MP for Eastleigh in order to spend more time with her children, who attend boarding schools. [17]

However, she later announced she was to be on the shortlist for the Mid-Sussex constituency, where Sir Nicholas Soames was retiring.[18] On 9 November 2019, she was selected to stand for the seat, which she won at the election with 53.3% of the vote.[3]

Davies has two children and is divorced. She was a carer to her two elderly parents before becoming an MP and this experience informed a significant portion of her parliamentary work.[19] She is a keen runner and has completed several long-distance races, including the 2017 London Marathon.[20]

• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou