Vicky Ford

Victoria Grace Ford (born 21 September 1967) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chelmsford since 2017. A member of the Conservative Party, she is a former Member of the European Parliament for the East of England (2009–2017). Since February 2020, Ford has been the Minister for Children.

Vicky Ford

MP
Ford in 2020
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families
Assumed office
14 February 2020
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byKemi Badenoch
Member of Parliament
for Chelmsford
Assumed office
8 June 2017
Preceded bySimon Burns
Majority17,621 (30.8%)
Member of the European Parliament
for East of England
In office
4 June 2009 – 12 June 2017
Preceded byChristopher Beazley
Succeeded byJohn Flack
Personal details
Born (1967-09-21) 21 September 1967
Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)Hugo Ford (m. 1996)
Children3
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge
Websitewww.vickyford.uk


Early life and career

Victoria Grace Pollock was born on 21 September 1967 in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland to Anthony and Deborah Marion Pollock. Her parents were both English doctors.[1][2][3] As a child, she joined her mother campaigning with the peace movement and her father stood in local elections for the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland.

She attended primary school and Omagh Academy[4] in Northern Ireland, but following her father's death, she went to schools in England. Ford was educated at St Paul's Girls' School and then was awarded an academic scholarship to Marlborough College and studied Maths and Economics at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Between 1989 and 2001, Ford worked for JPMorgan Chase. She was promoted to vice-president in their loan syndication department.[5] In 2001, she joined Bear Stearns as managing director for loan capital markets where she worked until 2003.[1]

Political career

Ford joined the Conservative Party in 1986. In 2006, Ford was elected as a local councillor, representing Balsham Ward at South Cambridgeshire District Council. She was a parliamentary candidate in the 2005 general election for Birmingham Northfield constituency, but came second to incumbent Labour Party MP Richard Burden.[6][7]

In 2007, she was a major contributor to the Conservative Party's review of UK taxation "The Tax Reform Commission".

Member of the European Parliament

Ford was elected as Conservative Party Member of the European Parliament for East of England in the 2009 European Parliament election.[8] She was a member of the Bureau of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group and a member of the Parliament's delegation for relations with China.

As an MEP, Ford was the rapporteur for the Parliament on reforms to firearms laws, offshore oil and gas safety and the fiscal framework directive which seeks to increase transparency and accountability of public spending. She was a lead negotiator on the Horizon 2020 fund for research and on bank capital requirements, deposit guarantee schemes and residential mortgages. She campaigned to reduce bureaucracy for business, to reduce the EU budget and to end the Strasbourg two-seat circus, whereby the European Parliament alternates between sitting in Brussels and Strasbourg every month, entailing high travel costs between the two for MEPs and civil servants, whilst the Secretariat is based in Luxembourg City.

From 2009–2014 she was a member of the European Parliament Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.

From 2014–2017 she was Chair of the European Parliament Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection,[9] an economic committees of the Parliament, focusing on digital policy and unlocking trade opportunities for services and goods.

In 2016, Ford was ranked as one of the top ten most influential members of the European Parliament by Politico Europe, particularly for her work on digital policy.[10]

Member of Parliament

Ford was elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Chelmsford at the 2017 general election.[11] On 21 June 2017, Ford made her maiden speech in the Queen's speech debate, the first of the 2017 intake to do so.[12] In the 2017–19 parliament she served on the Science and Technology and the Women and Equalities select committees.

In August 2018 Ford was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ministerial team. In August 2019, she became Parliamentary Private Secretary to Alok Sharma, the Secretary or State for International Development.

In the February 2020 cabinet reshuffle, Ford was appointed as the Minister for Children; a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Education, with responsibility for children and families.[13]

Personal life

Vicky married Hugo Ford in 1996. They have three children. The couple met at Trinity College, Cambridge where they were both students. He is an oncologist and is the director of cancer services at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.[14][15][16]

References
  1. "Vicky Ford interview: Europe's values". Agendani. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  2. "Ford, Victoria Grace". UK Who's Who. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  3. "Vicky Ford". European Parliament. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  4. Hill, Henry. "May's Men and Women: The Conservative Commons intake of 2017". Conservative Home. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  5. Townsend, Piers (28 March 2001). "Bear Stearns Hires JP Morgan Loan Specialist". Financial News. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  6. "Vicky Ford". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  7. "Result: Birmingham Northfield". BBC News. 6 May 2005. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  8. "European Election 2009, UK Results, East of England". BBC News. 7 June 2009. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  9. "Internal Market and Consumer Protection – Members". europarl.europa.eu. European Parliament. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  10. Heath, Ryan. "The 40 MEPs who actually matter". Politico. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  11. "Election 2017: Chelmsford parliamentary constituency". BBC News. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2017.,
  12. "Debate on the Address". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Commons. 21 June 2017. col. 137–139. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  13. "Ministerial appointments: February 2020". GOV.UK. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  14. "Vicky Ford MEP". secca.org.uk. South East Cambridgeshire Conservatives. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  15. "Vicky Ford MEP – My East Anglia". East Life. 14 November 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  16. "Dr Hugo Ford". Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
European Parliament
Preceded by
Christopher Beazley		 Member of the European Parliament
for East of England
2009–2017		 Succeeded by
John Flack
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Sir Simon Burns		 Member of Parliament for Chelmsford
2017–present		 Incumbent
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