Amanda Solloway
MP
Official portrait, 2020
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Consumers and Affordability
Assumed office
7 February 2023
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded byOffice established
Lord Commissioner of the Treasury
Assumed office
20 September 2022
Prime MinisterLiz Truss
Rishi Sunak
In office
17 September 2021 – 8 July 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byMaggie Throup
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Equalities
In office
8 July 2022 – 20 September 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byMike Freer
Succeeded byThe Baroness Stedman-Scott
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding
In office
8 July 2022 – 20 September 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byRachel Maclean
Succeeded byMims Davies
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science, Research and Innovation
In office
14 February 2020 – 16 September 2021
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byChris Skidmore[lower-alpha 1]
Succeeded byGeorge Freeman
Member of Parliament
for Derby North
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byChris Williamson
Majority2,540 (5.4%)
In office
7 May 2015 – 3 May 2017
Preceded byChris Williamson
Succeeded byChris Williamson
Personal details
Born (1961-06-06) 6 June 1961
Nottingham, England
Political partyConservative
Websiteamandasolloway.org.uk

Amanda Jane Solloway (née Edghill, 6 June 1961) is a British politician serving as Lord Commissioner of the Treasury since September 2022.[1][2] She served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Equalities and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding from July to September 2022.[3][4] A member of the Conservative Party, she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Derby North since 2019, having previously served from 2015 to 2017.

Early life and education

Amanda Jane Edghill was born on 6 June 1961[5] in Nottingham. She has a younger sister and brother.

She was educated at Bramcote Hills Grammar School in Bramcote, Nottinghamshire,[5] which became comprehensive in 1978.

She started working at the age of 16 behind the counter of an off-licence before working as a management trainee at Sainsbury's supermarket where she stayed for 13 years. Amanda then went on to work in a regional training role at Help the Aged before working for Baird Clothing company as head of training in 1998, and founded her own consultancy in 2008 (which is now dormant due to Parliamentary duties).

Parliamentary career

Solloway was first elected at the 2015 general election for the Derby North constituency, with a majority of 41 votes, unseating the Labour MP Chris Williamson, who had been the MP for the seat since 2010. She became a parliamentary private secretary to the minister of state for the Department of International Development.[6]

Solloway has been a campaigner on mental health and homelessness issues in Derby North and in Parliament.[7]

Solloway lost her seat at the 2017 general election to Williamson,[8] on a night where Labour made gains across the United Kingdom. She continued to be active in Derby North, including in the 2018 Derby City Council election and 2019 Derby City Council election, where the Conservatives made gains in the Derby North constituency wards.

She regained Derby North for the Conservatives at the 2019 general election with a majority of 2,540, with Williamson (standing as an independent) in sixth place.[9]

On 14 February 2020, Solloway was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Science, Research and Innovation at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy during the first cabinet reshuffle of the second Johnson ministry.[10]

On 17 September 2021, Solloway was appointed a lord commissioner of the Treasury (Government whip) during the second cabinet reshuffle of the second Johnson ministry.[11]

Between July 5, 2022 and the 21st of March 2023, Solloway successfully campaigned for Derby to be chosen as the location for the Department for Transport's Great British Railways Headquarters.[12] Her efforts included asking constituents to vote for Derby by scanning a QR code printed on a T-shirt she wore at constituency events and by holding meetings with the Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper and Minister of State for Rail and HS2 Huw Merriman.[13] [14]

Other work

Solloway spent 15 years in retail management with J Sainsbury supermarket, a further 15 years within human resources in the charity sector (Help the Aged and Save the Children), and in the private sector (Baird Clothing Group) supporting manufacturing, warehousing and retail.[15][16]

From 2017 to 2021 Solloway was the sole director and sole shareholder of Amanda Solloway Limited, a management consultancy company, which entered voluntary liquidation in December 2020.

Personal life

Solloway lives in Derbyshire and was patron of the Friends Of The Baby Unit at Royal Derby Hospital.[17] She ran the London Marathon, in 2016 and 2017, and, in doing so, raised money for the hospital's baby unit. She has also served as a School Governor for around 20 years and has been a keen campaigner for mental health issues.

Controversies

In May 2023, Solloway was asked to repay an £80 fixed penalty notice which was issued on 2 July 2020, which she had previously claimed on expenses, according to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority's (IPSA) expenses register.[18]

Notes

References

  1. ↑ "Ministerial Appointments: September 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  2. ↑ "Ministerial Appointments commencing: 25 October 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  3. ↑ "Amanda Solloway MP". GOV.UK. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  4. ↑ "Ministerial appointments: July 2022". GOV.UK. 7 July 2022. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  5. 1 2 "Solloway, Amanda Jane, (born 6 June 1961), MP (C) Derby North, 2015–17 and since 2019; Amanda previously served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, in early 2020 until becoming a Government Whip". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u283952. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  6. ↑ "About me". Amanda Solloway. Archived from the original on 19 April 2017.
  7. ↑ "Amanda Solloway: We need to tackle mental health issues head on". Derby Telegraph. 21 August 2015. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  8. ↑ "Election Results 2017: Derby North won by Labour's Chris Williamson". BBC News. 9 June 2017. Archived from the original on 14 June 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  9. ↑ Hawley, Zena (13 December 2019). "Amanda Solloway jumps for joy as she takes Derby North from Labour". Derby Telegraph. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  10. ↑ "Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - GOV.UK". Archived from the original on 18 February 2020. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  11. ↑ "Ministerial appointments: September 2021". GOV.UK. 16 September 2021.
  12. ↑ "Last chance to vote to help bring Great British Railways HQ to Derby".
  13. ↑ "Amanda Solloway on Facebook".
  14. ↑ "Amanda Solloway on Facebook".
  15. ↑ "Amanda Solloway, former MP, Derby North – TheyWorkForYou". TheyWorkForYou. mySociety. Archived from the original on 19 April 2017.
  16. ↑ "Baird Group / Contact". bmb-clothing.co.uk. Archived from the original on 15 January 2017.
  17. ↑ "FOBU is delighted to announce MP Amanda Solloway as Patron – Friends of the Baby Unit Derby". fobuderby.co.uk. Archived from the original on 25 April 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  18. ↑ "MPS asked to repay driving fines claimed on expenses". BBC News. 28 May 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.