James Cartlidge

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James Cartlidge
MP
Official portrait, 2019
Minister of State for Defence Procurement
Assumed office
21 April 2023
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded byAlex Chalk
Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury
In office
28 October 2022 – 21 April 2023
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded byFelicity Buchan
Succeeded byGareth Davies
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
for Justice
In office
17 September 2021 – 7 July 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byAlex Chalk
Succeeded bySarah Dines
Member of Parliament
for South Suffolk
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Preceded byTim Yeo
Majority22,897 (42.8%)
Personal details
Born (1974-04-30) 30 April 1974 (age 50)
London, England
Political partyConservative
SpouseEmily
Children4
Alma materUniversity of Manchester
WebsiteOfficial website

James Roger Cartlidge (born 30 April 1974) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Suffolk since 2015. He has served as Minister of State for Defence Procurement since 2023.[1] He served as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury from 2022 to 2023 and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice between 2021 and 2022.

Early life and career[edit]

James Cartlidge was born on 30 April 1974 in London. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth's School,[2] which was a comprehensive when he attended but is now an all-boys grammar school in Chipping Barnet in north west London. Cartlidge then studied Economics at the University of Manchester.[2]

After university, Cartlidge ran an SME, having founded Share to Buy Ltd,[3] a shared ownership property portal and host of the London Home Show, a major event for first time buyers.[4]

Parliamentary career[edit]

At the 2005 general election, Cartlidge stood as the Conservative candidate in Lewisham Deptford, coming third with 12.4% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP Joan Ruddock and the Liberal Democrat candidate Columba Blango.[5]

Cartlidge was elected to Parliament at the 2015 general election as MP for South Suffolk with 53.1% of the vote and a majority of 17,545.[6]

In July 2015, in one of his first actions in Parliament, Cartlidge brought a barrel of beer from his constituency into the House of Commons, which he drank with his new parliamentary colleagues.[7]

Also in July 2015, Cartlidge took a train journey from Sudbury to Marks Tey with Rail Executives from Abellio Greater Anglia, Network Rail and the Department for Transport to highlight issues for people travelling by train in his constituency.[8]

Cartlidge has worked to improve mobile phone signal in his constituency, launching in February 2016 a campaign in Boxford for greater efforts to provide mobile telephone signal in 'not-spots'.[9]

Cartlidge was elected to the Public Accounts Commission in November 2015 and the Work and Pensions Committee in October 2016.[10]

He was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.[11]

At the snap 2017 general election, Cartlidge was re-elected as MP for South Suffolk with an increased vote share of 60.5% and an increased majority of 17,749.[12]

In January 2018 he was appointed as PPS to the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, and remained his PPS when Hunt was promoted as Foreign Secretary.[13][14]

In July 2019 Cartlidge was one of 73 MPs to vote against equal marriage in Northern Ireland.[15] He has publicly expressed his strong support for equal marriage but voted against imposing this law in Northern Ireland 'in absentia'.[16]

Cartlidge was again re-elected at the 2019 general election with an increased vote share of 62.2% and an increased majority of 22,897.[17]

In October 2020, Cartlidge wrote in the East Anglian Daily Times that COVID-19 has exacerbated the need for part-time season tickets.[18]

On 17 September 2021, Cartlidge was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice and an Assistant Government Whip in the cabinet reshuffle.[19] During his time in office, he introduced the Statutory Instrument which raised Magistrates' sentencing powers in England and Wales from 6 to 12 months.[20] Cartlidge also delivered the Government's initial response to the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review, which resulted in most criminal legal aid fees being increased by 15%.[21]

Also in September 2021, he held a South Suffolk Food Day in the House of Commons which featured businesses such as Jimmy's Farm, Suffolk Food Hall and Gifford's Hall Vineyard.[22]

On 7 July 2022, Cartlidge resigned from government in the wake of widespread criticism of Boris Johnson's handling of the Chris Pincher scandal, following a large number of other ministerial resignations.[23]

He replaced Alex Chalk as Minister of State for Defence Procurement in April 2023, following a mini-reshuffle.[24]

Personal life[edit]

Cartlidge is married to Emily, with whom he has four children. His father-in-law is the former Conservative MP, Gerald Howarth, who was MP for Cannock and Burntwood from 1983 to 1992 and MP for Aldershot from 1997 to 2017.[25]

Cartlidge performed a drum solo on Times Radio in September 2020, as part of Times Radio presenter Matt Chorley's coverage of MPs' hobbies and pastimes.[26]

In his contribution to the House of Commons debate on Friday 9th September 2022, the day after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, ‘Tributes to Her late Majesty the Queen’, Cartlidge confessed to having spilt a bottle of red wine on one of the Queen’s carpets whilst working as a kitchen porter in the early 1990s, at the Buckingham Palace Staff Christmas Party, saying: “I pledge my loyalty to His Majesty, and I hope that he is merciful and resists the temptation to put an invoice for cleaning costs in the post".[27]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Ministerial Appointments: April 2023". GOV.UK. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Bringing an expert view on housing to the House". Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  3. ^ "Share to Buy Ltd". Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  4. ^ "London Home Show". Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  5. ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  6. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  7. ^ MPs set to slake their thirst with a pint of Sudbury’s finest Pickwick Bitter Archived 2 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Stowmarket Mercury, 12 June 2015
  8. ^ New MP James Cartlidge tackles railway issues between Sudbury and Marks Tey Archived 2 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Stowmarket Mercury, 19 May 2015
  9. ^ Emma Brennan (6 February 2016). "Boxford launch of petition to improve mobile phone signals in rural areas". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  10. ^ "James Cartlidge MP - UK Parliament". parliament.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  11. ^ Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 3 February 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  12. ^ "Suffolk South parliamentary constituency - Election 2017" – via www.bbc.com.
  13. ^ "James appointed PPS to Jeremy Hunt". James Cartlidge. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  14. ^ Geater, Paul. "New job for Suffolk MP James Cartlidge as aide to Jeremy Hunt at FCO". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  15. ^ Wakefield, Lily (9 July 2019). "Here's how every MP voted on equal marriage in Northern Ireland". Pink News. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  16. ^ "Equal marriage in Northern Ireland".
  17. ^ "Suffolk South Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  18. ^ Paul Geater (11 October 2020). "Call to bring in new 'flexitickets' for rail commuters". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  19. ^ "Ministerial appointments: September 2021". 16 September 2021.
  20. ^ "The Magistrates' Courts (Amendment) Rules 2022". Statutory Instruments. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
  21. ^ "Criminal legal aid update". Hansard. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  22. ^ "South Suffolk Food Day". Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  23. ^ Dugan, Emily (7 July 2022). "Government crisis: more ministers resign from cabinet". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  24. ^ "Oliver Dowden becomes new deputy PM and Alex Chalk new justice secretary after Raab resignation over bullying report". Sky News. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  25. ^ "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 01 Jun 2015 (pt 0002)". publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  26. ^ @MattChorley (8 September 2020). "With @jc4southsuffolk playing drums on the show today... Your political band names please... Reply and I'll use the best on @TimesRadio from 10am" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  27. ^ "Tributes to Her Late Majesty The Queen". Hansard. Retrieved 30 September 2022.

External links[edit]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for South Suffolk
2015–present 		Incumbent
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