Felicity Christiana Buchan (born 1970) is a British politician serving as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Housing and Homelessness since October 2022. She served as

Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury is a junior ministerial post in HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury, ranked below the First Lord of the Treasury, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Paymaster General ...

from September to October 2022. She is the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

in London since

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. A member of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, she worked in

investment banking Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated wit ...

for

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the ...

and

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...

prior to her political career.

Early life and education

Buchan was born in

Fraserburgh Fraserburgh (; sco, The Broch or ; gd, A' Bhruaich) is a town in Aberdeenshire (unitary), Aberdeenshire, Scotland with a population recorded in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census at 13,100. It lies at the far northeast corner of Aber ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

, Scotland, the daughter of Charles and Georgina Buchan. She attended the Fraserburgh Academy comprehensive school in Fraserburgh and subsequently studied law at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

. Her brother Charles is a partner at the alternative asset management firm Bluecrest Capital Management.

Financial career

Buchan worked for a decade at American investment bank

in their syndicate and capital markets division and was promoted to vice president of their European syndicate. She left the company in 2001 to join

as a managing director in its debt capital markets division. As of September 2022, she holds at least £70,000 of shares in both companies. After leaving the financial services industry, she volunteered at a North Kensington children's charity and was the chair of governors of Bousfield Primary School.

Political career

Buchan contested South Down in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

as a Conservative candidate in the 2015 general election, coming last with 318 (0.7%) votes. She then contested the

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

seat in

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastl ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, where she came second to the incumbent Labour Party MP,

Emma Lewell-Buck Emma Louise Lewell-Buck (born 8 November 1978) is a Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Shields since winning a by-election in 2013. She is South Shields’s first female MP. Early life From a family ...

, with 10,570 (25.9%) votes. During the 2017 campaign, Buchan wrote an article for the website BrexitCentral in which discussed her support for "a tough

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

deal: that means leaving the Single Market, the Customs Union and the ECJ" and decried a London-centric view of politics. She was selected as the Conservative candidate for

on 16 July 2019. Buchan had been the treasurer and a member of the board for the Kensington Chelsea & Fulham Conservatives Local Association, roles she had held until 2019. When asked about her prior comments on Brexit during her 2017 campaign, she stated that she had "always campaigned for a good negotiated deal" and that she was not in favour of a "hard Brexit". She was elected as MP in the 2019 general election with a majority of 150. After her election, she pledged to accept and help to implement the recommendations of the

Grenfell Tower Inquiry The Grenfell Tower Inquiry is a British public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people and destroyed Grenfell Tower on 14 June 2017. It was ordered by Prime Minister Theresa May on the day following the fire. May announce ...

"with a sense of urgency". The purpose of the inquiry is to investigate the

Grenfell Tower fire On 14 June 2017, a high-rise fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats in North Kensington, West London, at 00:54 BST and burned for 60 hours. 72 people died, two later in hospital, with more than 70 injured and 223 escapin ...

which occurred in 2017 in North Kensington, which lies within her constituency. She was a member of the

Treasury Select Committee The House of Commons Treasury Committee (often referred to as the Treasury Select Committee) is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administr ...

between March 2020 and December 2021. Buchan has been a member of the Finance Committee since March 2020. On 7 September 2020, Buchan voted against a Labour Party amendment to the Fire Safety Bill which was intended to implement the recommendations of the first phase of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry before the end of the consultation process. This was criticised by campaign group

Grenfell United Grenfell United is a pressure group made up of the families of victims and survivors of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire. The first formal meeting of Grenfell United took place on Saturday 24 June 2017. The minutes read: “Residents are not present a ...

and opposition politicians. She defended her vote by stating the government was "committed to implementing the recommendations", and criticised the Labour Party for "misrepresenting the vote" for political reasons. On 23 August 2021, Prime Minister

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

appointed Buchan as the UK's trade envoy to Iceland and Norway. Buchan was appointed as a

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

in the

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is a department of His Majesty's Government. The department was formed during a machinery of government change on 14 July 2016, following Theresa May's appointment as Prime ...

in September 2021. Buchan resigned from her PPS role on 6 July 2022, in protest against the leadership of Prime Minister

over his handling of the

Chris Pincher scandal The Chris Pincher scandal is a political controversy in the United Kingdom related to allegations of sexual misconduct by the former Conservative Party Deputy Chief Whip, Chris Pincher. In early July 2022, allegations of Pincher's misconduct ...

. After the election of

Liz Truss Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician who briefly served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. On her fiftieth day in office, she stepped down ...

as Prime Minister in September 2022, Buchan was appointed as

Personal life

Buchan is a member of the

Chelsea Arts Club The Chelsea Arts Club is a private members' club at 143 Old Church Street in Chelsea, London with a membership of over 3,800, including artists, sculptors, architects, writers, designers, actors, musicians, photographers, and filmmakers. The club ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buchan, Felicity 1970 births 21st-century British women politicians 21st-century Scottish women politicians Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Bank of America people Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies JPMorgan Chase people Living people People educated at Fraserburgh Academy People from Fraserburgh UK MPs 2019–present