Fiona Claire Bruce (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Riley; born 26 March 1957) is a British

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 ...

politician who was elected 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

Congleton Congleton is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The town is by the River Dane, south of Manchester and north of Stoke on Trent. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 26,482. Top ...

in the 2010 general election.

Early life

Fiona Claire Riley was born on 26 March 1957 in

Wick Wick most often refers to: * Capillary action ("wicking") ** Candle wick, the cord used in a candle or oil lamp ** Solder wick, a copper-braided wire used to desolder electronic contacts Wick or WICK may also refer to: Places and placenames ...

Caithness Caithness ( gd, Gallaibh ; sco, Caitnes; non, Katanes) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. Caithness has a land boundary with the historic county of Sutherland to the west and is otherwise bounded by ...

, Scotland to Allan Stewart and Greta Riley (née Scott). She attended

Burnley High School for Girls Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

, and the

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

Howell's School, Llandaff , image = Ysgol Howell, Llandaf 01.JPG , image_size = , caption = , coordinates = , motto = Nurturing Excellence , established = 1860 , closed = , type = Independent day school , rel ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

. Riley then studied law at the

Victoria University of Manchester The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. Afte ...

and further studies at

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

Law College. She was admitted as a

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

in 1981, and has been

senior partner A partner in a law firm, accounting firm, consulting firm, or financial firm is a highly ranked position, traditionally indicating co-ownership of a partnership in which the partners were entitled to a share of the profits as "equity partners". The ...

of the firm, Fiona Bruce & Co in

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

, since its formation in 1988.

Political career

Bruce was elected in 2004 to

Warrington Borough Council Warrington Borough Council is the local authority of Warrington, Cheshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services in ...

, on which she served as Executive Member for Finance from 2006 to 2009. She stepped down from the Council upon her election to Parliament in 2010. Bruce had previously unsuccessfully contested

Warrington South Warrington South is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Andy Carter, a Conservative Party politician. Constituency profile Warrington South is one of two seats covering the Borough of Warri ...

in the 2005 general election, finishing second to sitting Labour MP

Helen Southworth Helen Mary Southworth (born 13 November 1956) is a former Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom who is the Chief Executive of Age Concern Isle of Man. She is the former Member of Parliament (MP) for Warrington South, and was first elec ...

. In 2006 Bruce was placed on the

Conservative A-List The Conservative A-List or Priority List was a list of United Kingdom candidates drawn up by Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Central Office at the behest of David Cameron after his 2005 Conservative Party leadership election, election as ...

of priority parliamentary candidates following efforts by the Conservative Women2Win mentoring and pressure group. Following her selection as the Conservative Party candidate for the Congleton constituency, Bruce denied allegations that she had been chosen following an orchestrated campaign by religious groups sympathetic to her

evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...

beliefs. Bruce is an

Evangelical Alliance The Evangelical Alliance (EA) is a national evangelical alliance, member of the World Evangelical Alliance. Founded in 1846, the activities of the Evangelical Alliance aim to promote evangelical Christian beliefs in government, media and societ ...

council member and describes "defending and fighting for the sanctity of human life" as her priority in Parliament. She has been a member of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee since 2010. In February 2015, Bruce introduced an amendment to the Serious Crime Bill 2014 to make abortion on the grounds of the sex of the baby illegal. The amendment was rejected by 292 votes to 201. Bruce supported

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 ...

in the 2016 referendum. In 2019, Bruce chaired an inquiry by the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission into prostitution, which made the recommendation to replace existing laws on soliciting prostitution with laws that would make paying for sexual services a criminal offence. In 2020, she was appointed by

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 ...

as the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, and in this capacity she has been supportive of a petition to grant asylum to Maira Shahbaz and her family, a Pakistani Christian girl who has received death threats. In May 2021 Bruce co-authored an essay entitled "Family Matters – the Case for Strengthening Families" with former MP,

David Burrowes David John Barrington Burrowes (born 12 June 1969) is a British politician. He was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate from 2005 to 2017, is the co-founder of the Conservative Christian Fellowship. He has been the Chair ...

, for inclusion in ''Common Sense: Conservative Thinking for a Post-Liberal Age'' published by the

Common Sense Group The Common Sense Group is an informal group of Conservative MPs in the United Kingdom who advocate a broad range of ideals that they think the Conservative Party and the country ought to be following. The group was inspired by the euro-sceptic ...

, an informal group of Conservative MPs. In January 2023,

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...

revealed that Bruce had, since the 2019 general election, earnt more than £700,000 in addition to her salary as an MP – the fourth-highest amount of any MP.

Personal life

She married Richard John Bruce in 1990, and they have two sons. Fiona Bruce was awarded the title of "Small Businesswoman of the Year" in 2003.

References

External links

Fiona Bruce MP
Conservative Party profile
Congleton Conservatives
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruce, Fiona 1957 births Living people People from Wick, Caithness People from Congleton Scottish evangelicals People educated at Howell's School Llandaff Alumni of the Victoria University of Manchester Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present 21st-century British women politicians 21st-century English women 21st-century English people