Gagan Mohindra (born 7 April 1978) 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. He has been 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

South West Hertfordshire South West Hertfordshire is a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, represented since 2019 by Gagan Mohindra, a Conservative. Constituency profile Elevated and bordering Greater London and Buckinghamshire, this part of Her ...

since the 2019 general election.

Early life

Mohindra was born into a

Punjabi Hindu Punjabi Hindus are adherents of Hinduism who identify linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Punjabis. While Punjabi Hindus are mostly found in the Indian state of Punjab today, many have ancestry from the greater Punjab region ...

family in 1978. Mohindra's parents were both from

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

, India, and immigrated to the United Kingdom before Mohindra was born. His paternal grandfather served in the

British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...

. Mohindra was raised as a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

. Mohindra read

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

and worked in financial services, before founding the Chromex Group four years after graduating, where he worked until 2015. The last filed accounts of the company show liabilities of £1.4 million.

Political career

Mohindra was elected as councillor for the Grange Hill Ward of the

Epping Forest District Council Epping may refer to: Places Australia * Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Epping railway station, Sydney * Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Epping Forest, Kearns, a ...

in May 2006, and has served as a councillor for the Chigwell and Loughton Broadway division on

Essex County Council Essex County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Essex in England. It has 75 councillors, elected from 70 divisions, and is currently controlled by the Conservative Party. The council meets at County Hall ...

since 2017. He continued in these roles, unpaid, after being elected to Parliament until 2021. Former MP for Ilford North, Lee Scott, succeeded Mohindra in his council seat. Mohindra was also previously Chairman of Essex Conservatives. He stood for the Conservative Party candidate in

North Tyneside North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It forms part of the greater Tyneside conurbation. North Tyneside Council is headquartered at Cobalt Park, Wallsend. North Tyneside is bordered b ...

at the 2010 general election and finished third in a traditionally strong Labour seat. He was also shortlisted to become MP for

Brentwood and Ongar Brentwood and Ongar is a constituency in Essex represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Alex Burghart, a Conservative, serving since September 2021 as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Apprenticeships and ...

in 2017, but lost the nomination to

Alex Burghart Michael Alex Burghart (born 7 September 1977) is a British politician, academic and former teacher who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Brentwood and Ongar since 2017. A member of the Conservative Party, he was formerly a special ad ...

. Mohindra was chosen as the Conservative candidate for

after former Justice Secretary

David Gauke David Michael Gauke (; born 8 October 1971) is a British political commentator, solicitor and former politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Hertfordshire from 2005 to 2019. He served in the Cabinet under Theresa May, mo ...

lost the whip for voting to block a

no-deal Brexit A no-deal Brexit (also called clean break BrexitBBC. (2019)''Brexit: Jargon-busting guide to the key terms'' (BBC) Retrieved 29 March 2019.) was the potential withdrawal of the UK from the European Union (EU) without a withdrawa ...

. Mohindra was one of 15 MPs of Indian origin elected at the 2019 general election. He is a member of the

Conservative Friends of India The Conservative Friends of India is linked to the Conservative Party in the UK, and is a membership organization which engages with the British Indian community and played a significant role in the Conservative campaign in the 2019 general electi ...

, a group within the Conservative Party. In 2020, Mohindra was appointed to the Public Accounts Committee. In October 2020, Mohindra voted against the opposition motion to provide free school meals to children during school holidays. In May 2022, during the cost-of-living crisis, Mohindra voted against a motion that could have helped struggling families by taxing high-earning gas megacorporations. On 13 June 2022, Mohindra was appointed

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 ...

Priti Patel Priti Sushil Patel (born 29 March 1972) is a British politician who served as Home Secretary from 2019 to 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she was Secretary of State for International Development from 2016 to 2017. Patel has been the Me ...

, the

home secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

References

External links

* 1978 births Living people UK MPs 2019–present Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of Parliament for South West Hertfordshire Members of Essex County Council British politicians of Indian descent {{UK-MP-2019-stub