Greg Hands

Gregory William Hands (born 14 November 1965) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chelsea and Fulham, previously Hammersmith and Fulham, since 2005. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as Minister of State for Trade Policy since 2022, previously holding the office twice, from 2016 to 2018 and from 2020 to 2021. Hands also served as Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth from 2021 to 2022.

Hands has been the MP for Chelsea and Fulham since 2010; the constituency was created that year by the splitting of the former constituencies of Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham. Prior to these boundary changes, he served as the MP for the Hammersmith and Fulham constituency from 2005.

Hands served in Prime Minister David Cameron's Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2015 until 2016. He voted for the UK to remain in the European Union (EU) during the 2016 Brexit referendum. Following the 2016 referendum vote to leave the EU and Cameron's consequent resignation, Hands was demoted by newly appointed Prime Minister Theresa May to a junior ministerial position at the Department for International Trade. Following the 2017 general election, Hands retained his position as Minister of State for Trade and Investment but also undertook the Minister for London role, replacing Gavin Barwell who lost his seat. Hands resigned in 2018, citing his opposition to the proposed expansion of Heathrow Airport, but returned to the position as Minister of State for Trade Policy in February 2020 under Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

In September 2021, Hands was appointed Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth. On 6 September 2022, he left that position and briefly returned to the backbenches before being appointed by Prime Minister Liz Truss as the Minister of State for Trade Policy on 9 October 2022.

Early life and career

Hands was born on 14 November 1965 to British parents in New York City. He lived in the United States until he was seven years old and his family moved back to the UK. He was educated at state schools in England; according to his website, "the family was constantly on the move, due to the Labour Government of 1974–1979 closing down grammar schools". Hands completed his secondary education at Dr Challoner's Grammar School, Amersham in 1984.

During his gap year he worked in a swimming pool in Berlin; he became interested in the Eastern Bloc, visiting Prague and other Eastern European cities on future holidays.

He went on to attend Robinson College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a first in Modern History in 1989. He joined the Conservative Party as a student, served as the chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association, and was on the Executive Committee of the Cambridge University Students' Union.

Hands spent eight years after university in banking. He worked on trading floors in derivatives at the City of London and New York City until 1997.

Political career

Hands was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in 1998. He became the leader of the Conservative group in 1999, remaining in that capacity until 2003.

In opposition

Hands stood down as councillor for the Town ward in Fulham at the local elections in 2006, having been elected to the House of Commons at the 2005 general election when he gained Hammersmith and Fulham from the Labour Party with a majority of 5,029 votes. The sitting Labour MP Iain Coleman retired due to ill-health, and was replaced as Labour's candidate by Melanie Smallman. During March 2010, the ''Daily Mirror'' reported that Lord Ashcroft donated over £42,000 to fund Hands's 2005 campaign in Hammersmith and Fulham.

Hands made his maiden speech on 26 May 2005, in which he referred to the fact that the BBC
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