Ian Levy (born 14 February 1966) 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 as

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

Blyth Valley Blyth Valley was a local government district and borough in south-east Northumberland, England, bordering the North Sea and Tyne and Wear. The two principal towns were Blyth and Cramlington. Other population centres include Seaton Delaval, and ...

at the 2019 general election. He is the first Conservative to represent Blyth Valley since the constituency was created in 1950.

Early life and career

Levy left school at the age of 16 to become a grave digger. Prior to his election, Levy had worked as a healthcare assistant on an inpatient mental health rehabilitation ward in

St Nicholas Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne St Nicholas Hospital is an NHS psychiatric hospital located in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK. The entrance is located on Jubilee Road. The buildings range from Victorian-era to modern facilities and occupies of land. It is manage ...

Parliamentary career

He first contested the

constituency at the 2017 general election, in which incumbent Labour MP

Ronnie Campbell Ronald Campbell (born 14 August 1943) is a former British Labour Party politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Blyth Valley from 1987 until 2019. Early life Campbell was born in Tynemouth, and grew up with seven siblings. He atten ...

held his seat with a majority of 7,915. Levy was subsequently elected for the constituency at the 2019 general election with a majority of 712 votes. He was the first Conservative to represent the constituency since its creation in 1950. It had previously been a safe

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

seat. He had campaigned on returning passenger railway services to the area and for a relief road in Blyth, which is supported by

Transport for the North Transport for the North (TfN) is the first statutory sub-national transport body in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 2018 to make the case for strategic transport improvements across the North of England. Creating this body represented an ...

and other major highways improvements. Blyth's railway station had closed in 1964 as part of the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised British Rail, railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Develop ...

. After his election, he was accused of misleading the public, when the ''

Nursing Times ''Nursing Times'' is a website and monthly magazine for nurses, which is published in the United Kingdom. It covers original nursing research and best practice for nurses at all stages in their career, as well as daily news, opinion and other infor ...

'' reported his social media posts from the campaign, in which he said he had worked as a mental health nurse. The posts were later amended.

Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest mental health and disability Trusts in England employing more than 7,000 staff, serving a population of approximately 1.7 million, providing services across an ar ...

confirmed he had worked as a healthcare assistant. The term "nurse" is not legally protected so his posts had not violated the

Nurses Registration Act 1919 The Nurses Registration Act 1919 (9 & 10 Geo. 5 c. 94) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom It set up the General Nursing Council, and was the culmination of a long campaign led by Ethel Gordon Fenwick to establish a register of nurse ...

. Levy won the Newcomer of the Year award at ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' Parliamentarian of the Year Awards. In October 2020, Levy voted against a Labour motion to extend free school meals for eligible children until Easter 2021. He was criticised for this on social media. Levy also alleged that this included threats. He 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

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objecti ...

in April 2022. Levy supported

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 ...

's bid to return as PM in the

October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election The October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election was triggered by Liz Truss's announcement that she would resign as Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, amid an economic and political crisis. Rishi ...

Personal life

Levy is of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

descent. He is married and has two children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Levy, Ian (politician) 1966 births Living people UK MPs 2019–present Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Jewish British politicians