Jacob Young (born 2 February 1993) 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 serving as Assistant Government Whip since September 2022. He was elected as 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

Redcar Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located east of Middlesbrough. The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdivision had a population of ...

at the 2019 general election. He is the first Conservative MP to represent the constituency.

Early life and career

Young was born in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

as the son of Terrence Anthony Young and Elizabeth Anne Young. He grew up in a working-class family in Middlesbrough, and has six siblings. Young attended

Macmillan Academy Macmillan Academy is an academy in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. The school was founded in 1989 as the Macmillan City Technology College, one of the first of 15 City Technology Colleges established in England. Its initial sponsors we ...

, and then studied at the

Redcar & Cleveland College Redcar and Cleveland College is a further education college, based in Redcar, North Yorkshire, England. The college offers apprenticeship training as well as A-level, vocational and higher education courses. It is part of the Education Traini ...

and the TTE Technical Institute. After this, he obtained a

Higher National Certificate A Higher National Certificate (HNC), part of the Higher Nationals suite of qualifications, is a higher education/further education qualification in the United Kingdom. Overview In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the HNC is a BTEC qualificatio ...

in chemical engineering at

Teesside University , mottoeng = Deeds Not Words , established = 1930 – Constantine Technical College1969 – as Teesside Polytechnic 1992 – gained university status , type = Public , endowment = £0.23 m (2019/20) , chancellor ...

. Whilst at university, he joined the

. He then trained as an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

technician and worked as a process operator for Chemoxy International Ltd. Young later became a lead technician for a petrochemicals company. Through his church, Young was involved in a

food bank A food bank is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distribute food direc ...

and a centre of the charity

Christians Against Poverty Christians Against Poverty (CAP) is a Christian charitable company in the United Kingdom founded in Bradford, West Yorkshire by John Kirkby in 1996. It is a national organisation specialising in debt counselling for people in financial diff ...

. He described the approach towards poverty of the latter as a politically formative experience: "Christians Against Poverty was more about teaching people how to budget using the money that they had and how to pay back some of their debt over an extended period of time. That attitude drew me to the Conservatives – the idea that if you work hard and you want to succeed that you can."

Political career

Young stood as the Conservative candidate in the

constituency at the 2015 general election, but finished in fourth place behind the Labour Party,

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties See also *Liberal democracy *Lib ...

, and

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest p ...

candidates. He campaigned for

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 ...

prior to the

2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...

. At the 2017 general election, Young contested

, a

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district (constituency) in a legislative body (e.g. Congress, Parliament, City Council) which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combinat ...

for the Labour Party, and finished second to their incumbent MP, Andy McDonald. In the same year, Young was elected as the councillor for

Coulby Newham Coulby Newham is an area in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England, with a resident population of 10,700, measured at 8,967 (Coulby Newham Ward) at the 2011 Census. It is in the TS8 postcode. History Early Coulby Newham bega ...

ward on

Middlesbrough Council Middlesbrough Council, formerly known as Middlesbrough Borough Council, is a unitary authority based in Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire, England. The authority has combined some duties with its nearby councils to form the Tees Valley Combined ...

. He was the first Conservative councillor since the formation of the council as a unitary authority in 1996. In February 2019, he announced that he would be standing down from his council seat as he no longer lived in the town, and had moved to

Saltburn-by-the-Sea Saltburn-by-the-Sea, commonly referred to as Saltburn, is a seaside town in Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England, around south-east of Hartlepool and southeast of Redcar. It lies within the historic boundaries of the North Ridi ...

. In May, he stood as a candidate for one of the three council seats for Saltburn ward on the

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is the local authority of Redcar and Cleveland. It is a unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional fun ...

. He finished a close fourth. He was selected as the Conservative candidate for Redcar at the 2019 general election on 11 November that year. Young went on to be elected with a majority of 3,527 (8.7%), on a swing of 15.4% from Labour to the Conservatives. He is the first Conservative to represent the constituency. In a profile by '' GQ'' in February 2021, he was described as a "socially liberal" and "

Thatcherite Thatcherism is a form of British conservative ideology named after Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher that relates to not just her political platform and particular policies but also her personal character and general style of manag ...

". On 6 June 2022, after a vote of no confidence in the leadership of

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 ...

was called, Young announced that he would be supporting Johnson as he felt that he had "got the big calls right" on

, the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and the war in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, and added that he believed Johnson 'cares about

Teesside Teesside () is a built-up area around the River Tees in the north of England, split between County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name was initially used as a county borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Historically a hub for heavy manu ...

, I believe, more than any prime minster has in history.' Young resigned as

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 ...

for the

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for housing, communities, local government ...

on 6 July 2022, as part of the

July 2022 United Kingdom government crisis In early July 2022, 62 of the United Kingdom's 179 government ministers, parliamentary private secretaries, trade envoys, and party vice-chairmen resigned from their positions in the second administration formed by Boris Johnson as Prime Min ...

. He endorsed

Rishi Sunak Rishi Sunak (; born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party since October 2022. He previously held two Cabinet of ...

in the

July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election The July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election was triggered by Boris Johnson's announcement on 7 July 2022 that he would resign as Leader of the Conservative Party after a series of political controversies. The leadership ele ...

Personal life

Jacob Young married his partner on 8 April 2022. He is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Jacob 1993 births Living people Alumni of Teesside University UK MPs 2019–present Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies LGBT politicians from England LGBT members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom People from Middlesbrough Councillors in North East England Conservative Party (UK) councillors Gay politicians