Kelly Jane Tolhurst (born 23 August 1978) is a British politician who has served 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
Rochester and Strood
Rochester and Strood is a constituency in Kent represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Kelly Tolhurst, a Conservative. Since 2022, she has served as Government Deputy Chief Whip and Treasurer of the Household ...
since
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
. A member of the
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 ...
, she served as
Minister of State for Schools and Childhood
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing, formerly the Minister of State for Schools and Childhood is a junior ministerial position in the Department for Education, previously the Department for Children, Sc ...
from September to October 2022.
Tolhurst previously served as
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Rough Sleeping and Housing from 2020 to 2021,
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Aviation and Maritime in 2020 and
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Small Business, Consumers and Corporate Responsibility from 2018 to 2020 and was briefly
Deputy Chief Whip
The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes.
United Kingdom
...
in 2022. She is a former councillor for the Rochester West ward on
Medway Council
Medway Council is the local authority of Medway in Kent, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined.
The council was created on 1 April 1998 and replaced Rochester-upon-Med ...
.
Early life
Tolhurst was born in
Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
** History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison ...
; her father was a local boat builder, Morris Tolhurst. She was educated locally at Chapter High School. From 2008, she ran a marine survey business, called Tolhurst Associates, with her father, with employment in marketing previous to this point.
Political career
Tolhurst was elected to the Rochester West ward on
Medway Council
Medway Council is the local authority of Medway in Kent, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined.
The council was created on 1 April 1998 and replaced Rochester-upon-Med ...
in 2011 and served as a councillor until 2018 when she resigned. In the by-election for the ward that followed in March 2018, the seat was taken by the Labour candidate Alex Paterson. She was selected to contest the
2014 Rochester and Strood by-election which was triggered by the defection of
Mark Reckless
Mark John Reckless (born 6 December 1970) is a British politician who served as a Member of the Senedd (MS) for South Wales East from 2016 until 2021, having previously served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rochester and Strood from 2010 to ...
to
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 pa ...
. Tolhurst lost the by-election, held on 20 November 2014, but regained the seat for the Conservatives at the
2015 general election six months later, securing a majority of over 7,000. She was re-elected in 2017.
Tolhurst has served on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, the European Scrutiny Committee and the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee. She was made an assistant government whip during the
reshuffle on 9 January 2018.
Tolhurst was appointed the
at the
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is a department of His Majesty's Government. The department was formed during a machinery of government change on 14 July 2016, following Theresa May's appointment as Prime ...
on 19 July 2018.
In February 2020, Tolhurst was appointed as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport at the
Department for Transport
The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...
, succeeding
Nus Ghani
Nusrat Munir Ul-Ghani (born 1 September 1972) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Wealden in East Sussex since 2015. She is serving as Minister of State in the Department for Business, Energy ...
who had been relieved of ministerial responsibilities. Tolhurst garnered criticism in March 2020 after commenting in the House of Commons that the government were not responsible for "propping up" airlines as a result of the collapse of
Flybe
Flybe (pronounced ), styled as flybe, is a British airline based at Birmingham Airport, England.
History
The airline traces its history back to Jersey European Airways, which was set up in 1979 following the merger of Intra Airways and Expres ...
.
Tolhurst campaigned to remain in the European Union prior to the
2016 referendum.
Tolhurst was appointed as the
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government and Homelessness at the
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of Government of the United King ...
in September 2020, replacing
Luke Hall, who had in turn replaced
Simon Clarke in a different position in the same department. She resigned from this position in January 2021 after receiving "devastating family news".
On 1 July 2022, Tolhurst was appointed
Government Deputy Chief Whip and Treasurer of the Household by Prime Minister
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 ...
, following the resignation of
Chris Pincher
Christopher John Pincher (born 24 September 1969) is a British independent politician and a Conservative Party member, who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamworth since 2010. Pincher previously served as Government Deputy Chief Wh ...
.
On 7 September 2022, she was appointed
Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...
in the
Department for Education
The Department for Education (DfE) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for child protection, child services, education (compulsory, further and higher education), apprenticeships and wider skills in England.
A Department ...
.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tolhurst, Kelly
1978 births
Conservative Party (UK) councillors
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Councillors in Kent
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
Living people
People from Rochester, Kent
Politics of Medway
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
Women councillors in England