Marcus Charles Jones (born 5 April 1974) is an English
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 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
Nuneaton since
2010. Previously he had been the Leader of
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council
Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth in northern Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire and West Midlands County.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's ...
. He has been serving as
Government Deputy Chief Whip and
Treasurer of the Household
The Treasurer of the Household is a member of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. The position is usually held by one of the government deputy Chief Whips in the House of Commons. The current holder of the office is Mar ...
since October 2022.
He was appointed
Minister of State for Housing
The Minister of State for Housing and Planning is a mid-level position in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in the British government. The position has been held by Lee Rowley since 8 September 2022.
The position was former ...
in the July
2022 British cabinet reshuffle. He served until September 2022.
Education and early career
Marcus Jones was born in Nuneaton on 5 April 1974 and has lived in the town all his life. He grew up in the suburb of
Whitestone and was educated at
St Thomas More Catholic School and
King Edward VI College. Before becoming and MP, he worked as a conveyancing manager at Tustain Jones & Co., solicitors in Coventry and Nuneaton.
Local government
Jones stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate in the Wem Brook ward of
Nuneaton and Bedworth Council in 2002 and 2004, before being elected in the Whitestone ward in 2005. He was Conservative group leader from 2006 to 2009. In 2008 Marcus became the first Conservative Leader of Nuneaton and Bedworth, in the council's 34-year history. He served as council leader and was also the council's portfolio holder for Finance and Civic Affairs from 2006 to 2009, before standing down to concentrate on his parliamentary campaign. Jones stood down before the local elections in May 2010 and the Conservatives retained his seat, although they lost control of the council.
House of Commons
Jones was first elected to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
in 2010, as the Member of Parliament for Nuneaton with a majority of 2,069 votes. His victory overturned a notional Labour majority of 3,850 and, as a result, he became the first Conservative MP for the town since 1992.
As an MP, Jones has campaigned for a
PFI rebate, and is a member of the PFI Rebate campaign of more than 80 MPs, from all three major parties, who have been calling for savings on PFI. Jones has stated that the PFI funding under which the University Hospital in Coventry was built and is now serviced has caused a substantial cost drag, and has put huge financial pressure on health services in Warwickshire.
Jones's voting record is and has been widely inline with the rest of the Conservative party's MP's, however, there are notable exceptions, for example, Jones has voted against
same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...
for
LGBT+
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is ...
people. Jones has also voted multiple times to repeal the Human Rights Act (1998) and voted against largely retaining the EU "Charter of Fundamental Rights" as part of UK law following the UK's withdrawal from the European Union.
Jones is Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Town Centres and is also an Ambassador the Federation of Small Businesses' Keep Trade Local campaign
In the general election in 2015 Nuneaton was Labour's target number 38, but Jones won the seat for a second time.
As of May 2015, Jones became
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the UK government, immediately junior to a Minister ...
at the
Department for 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 department of His Majesty's Government responsible for housing, communities, local governme ...
in the
first Cameron ministry
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
, the first Conservative Majority Government for 18 years.
In January 2016, in response to a proposed law that all rented houses should be fit for human habitation, he said: "New clause 52 would result in unnecessary regulation and cost to landlords which would deter further investment and push up rents for tenants. Of course we believe that all homes should be of a decent standard and all tenants should have a safe place to live regardless of tenure, but local authorities already have strong and effective powers to deal with poor quality and safe accommodation and we expect them to use them." He voted against the proposed law, but was not one of the 72 Conservative MPs who did so whilst also being landlords themselves.
In May 2016, it emerged that Jones was one of a number of Conservative MPs being investigated by police in the
, for allegedly spending more than the legal limit on constituency election campaign expenses. However, in May 2017, the Crown Prosecution Service said that while there was evidence of inaccurate spending returns, it did not "meet the test" for further action.
Jones was re-elected in the
2017 general election, and during the first
cabinet reshuffle
A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the Head of State changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parli ...
of the
second May ministry
The second May ministry was formed on 11 June 2017 after Theresa May returned to office following the June 2017 snap general election. The election resulted in a hung parliament with the Conservative Party losing its governing majority in the ...
, he was appointed Vice-Chair 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 ...
, with responsibility for Local Government.
He was again re-elected in the
2019 general election, with an increased majority of over 13,000 votes.
On 13 February 2020, Jones was appointed
Vice-Chamberlain of the Household (
Government Whip
A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology ...
) during a
cabinet reshuffle
A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the Head of State changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parli ...
. On 17 September 2021, he was appointed
Comptroller of the Household, a senior
Government Whip
A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology ...
, in the second
cabinet reshuffle
A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the Head of State changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parli ...
of the
second Johnson ministry
The second Johnson ministry began on 16 December 2019, three days after Boris Johnson's audience with Queen Elizabeth II where she invited him to form a new administration following the 2019 general election, in which the Conservative Party ...
.
In the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
, Jones sat on the Administration Committee and Backbench Business Committee, and currently serves on the Speakers Committee on the Electoral Commission.
On 8 July 2022, Jones was appointed as
Housing Minister A Housing minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for Housing Policy.
Country-related articles and lists
* Australia: Minister for Housing
** Victoria: Minister for Housing
** Western Australia: Minister for ...
following the resignation of
Stuart Andrew
Stuart James Andrew (born 25 November 1971) is a Welsh politician serving as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Sport, Tourism, Heritage and Civil Society since September 2022 and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Equalities s ...
during 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 ...
.
Personal life
Marcus Jones lives with his wife Suzanne and has two children.
See also
*
Nuneaton
*
Nuneaton and Bedworth
Nuneaton and Bedworth is a local government district with borough status, in northern Warwickshire, England, consisting of the towns of Nuneaton and Bedworth, the large village of Bulkington and the green belt land inbetween. It had a population ...
*
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 ...
*
Nuneaton Constituency
References
External links
Marcus Jones' Website*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Marcus
1974 births
Living people
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 2010–2015
UK MPs 2015–2017
UK MPs 2017–2019
Councillors in Warwickshire
UK MPs 2019–present
Leaders of local authorities of England