Miriam Jane Alice Davies (born 2 June 1975), known as Mims Davies, is a British Conservative Party politician serving 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 Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

(MP) for

Mid Sussex Mid Sussex is an area in the central part of Sussex. It may refer to: * Mid Sussex District, a local government district in West Sussex * Mid Sussex (UK Parliament constituency) * Mid Sussex Football League * Mid Sussex Times, a local newspaper * A ...

since 2019. She has been serving as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Social Mobility, Youth and Progression since October 2022. She served as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding from September to October 2022. Davies was first elected as the

(MP) for

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, ...

in May 2015. She was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Sport, Civil Society and Loneliness in

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cabi ...

's government from 2018 to 2019. After

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 ...

became Prime Minister in July 2019, Davies was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment at the

Department for Work and Pensions , type = Department , seal = , logo = Department for Work and Pensions logo.svg , logo_width = 166px , formed = , preceding1 = , jurisdiction = Government of the United Kingdom , headquarters = Caxton House7th Floor6–12 Tothill Stree ...

. She was elected in the 2019 election as the MP for

. She resigned as Employment Minister in July 2022, after losing confidence in Johnson's leadership.

Early life and career

Davies was educated at the Royal Russell School in London and Collyers Sixth Form College in Horsham, and studied Politics and International Relations at

Swansea University , former_names=University College of Swansea, University of Wales Swansea , motto= cy, Gweddw crefft heb ei dawn , mottoeng="Technical skill is bereft without culture" , established=1920 – University College of Swansea 1996 – University of Wa ...

; she was the first in her family to enter higher education. She worked primarily as a local radio presenter, reporter and producer. She later worked as a road safety communications officer with the Automobile Association, the

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest a ...

force and Sussex Safer Roads Partnership.

Political career

Davies served as a Conservative Party town councillor for Haywards Heath Town Council and as a District councillor on Mid Sussex District Council for the Haywards Heath Lucastes ward from 2011 to 2015. Davies was initially co-opted onto Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common Parish Council, which began her political involvement. At the 2015 general election on 7 May, Davies was elected as MP for

defeating Liberal Democrat incumbent Mike Thornton by over 9,000 votes. She was re-elected in the

2017 general election This national electoral calendar for 2017 lists the national/federal elections held in 2017 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 November ...

, increasing her share of the vote by 8.2% and receiving over half of the total votes in the constituency, the first

majority vote A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster1992 election. She campaigned for the UK to leave the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

during the 2016 referendum. Davies was appointed an Assistant Government Whip on 9 January 2018, and subsequently to the role of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales on 26 July 2018. 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. ...

she sat on the Commons Reference Group on Representation and Inclusion and previously sat on the Consolidation Bills (Joint Committee) and Women and Equalities Committee. On 23 October 2018, Davies resigned from a committee chaired by Commons Speaker

John Bercow John Simon Bercow (; born 19 January 1963) is a British former politician who was Speaker of the House of Commons from 2009 to 2019, and Member of Parliament (MP) for Buckingham between 1997 and 2019. A member of the Conservative Party prior ...

, citing lack of confidence in Bercow's ability to tackle bullying and sexual harassment problems in Parliament. On 5 November 2018, Davies was appointed Minister for Sport and Civil Society at the

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport , type = Department , logo = Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport logo.svg , logo_width = , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = Gove ...

, after the resignation of Tracey Crouch over a delay to the introduction of reduced limits on the stakes of fixed-odds betting terminals. In February 2019, in her role as Sports Minister, she called for an urgent summit with football leaders in order to address issues relating to abuse in the sport. She suggested there should be a zero tolerance approach to problems concerning racist, homophobic and antisemitic chanting. In May 2019, she attended the "End the cage age" event campaigning against caged birds. This event was organised by

Compassion in World Farming Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) is a campaigning and lobbying animal welfare organisation. It campaigns against the live export of animals, certain methods of livestock slaughter, and all systems of factory farming. It has received celebr ...

. Davies stated that she was against caged laying hens. In July 2019, new

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

appointed Davies to the position of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment at the

. On 30 October 2019, Davies announced she would be standing down as MP for Eastleigh in order to spend more time with her children and later announced she was to be on the shortlist for the

constituency, where Nicholas Soames was retiring. On 9 November, she was selected to stand for the seat, which she won at the 2019 general election with 53.3% of the vote. She resigned on 6 July 2022 from her position as Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions, losing confidence in Boris Johnson as a result of the Chris Pincher scandal.

Personal life

She was a carer to her two elderly parents before becoming an MP, and this experience informed a significant portion of her parliamentary work. She is a keen runner and has completed several long-distance races, including the 2017 London Marathon.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Mims 1975 births Conservative Party (UK) councillors Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Councillors in West Sussex People from Mid Sussex District Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Living people People educated at Royal Russell School Place of birth missing (living people) 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 British Eurosceptics