Mark Peter Fletcher (born 29 September 1985) is a British 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 bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
(MP) for
Bolsover
Bolsover is a market town and the administrative centre of the Bolsover District, Derbyshire, England. It is from London, from Sheffield, from Nottingham and from Derby. It is the main town in the Bolsover district.
The civil parish for th ...
since 2019. He is a member of the
Conservative Party.
Early life
Fletcher grew up in
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
,
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and metropolitan county, metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of City of Doncaster, Doncaster and City of Sh ...
, attending
Ridgewood School
Ridgewood School is a coeducational secondary school with academy status in Scawsby, Doncaster, England. The school gained academy status in October 2011, and was a specialist Engineering College prior to September 2015.
Catchment area
The S ...
. The first in his family to go to university, he studied
land economy
In economics, land comprises all naturally occurring resources as well as geographic land. Examples include particular geographical locations, mineral deposits, forests, fish stocks, atmospheric quality, geostationary orbits, and portions of th ...
at
Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...
, and was president of the
Cambridge University Students' Union
Cambridge Students' Union, known as Cambridge SU, is the university-wide representative body for students at the University of Cambridge, England. Its predecessor union was known as Cambridge University Students' Union or CUSU until its dissolu ...
.
Career
Fletcher worked in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...
as the chief of staff to the
prime minister's trade envoy to Uganda and Rwanda,
Dolar Popat,
as well as for the private healthcare company Synergix Health.
At the
2015 general election he stood in the
Doncaster North
Doncaster North is a constituency in South Yorkshire, England, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Ed Miliband of the Labour Party. From 2010 until 2015, he was Leader of the Opposition before he lost the 20 ...
constituency against
Labour party Leader Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliban ...
. Two years later, Fletcher was the candidate in
Stockton North, where he achieved an 8.5% increase in the Conservative vote share but lost nonetheless.
Fletcher also contested the local government elections in May 2018 for
Tower Hamlets London Borough Council
Tower Hamlets London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in Greater London, England. The council is unusual in that its executive function is controlled by a directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets, cur ...
, coming second out of three Conservative candidates in the diverse three-member ward of
Whitechapel
Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...
. He gained 274 votes.
Fletcher was chosen as the candidate for
Bolsover
Bolsover is a market town and the administrative centre of the Bolsover District, Derbyshire, England. It is from London, from Sheffield, from Nottingham and from Derby. It is the main town in the Bolsover district.
The civil parish for th ...
in the
2019 general election. He defeated incumbent
Labour politician
Dennis Skinner
Dennis Edward Skinner (born 11 February 1932) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolsover for 49 years, from 1970 to 2019. He is a member of the Labour Party.
Known for his left-wing views and acerbic w ...
, who had held the seat since the
1970 general election. Fletcher was one of two former
Tower Hamlets
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough covering much of the traditional East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar, and Bethnal Green. 'Tower Hamlets' was originally ...
2018 Conservative council candidates to have won a marginal seat in the 2019 election, the other being
Gedling
Gedling is a village in the Gedling district, in Nottinghamshire, England, four miles northeast of Nottingham city centre. The population at the 2011 census of the ward was 6,817 and 111,787 for the district. Gedling was recorded in the Dome ...
's
Tom Randall, who had stood in
Canary Wharf
Canary Wharf is an area of London, England, located near the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Canary Wharf is defined by the Greater London Authority as being part of London's central business district, alongside Central Lon ...
ward.
Fletcher was involved in an effort to reopen a disused railway line in
Ashfield District
Ashfield () is a local government district in Nottinghamshire, England.
The population of Ashfield was
127,200 in 2018. The district is mostly urban and forms part of both the Nottingham and Mansfield Urban Areas. There are three towns in t ...
.
Fletcher resigned from his position as
Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy following the
Chris Pincher scandal, stating in his resignation letter that he was the MP who reported Pincher to the
chief whip. On 26 September 2022 Fletcher was appointed PPS to
Kwasi Kwarteng
Akwasi Addo Alfred Kwarteng (born 26 May 1975) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Spelthorne (UK Parliament constituency), S ...
, the
chancellor of the Exchequer.
Political views
Fletcher is a supporter of
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 ...
, voting to leave the European Union in the
2016 referendum.
Fletcher has been critical of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. The coverage of Brexit was borderline farcical, wall-to-wall coverage of anti-British stories and negativity".
Fletcher is openly gay.
He is married to Will Knock.