Michelle Emma May Elizabeth Donelan (born 8 April 1984) is a British politician who has served as

Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport The secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, also referred to as the culture secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for strategy and policy across the Department f ...

since September 2022. She previously served as

Minister of State for Higher and Further Education The Minister of State for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education, formerly the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Skills, Further and Higher Education, previously the Minister of State for Universities, is a mid-level position in ...

from 2020 to 2022, and

Secretary of State for Education The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. ...

for two days during the July 2022 UK government crisis. 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 has been

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

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

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 ...

Early life and education

Michelle Emma May Elizabeth Donelan was born in April 1984 and grew up in Whitley,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. At the age of 15, Donelan spoke at the

Conservative Party Conference The Conservative Party Conference (CPC) is a four-day national conference event held by the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. It takes place every year around October during the British party conference season, when the House of Commons is ...

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, having decided to be a politician at the age of six. Donelan was educated at

The County High School, Leftwich The County High School, Leftwich, is a coeducational secondary school with academy status, for students between 11 and 16 years of age, in Leftwich, Cheshire, England. History The school was established in 1957 as the Northwich County Gr ...

, before graduating from the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in history and politics. While at university, she was involved in

York Student Television York Student Television (abbreviated YSTV) is England's oldest student television station. Founded in 1967, the station is based at the University of York, with its studio in James College. YSTV once held the world record for longest continuo ...

Career

Michelle Donelan with Liz Truss (20575746519)

Before the election of 2015, Donelan's career outside politics was in marketing, including a time working on ''

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on wo ...

'' magazine and for

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

(WWE). She subsequently stood for parliament at the 2010 general election in the safe

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

seat of Wentworth and Dearne in

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

, receiving 7,396 votes (17.6%) to Labour MP John Healey's 21,316 (50.6%). She was then selected as the prospective parliamentary candidate for

in February 2013. In Wiltshire, the constituency includes the market towns of

Bradford on Avon Bradford-on-Avon (sometimes Bradford on Avon or Bradford upon Avon) is a town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, near the border with Somerset, which had a population of 9,402 at the 2011 census. The town's canal, historic buildings, s ...

Corsham Corsham is a historic market town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south-eastern edge of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 national route, southwest of Swindon, southeast of Bristol, northeast of Bath and southwest o ...

and

Melksham Melksham () is a town on the River Avon in Wiltshire, England, about northeast of Trowbridge and south of Chippenham. At the 2011 census, the Melksham built-up area had a population of 19,357, making it Wiltshire's fifth-largest settlement af ...

, and the surrounding rural areas. After her selection at Chippenham, she became a trustee of Help Victims of Domestic Violence, a charitable organisation based in the town and a member of the Steering Group of Wiltshire Carers. She defeated incumbent

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 ...

member

Duncan Hames Duncan John Hames (born 16 June 1977) is a Director of Policy at Transparency International UK and a former Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Chippenham constituency in Wiltshire from 2010 to 2015. Betwe ...

with 26,354 votes (47.6%) to 16,278 (29.4%). Donelan served on the

Education Select Committee The Education Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Education and any ass ...

between 2015 and 2018. Before the 2016 referendum, Donelan supported the UK remaining within 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 des ...

. In June 2017, Donelan was re-elected as MP for Chippenham with 31,267 votes (54.7%), a majority of 16,630 over the 14,637 Liberal Democrat candidate (25.6%). Donelan was appointed an assistant

whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

in 2018 and a government whip in July 2019. In September 2019, she was appointed parliamentary under-secretary for children to cover maternity leave for

Kemi Badenoch Olukemi Olufunto Badenoch ( ; née Adegoke, 2 January 1980) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for International Trade, President of the Board of Trade and Minister for Women and Equalities since 2022. She previously served in ...

. In the December 2019 general election, Donelan was re-elected with 30,994 votes (54.3%), a majority of 11,288 over the 19,706 Liberal Democrat votes (34.5%). In the February 2020 cabinet reshuffle, she became

Minister of State for Universities The Minister of State for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education, formerly the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Skills, Further and Higher Education, previously the Minister of State for Universities, is a mid-level position in ...

. , her responsibilities included universities and co-chairing the Family Justice Board, which oversees the performance of the family justice system and is advised by the

Family Justice Council The Family Justice Council, established in 2004, is an advisory, non-statutory, non-departmental public body sponsored by the Judicial Office of England and Wales. It provides independent expert advice, from an inter-disciplinary perspective, on ...

. In the 2021 cabinet reshuffle, her role was renamed

, with the added right to attend cabinet. She was also sworn into the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. Donelan initially backed

Nadhim Zahawi Nadhim Zahawi ( ar, ناظم الزهاوي, translit=Nāẓim az-Zahāwī; ku, نەدیم زەهاوی, translit=Nedîm Zehawî; born 2 June 1967) is an Iraqi-born British politician serving as Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister ...

in the July-September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, switching her endorsement to

Liz Truss Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician who briefly served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. On her fiftieth day in office, she stepped down ...

after Zahawi was eliminated from the race. After Truss resigned, she 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 October 2022 leadership election.

Secretary of State for Education

On 5 July 2022, in the wake of a large number of resignations from 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 ...

over

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 ...

's handling of the

Chris Pincher scandal The Chris Pincher scandal is a political controversy in the United Kingdom related to allegations of sexual misconduct by the former Conservative Party Deputy Chief Whip, Chris Pincher. In early July 2022, allegations of Pincher's misconduct ...

and other political scandals, Donelan, who was then serving as Parliamentary Under-secretary of State for State for Skills, Further and Higher Education (previously named Minister of State for Higher and Further Education during her tenure) was promoted to

, after her predecessor

was appointed

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...

. On 7 July 2022, after less than 36 hours in the role, Donelan resigned as Secretary of State, writing that Johnson had "put us in an impossible position". She was the shortest-serving cabinet member in British history, her tenure being shorter than Earl Temple's four-day tenure as

Foreign Secretary The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...

in 1783. Following reports she would receive severance pay at Secretary of State level despite her short tenure, Donelan refused this payment.

Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Donelan was appointed

on 7 September 2022 by then prime minister

. Rishi Sunak succeeded Truss following the October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, and Donelan retained her position in the cabinet.

Personal life

Donelan is married to Tom Turner, whose family firm Stronghold Global supplies government bodies including the

Department of Health and Social Care The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for government policy on health and adult social care matters in England, along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwis ...

Honours

She was appointed a member of the

on 20 September 2021 at

Balmoral Castle Balmoral Castle () is a large estate house in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and a residence of the British royal family. It is near the village of Crathie, west of Ballater and west of Aberdeen. The estate and its original castle were bought ...

. This appointment gave her the honorific prefix "

The Right Honourable ''The Right Honourable'' ( abbreviation: ''Rt Hon.'' or variations) is an honorific style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations. The term is ...

Notes

References

External links

* * ''(Known as Minister of State for Universities 2020–2021)'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Donelan, Michelle 1984 births Alumni of the University of York Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Living people Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Chippenham People from Cheshire People from Chippenham UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present 21st-century British women politicians Ministers for Universities (United Kingdom) 21st-century English women 21st-century English people Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom British Secretaries of State for Education Female members of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom