Nicholas Francis Markham, Baron Markham, (born 13 February 1968) is chair of

London & Continental Railways London and Continental Railways (LCR) is a property development company owned by the Government of the United Kingdom for developing former railway land. The company was originally established in 1994 as a private consortium to own European Pa ...

. He is the co-founder of COVID-19 testing company Cignpost Diagnostics & ExpressTest, a

non-executive director A non-executive director (abbreviated to non-exec, NED or NXD), independent director or external director is a member of the board of directors of a corporation, such as a company, cooperative or non-government organization, but not a member of th ...

of Inchora Limited, and 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 ...

. He has been serving as

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 ...

in 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 otherw ...

since 2022.

Early life

Markham was born in Haywards Heath. The son of advertising executive and Goodwood racecourse director Peter Jones,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, and nurse Judy Markham, he has four siblings. Markham attended Downlands Comprehensive School in Sussex, then studied A Levels at Haywards Heath Sixth Form College. He attended the

London School of Economics and Political Science The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

(LSE) from 1986 to 1989 and earned a bachelor's degree in economics. He is a keen tennis, football (notably representing Westminster Casuals FC), and

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

player and has always been passionate about politics, making the Conservative Society the biggest political club at LSE. He was selected to stand for

Westminster City Council Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors. The council is currently composed of 31 Labour Party members and 23 Cons ...

whilst still a student, and in 1990, aged 22, he was elected as the youngest councillor, and became the youngest chair of education, aged 25, and deputy leader and chair of finance, aged 27.

DWP

In July 2020 he was appointed Lead

Non-executive director A non-executive director (abbreviated to non-exec, NED or NXD), independent director or external director is a member of the board of directors of a corporation, such as a company, cooperative or non-government organization, but not a member of th ...

for

, where he works closely with the Secretary of State and the Permanent Secretary advising the department on how best to implement policies. In particular he utilises his housing experience to ensure the department provides best value for its £25 billion per annum housing benefit spend.

COVID-19

At the beginning of the pandemic, he set up a charity, Project Little Boat, to deliver PPE and other essential equipment, with Denis Kinane. Markham then co-founded Cignpost Diagnostics with Denis Kinane and Steve Whatley and is the Commercial Lead responsible for building the business. Cignpost has worked with elite sports, film production, travel and banking sectors to ensure they have a safe

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

-free working environment and under the consumer brand ExpressTest, to help the public travel safely.

Career

Markham is chairman of London & Continental Railways which is the government specialist for regeneration around railways including Kings Cross and the Stratford Olympic site. He is setting up a shared ownership solution, AnyNest, with housing charity Safe Haven, helping people onto the

housing ladder The term property ladder, widely used in the United Kingdom, describes the relative differences in constant terms from cheaper to more expensive housing. According to this metaphor, an individual or a family can progress by stages from more aff ...

. Previously he was the lead non-executive director for 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 department of His Majesty's Government responsible for housing, communities, local government i ...

since January 2013, where he also chaired the Audit and Risk Committee. He was strategy director at

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

where he led the merger integration of Carlton Television (now

ITV London ITV London is the on-air brand name used by ''ITV Broadcasting Limited'' for two broadcast franchises of ITV, Carlton Television (weekdays) and London Weekend Television (weekends) in the London ITV region. Its terrestrial digital signal is ...

) and

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

and developed the concept of

Freeview Freeview may refer to: * Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia * Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), ...

alongside the BBC. From 1990 to 1998, Markham was a councillor and deputy leader of

. He also chaired Inview Technology Ltd and was CFO for

Laura Ashley Laura Ashley (née Mountney; 7 September 1925 – 17 September 1985) was a Welsh fashion designer and businesswoman. She originally made furnishing materials in the 1950s, expanding the business into clothing design and manufacture in the 1960s ...

where he led the financial restructuring of the business. He was chief executive of Top Up TV, which supplied a range of linear pay TV channels on DTT including

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

1, 2 and

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

and which provides conditional-access modules (CAMs) and technical services to

BT Vision BT TV is a subscription IPTV service offered by BT; a division of United Kingdom telecommunications company BT Group, and was originally launched as BT Vision in December 2006. As of the end of June 2019, BT TV had 1.9 million customers. ...

. According to the Government website

Gov.uk gov.uk (styled on the site as GOV.UK) is a United Kingdom public sector information website, created by the Government Digital Service to provide a single point of access to HM Government services. The site launched as a beta on 31 January 2012, ...

''Top Up TV was the first successful pay TV operator on digital terrestrial television in the world''. Markham was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to the economy and government. On 22 September 2022, he was appointed

in the

. On 7 October 2022, to facilitate his ministerial role, he was created Baron Markham, ''of East Horsley in the County of Surrey'', and was introduced to 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 ...

on 10 October 2022. He sits as a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

peer. His was the first life peerage created during

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person t ...

's reign.

Personal life

Markham lives in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

with wife Dr Ingrid Batista and their son Xavi. He also has two older children Ben and Sam.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Markham, Nick 1968 births Living people British business executives Railway executives People from Haywards Heath Alumni of the London School of Economics British businesspeople Councillors in the City of Westminster Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Conservative Party (UK) life peers Life peers created by Charles III