Nicola Jane Aiken (née Durbin; born 4 February 1969) is a British

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 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 of ...

(MP) for Cities of London and Westminster since

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. She was the leader of

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 ...

from 2017 to 2020.

Early life

Born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Aiken is the daughter of John and Pamela Durbin. She was educated at

Radyr Comprehensive School Radyr Comprehensive School () is an 11–18 mixed comprehensive school and sixth form college in Radyr, Cardiff, Wales that was established in 1972. The current roll is around 1,295 students, with around 280 of those in the sixth form. The sch ...

, Cardiff and the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a public university , public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Min ...

, from which she graduated with a BA (Honours) in Sociology in 1991.

Career

Aiken first moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1997. From 2001 to 2009, she was head of public relations at Bradford & Bingley plc. In

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, she was elected 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 i ...

councillor for

, representing Warwick ward, a

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district (constituency) in a legislative body (e.g. Congress, Parliament, City Council) which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combinat ...

for her party covering an area in

Pimlico Pimlico () is an area of Central London in the City of Westminster, built as a southern extension to neighbouring Belgravia. It is known for its garden squares and distinctive Regency architecture. Pimlico is demarcated to the north by London V ...

. She remained a councillor until she stood down at the 2022 election. Aiken held various positions on the Council, including the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Public Protection & Licensing and the leader of Council from January 2017 to January 2020. From 2015 to 2018, Aiken was a board member of the Child and Family Court Advisory and Support Service. She was also a trustee of the board of

The Royal Parks The Royal Parks of London are lands that were originally used for the recreation, mostly hunting, of the royal family. They are part of the hereditary possessions of The Crown, now managed by The Royal Parks Limited, a charity which manages ...

(2017–20). Aiken voted to remain in 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 the 2016 referendum. She later supported

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 not ...

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 ...

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 or ...

withdrawal deal in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, and voted in favour of the Internal Market Bill in 2020.

Member of Parliament

She was selected as the Conservative Party's candidate for the

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...

seat of Cities of London and Westminster to fight the 2019 general election. In early December 2019, Aiken left

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

, calling it "toxic". She has since returned to the social networking site. At that election, Aiken defeated the Labour Party's Gordon Nardell and

Chuka Umunna Chuka Harrison Umunna (; born 17 October 1978) is a British retired politician who served as Member of Parliament (UK), Member of Parliament (MP) for Streatham (UK Parliament constituency), Streatham from 2010 United Kingdom general election, ...

, the

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 ...

candidate who had left the Labour Party in protest against

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

's leadership. She received 3,953 more votes than her nearest competitor, Umunna. This represented a decrease in the majority held by the constituency's previous MP. In Parliament, she was a member of the

Women and Equalities Committee The Women and Equalities Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was established following the 2015 general election to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Governm ...

until September 2020. She was appointed vice chairman of the Conservative Party in October 2020, with responsibility for women. Aiken has pushed for legislation on child safety. She has urged the Tories to increase assistance for private renters. In June 2021 she joined the Monken Hadley Common Bill Unopposed Bill Committee. Outside of politics, Aiken is a company director at Sprucespace Property Management. She has worked for the

Public Relations and Communications Association The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) is a trade association for the public relations sector in the United Kingdom. The association lobbies on behalf of its member companies and also provides a forum for sharing information. ...

in media relations and crisis communications.

Personal life

Aiken has lived in

for over twenty years, and prior to that, lived in the

Barbican A barbican (from fro, barbacane) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer fortifications, defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes. Europe ...

. She lists her recreations as "walking". She married Alexander Stuart Aiken in 2000. Since 2013, he has been executive director of government communications at the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objecti ...

for the

UK Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

. From 2000 to 2012, he was director of communications and strategy for Westminster City Council, whilst his wife was a councillor there. Before that, he worked for the Conservative Party as head of its campaigns unit and its press office. The couple have a son and daughter.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aiken, Nickie 1969 births Living people UK MPs 2019–present Alumni of the University of Exeter Conservative Party (UK) councillors Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Councillors in the City of Westminster 21st-century British women politicians Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Leaders of local authorities of England Politicians from Cardiff 21st-century British women 21st-century British people Women councillors in England