Paul John Holmes (born 25 August 1988) 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

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

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, o ...

since 2019.

Early life

Holmes was born at

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

, London, on 25 August 1988, to John Edward Holmes and Sandra Holmes. He grew up on the Bellingham council estate in

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...

. Holmes attended Elfrida Primary School in Bellingham and Kelsey Park Sports College in Beckenham.

Career

While a second-year student of Politics and International Relations at the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

, Holmes was elected as a Conservative councillor in the

2008 Southampton City Council election The 2008 Southampton Council election took place on 1 May 2008 to elect members of Southampton Unitary Council in Hampshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative Party gained overall control of the council fr ...

, representing the Redbridge ward, a seat he gained from the Labour Party. He served on Southampton City Council as Chair of the Planning Committee and Cabinet Member for Education and Social Services. Holmes stood down at the 2012 council election. Holmes worked as a parliamentary researcher to

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

Stephen Hammond Stephen William Hammond (born 4 February 1962) is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wimbledon since 2005. On 4 September 2012, Hammond was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Sta ...

from 2011 to 2015. From 2015 to 2016, he was an account manager at

Portland Communications Portland Communications is a political consultancy and public relations agency set up in 2001 by Tim Allan, a former adviser to Tony Blair and Director of Communications at BSkyB. In 2012 a majority stake in Portland was purchased by Omnicom. ...

. He unsuccessfully contested

Mitcham and Morden Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. I ...

, 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 the Labour Party, at the 2015 general election, and the more

marginal Marginal may refer to: * ''Marginal'' (album), the third album of the Belgian rock band Dead Man Ray, released in 2001 * ''Marginal'' (manga) * '' El Marginal'', Argentine TV series * Marginal seat or marginal constituency or marginal, in polit ...

Labour-held

Southampton Test Southampton Test is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Alan Whitehead, a member of the Labour Party. History The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, when the previous two-m ...

at 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 ...

. He worked as a special adviser (SpAd) to

Conservative Party Chairman The chairman of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom is responsible for party administration and overseeing the Conservative Campaign Headquarters, formerly Conservative Central Office. When the Conservatives are in government, the offic ...

and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

Patrick McLoughlin Patrick Allen McLoughlin, Baron McLoughlin, (born 30 November 1957) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he first became the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Derbyshire following the 1986 by-election. The constituen ...

between 2016 and 2017, before becoming Special Adviser to

Damian Green Damian Howard Green (born 17 January 1956) is a British politician who served as First Secretary of State and Minister for the Cabinet Office from June to December 2017 in the Second May government. A member of the Conservative Party, he has b ...

, the first secretary of state and

minister for the Cabinet Office The Minister for the Cabinet Office is a position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The minister is responsible for the work and policies of the Cabinet Office, and since February 2022, reports to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lan ...

. Holmes remained in this role until Green's resignation from Government. He then worked as SpAd to the secretary of state for education,

Damian Hinds Damian Patrick George Hinds (born 27 November 1969) is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Prisons, Parole and Probation since October 2022. He served as Secretary of State for Education from 2018 to 2019 and Minister of Stat ...

, in 2018, and became head of public affairs at

Clarion Housing Group Clarion Housing Group is the largest housing association in the United Kingdom with 125,000 properties across more than 170 local authorities. Clarion Provides a home to over 350,000 people. Clarion is based in Southwark and was formed in ...

in the same year. Holmes was elected to Parliament in 2019, succeeding Conservative

Mims Davies Miriam Jane Alice Davies (born 2 June 1975), known as Mims Davies, is a British Conservative Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Sussex since 2019. She has been serving as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State fo ...

, who had stood down as MP for Eastleigh before later being selected to represent

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 ...

. He was elected to serve on the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee until January 2021, and the

Select Committee on Statutory Instruments The Select Committee on Statutory Instruments is a Select committee (United Kingdom), select committee of the British House of Commons, House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to scrutinise statutor ...

, which he continues to serve on. In January 2021, he was appointed as

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

to the Home Office ministerial team. On 20 September 2021, Holmes was promoted to PPS to the home secretary

Priti Patel Priti Sushil Patel (born 29 March 1972) is a British politician who served as Home Secretary from 2019 to 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she was Secretary of State for International Development from 2016 to 2017. Patel has been the Me ...

. He resigned from this position on 27 May 2022, over concerns around "toxic culture" at the heart of Government following the publication of the

Sue Gray report Partygate was a political scandal in the United Kingdom about parties and other gatherings of Government of the United Kingdom, government and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party staff held during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United ...

. Holmes was appointed Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party with responsibility for policy in November 2022 following Rishi Sunak forming a Government.

Personal life

Holmes currently lives in

Hedge End Hedge End is a town and civil parish in Hampshire, England. Situated to the east of the City of Southampton, it adjoins the districts of West End and Botley. Hedge End lies within the Borough of Eastleigh and is part of the Southampton Urban ...

. He lists his recreations as " real ale, cooking, aviation", and is a member of the Southern Parishes Conservative club.

References

External links

* * 1988 births Living people Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 2019–present Councillors in Hampshire Alumni of the University of Southampton LGBT members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom English LGBT politicians Gay politicians People from the Borough of Eastleigh {{Conservative-UK-MP-1980s-stub