Seema Louise Ghiassi Kennedy (' Ghiassi, fa, سیما غیاثی; born 6 October 1974) 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 who served as a

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of Minister (government), government minist ...

at both 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 ...

and the Home Office in 2019. She was 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

South Ribble South Ribble is a borough in the county of Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Leyland. The population, at the 2011 Census, was 109,057. Notable towns and villages include Walton le Dale, Bamber Bridge, Leyland and Penwortham. It ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

from 2015 to 2019, and also served as the

Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister The Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister is a Parliamentary Private Secretary serving the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The holder of the office is widely viewed as the Prime Minister's "eyes and ears" on the backbenche ...

from 2017 to 2019. She was the first female MP of Iranian heritage to take a seat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

. Ghiassi attended

Westholme School Westholme School is a coeducational private school in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. Founded in 1923, it caters for boys and girls aged from 3 years to 18 years. The school became fully coeducational in 2018. Westholme's motto is ‘MENS SA ...

, and studied French and Persian at

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 ...

. She qualified as a commercial property solicitor, and worked for

Slaughter and May Slaughter and May is an international law firm headquartered in Bunhill Row, London. Founded in 1889, Slaughter and May is considered to be one of the most prestigious law firms in the world and is a member of the "Magic Circle" of elite London ...

, and

Bevan Brittan Bevan Brittan is a UK Top-100 law firm that provides legal and advisory services to 1,600 businesses and organisations across a number of markets. While the firm formally became Bevan Brittan in 2004, its roots can be traced back to the early 180 ...

, before working for her family's commercial property business Tustin Developments Ltd.

Early life and legal career

Seema Louise Ghiassi was born on 6 October 1974 in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

, England. Her father is an Iranian Muslim, and her mother is an Irish Catholic. Six weeks after her birth, the family moved to Iran. They fled the country after the 1979

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

during which her family home and

spinning Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

mill business were seized by the new government. They resettled in Blackburn, where Ghiassi attended the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

. She was head girl at the school. She studied French and Persian at

. During her course, she studied Persian in Paris for a year under the tutelage of

Yann Richard Yann is a French male given name, specifically, the Breton form of "Jean" (French for "John"). Notable persons with the name Yann include: __NOTOC__ In arts and entertainment *Yann Martel (born 1963), Canadian author *Yann Moix (born 1968), Fr ...

. After graduating with a

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

, Ghiassi completed a law conversion course at the College of Law (now

University of Law The University of Law (founded in 1962 as The College of Law of England and Wales) is a For-profit education, for-profit private university in the United Kingdom, providing law degrees, specialist legal training and Professional development, conti ...

). Ghiassi began her legal career at

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

law firm

, where she trained, and qualified as a commercial property solicitor. She then worked for

. After having children, she decided to become part-time and left Bevan Brittan to work as a director for her family's commercial property business Tustin Developments Ltd in Lancashire.

Parliamentary career

Kennedy stood as the Conservative Party's candidate in

Ashton-under-Lyne Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 45,198 at the 2011 census. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, in the foothills of the Pennines, east of Manche ...

at the 2010 general election. She came second in the election to the incumbent Labour MP

David Heyes David Alan Heyes (born 2 April 1946) is a British people, British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and former Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashton-under-Lyne (UK Parliament constituency), Ashton- ...

. The constituency is historically a safe Labour seat, having elected an MP from the party since 1935. Kennedy unsuccessfully contested the 2013 Hampstead and Kilburn Conservative primary, and was on the longlist for selection in the

Mid Worcestershire Mid Worcestershire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Nigel Huddleston, a Conservative. Members of Parliament Constituency profile Income levels are on average considerably higher than th ...

constituency. In 2014, Kennedy was elected as councillor for the Marshalwick South ward of St Albans City and District Council. She had previously been the chairwoman of the party in St. Albans but resigned in 2009 after a failed attempt to deselect local MP

Anne Main Anne Margaret Main (born 17 May 1957) is a Conservative Party politician who formerly served as the Member of Parliament for St Albans in Hertfordshire. She was elected at the general election of 2005, and was re-elected in 2010, 2015 and ...

over her parliamentary expenses. She was elected as

(MP) for

in the 2015 general election. She is the first MP of Iranian heritage. She was re-elected in the 2017 general election. She supported the United Kingdom (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 ...

(EU) in the 2016 UK EU membership referendum. Kennedy voted for then Prime Minister

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...

's Brexit withdrawal agreement in early 2019. In the indicative votes on 27 March, she voted against a referendum on any withdrawal agreement, and against a

no-deal Brexit A no-deal Brexit (also called clean break BrexitBBC. (2019)''Brexit: Jargon-busting guide to the key terms'' (BBC) Retrieved 29 March 2019.) was the potential withdrawal of the UK from the European Union (EU) without a withdrawa ...

. Following Theresa May's reshuffle upon becoming Prime Minister in July 2016, Kennedy was appointed

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 ...

(PPS) to

Nick Gibb Nicolas John Gibb (born 3 September 1960) is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Schools since October 2022, having previously held the office from 2010 to 2012 and again from 2015 to 2021. He has served at the Department for E ...

, the

Minister of State for Schools The Minister of State for Schools, formerly the Minister of State for School Standards and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for School Standards, is a mid-level position in the Department for Education in the British government. The curre ...

. Kennedy was a Vice-Chairman of the

Conservative Middle East Council The Conservative Middle East Council or CMEC is an organisation which exists to help ensure that Conservative MPs and Peers better understand the Middle East. Its director is former MP Charlotte Leslie who was appointed in July 2017. CMEC organise ...

. Following the 2017 general election, Kennedy was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to

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 ...

. She was the first female PPS to a Conservative prime minister. She served alongside

George Hollingbery Sir George Michael Edward Hollingbery (born 12 October 1963) is a British politician and diplomat who has served as the British Ambassador to Cuba since 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he previously was the Member of Parliament (MP) ...

. In April 2019, Kennedy was appointed to the position of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Primary Care. In July 2019, she moved to the Home Office and succeeded Caroline Nokes as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Immigration. Kennedy was awarded an

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 ...

(OBE) in Theresa May's resignation honours in September. She announced on 25 October that she would be standing down as MP at the next general election. On 18 November 2020, she was appointed as a non-executive director of

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. As of 2022, Kennedy works as a senior adviser for the strategic advisory firm Global Counsel. The company is chaired and was co-founded by former Labour Party politician

Peter Mandelson Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson (born 21 October 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as First Secretary of State from 2009 to 2010. He was President of the Board of Trade in 1998 and from 2008 to 2010. He is the ...

The Jo Cox Loneliness Commission

The

Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness The Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness was an establishment set up by British Member of parliament Jo Cox, in order to investigate ways to reduce loneliness in the United Kingdom. It published its final report at the end of 2017. While only running ...

was launched in January 2017. Kennedy and Labour MP

Rachel Reeves Rachel Jane Reeves (born 13 February 1979) is a British politician and economist serving as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer since 2021. A member of the Labour Party, she has been Member of Parliament for Leeds West since 2010. Born in Lewis ...

were the co-chairwomen of the commission. She had initially began work on the commission with Labour MP Jo Cox in 2016. After Cox's murder, Reeves joined the project to continue her work. In January 2018, the first Minister for Loneliness was appointed in the UK as a result of Kennedy and Reeves' work with the Commission.

Personal life

Kennedy is married to John Clark and has three sons from a previous marriage.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Seema 1974 births Living people Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies English people of Iranian descent English people of Irish descent Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies People educated at Westholme School UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 British politicians of Iranian descent 21st-century British women politicians Officers of the Order of the British Empire Female interior ministers Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Lancashire Parliamentary Private Secretaries to the Prime Minister 21st-century English women 21st-century English people