Simon James Jupp (born 8 September 1985) 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 was

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

East Devon East Devon is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Devon, England. Its council has been based in Honiton since February 2019, and the largest town is Exmouth (with a population of 34,432 at the time of the 2011 census). ...

from the 2019 general election until the constituency was abolished in 2024.

Early life and career

Simon Jupp was born on 8 September 1985 in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

. As a teenager, he volunteered at a local radio station on weekends. After college, he worked as a presenter for commercial radio stations in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, later becoming a journalist and manager for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

and

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, before entering politics.

Political career

Jupp joined the

Conservative Campaign Headquarters The Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ), formerly known as Conservative Central Office (CCO), is the headquarters of the British Conservative Party, housing its central staff and committee members, including campaign coordinators and manag ...

press office as the Head of Broadcast in 2017. He was appointed as Special Advisor to Tim Bowles, the

Mayor of the West of England The Mayor of the West of England is the directly elected mayor responsible for the strategic government of the West of England, including planning, transport and skills. For this purpose the West of England is defined as the local authority area ...

in 2018. In 2019, he joined the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...

as a Special Advisor to the

First Secretary of State The First Secretary of State is an office that is sometimes held by a minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The office indicates seniority, including over all other Secretaries of State. The office is not always in use, ...

and

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 ...

Dominic Raab Dominic Rennie Raab (; born 25 February 1974) is a British politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Secretary of State for Justice, and Lord Chancellor since October 2022, having previously served from 2021 to ...

. At the 2019 general election, Jupp was elected to Parliament as MP for

with 50.8% of the vote and a majority of 6,708 over

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 ...

candidate Claire Wright. Jupp was elected by MPs to be a member of the

Transport Select Committee The Transport 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 Transport and its associ ...

in February 2020 and the

Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, formerly the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, is one of the select committees of the British House of Commons, established in 1997. It oversees the operations of the Department fo ...

in September 2021. He previously served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary in the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...

and

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities 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 ...

. In November 2023, Jupp voted against a motion that would have called for an immediate ceasefire in the

Gaza–Israel conflict The Gaza–Israel conflict is a part of the localized Israeli–Palestinian conflict, but is also a scene of power struggle between regional powers including Egypt, Iran and Turkey together with Qatar, supporting different sides of the confl ...

. Due to boundary changes and the abolition of East Devon at the 2024 general election, Jupp announced in early 2023 that he would be standing as a candidate in the new Honiton and Sidmouth constituency at the next general election. Honiton and Sidmouth also includes territory from Tiverton and Honiton. In August 2023, Jupp was criticised for sending out a promotional political campaign leaflet designed to look like a fictional local newspaper called the "''East Devon Echo''". Whilst appearing to be a local newspaper, complete with advertising, it instead contained a selection of articles showcasing Jupp’s activities and campaigns in East Devon, along with various items based on the Conservative party’s policies, whilst lacking any clear party branding. Information regarding the sender was limited to very small print at the bottom of the front page, indicating that it is being promoted by the EDCA (an abbreviation for the East Devon Conservative Association). The leaflet was posted to addresses in the new Sidmouth and Honiton constituency. Local newspapers, including the ''

Midweek Herald The ''Midweek Herald'' was the first free newspaper in East Devon. The newspaper covers Sidmouth, Beer, Branscombe, Axmouth, Ottery St Mary, Charmouth, Marshwood and Honiton as well as the surrounding areas. It is owned by Archant publishing an ...

'' and the ''

Exmouth Journal Archant Limited is a newspaper and magazine publishing company headquartered in Norwich, England. The group publishes four daily newspapers, around 50 weekly newspapers, and 80 consumer and contract magazines. Archant employs around 1,250 empl ...

'', quoted Jupp as having talked about the importance of local news and ‘proper journalism’, while criticising ‘pseudo websites masquerading as legitimate sources of news’. In April 2024, Jupp was accused of deceiving potential voters and members of the public after the registration of a number of different websites using the name of

Richard Foord Richard John Foord (; born 13 February 1978) is a British politician and former British Army officer who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tiverton and Honiton in Devon since 2022. A member of the Liberal Democrats, he won the seat ...

, Jupp's

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

opponent and the outgoing MP for Tiverton and Honiton. Internet users typing in ''RichardFoord.uk'', ''RichardFoord.co.uk'' or ''RichardFoord.com'', or accidentally finding these websites via search wishing to reach Foord's genuine website, were instead redirected to Jupp's campaign website. On 7 April, when asked, Jupp told the

he was "not responsible for the web domains". The following day, the websites were found to have been disconnected. Jupp later admitted on 18 April, that one of his campaign staffers had registered the websites in his opponent's name. In response, Foord said that "links that look genuine but simply redirect to Conservative websites only serve to arouse suspicion and undermine trust. People deserve better from their MP." In July 2024, Jupp lost his re-election bid in the Honiton and Sidmouth constituency to Richard Foord.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jupp, Simon Living people UK MPs 2019–2024 Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for East Devon Politicians from Plymouth, Devon British special advisers 1985 births