Iain Aitken Stewart (born 18 September 1972) is a British Conservative Party politician and former accountant. He has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Milton Keynes South since 2010. Stewart served as

Under-Secretary of State for Scotland The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland is a junior ministerial post (of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State rank) in the Government of the United Kingdom, supporting the Secretary of State for Scotland. The post is also kno ...

from June 2020 to September 2022, sharing the role with David Duguid until September 2021, then with

Malcolm Offord Malcolm Ian Offord, Baron Offord of Garvel (born 5 September 1964) is a Scottish financier and Conservative Party politician in the House of Lords and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland. Early life and career Offord was born i ...

Early life

Stewart was born on 18 September 1972 in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and grew up in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

. He was educated at Chatelherault Primary School in Hamilton and then at

Hutchesons' Grammar School Hutchesons' Grammar School is a co-educational independent day school for pupils aged 3-18 in Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded as Hutchesons' Boys' Grammar School by George Hutcheson and Thomas Hutcheson in 1641 It is a selective school, ...

and studied politics at the

University of Exeter , mottoeng = "We Follow the Light" , established = 1838 - St Luke's College1855 - Exeter School of Art1863 - Exeter School of Science 1955 - University of Exeter (received royal charter) , type = Public , ...

before training as an accountant with

Coopers & Lybrand PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

in Milton Keynes between 1993 and 1994.'STEWART, Iain Aitken', Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, December 2012 ; online edn, November 201
accessed 16 June 2013
/ref> Stewart then worked for the

Scottish Conservative Party The Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party ( gd, Pàrtaidh Tòraidheach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Tory an Unionist Pairty), often known simply as the Scottish Conservatives and colloquially as the Scottish Tories, is a centre-right political par ...

between 1994 and 1998 as Head of Research, before moving to work for a research unit (the Parliamentary Resources Unit) in Westminster, firstly as Deputy Director and finally as Director between 1998 and 2006. He then worked as an associate for

executive recruitment Recruitment is the overall process of identifying, sourcing, screening, shortlisting, and interviewing candidates for jobs (either permanent or temporary) within an organization. Recruitment also is the processes involved in choosing individua ...

company Odgers Berndtson until his election in 2010.

Political career

Stewart stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative Party candidate in the

1999 Scottish Parliament election The first election to the devolved Scottish Parliament, to fill 129 seats, took place on 6 May 1999. Following the election, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats formed the Scottish Executive, with Labour Member of the Scottish Parliam ...

, for the Glasgow Rutherglen constituency, finishing fourth. Returning to Milton Keynes, he was selected to fight Milton Keynes South West at the 2001 general election, losing to incumbent

Phyllis Starkey Phyllis Margaret Starkey (née Williams; born 4 January 1947) is a British Labour party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Milton Keynes South West from 1997 to 2010. She had previously served as Leader of Oxford City Counci ...

by 6,978 votes. Running again at the 2005 election, he lost to Starkey by 4,010 votes. He successfully stood against Starkey for the redrawn Milton Keynes South constituency in the 2010 general election, winning by 5,201 votes.Iain Stewart
www.parliament.uk. Retrieved 16 June 2013. In the 2015 general election, he was re-elected with an increased vote of 27,601 and majority of 8,672. Whilst his majority has fluctuated, Stewart has been returned with a higher share of the vote with each election since 2010, in 2019 obtaining a 50% majority vote share. Stewart was a member of

Shenley Brook End Shenley Brook End is a village, district and wider civil parish in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. Together with its neighbouring districts of Shenley Church End, Shenley Wood and Shenley Lodge, the districts are collectively known as ...

parish council between 2005 and 2011. In 2012, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' reported that Stewart was renting a flat from his constituency caseworker on expenses. Stewart responded that there was no conflict of interest in renting from his staff member as the flat is let "on a proper legal contract" and fully approved by the expenses watchdog. Transport (especially rail transport), constitutional affairs and education are listed amongst his main political interests.Iain Stewart's Official Biography
Iain Stewart's Campaign Website. Retrieved 16 June 2013. He was 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 asso ...

of the House of Commons from 2010 to 2013, and was the longest-serving Conservative Member of that Committee. In 2011 he travelled, with various members of the transport committee, around Europe studying various rail links and rail systems. In the October 2013 Ministerial reshuffle, he was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Rt Hon Patrick McLoughlin MP, Secretary of State for Transport. Following the 2015 election, he moved to become PPS to

David Mundell David Gordon Mundell, (born 27 May 1962) is a Scottish politician and solicitor who served as Secretary of State for Scotland from 2015 to 2019. A member of the Scottish Conservative Party, he has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Du ...

, Secretary of State for Scotland, to assist with the Scotland Bill. He was also re-elected to the Transport Select Committee. In July 2016 he was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to

Liam Fox Liam Fox (born 22 September 1961) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Trade from 2016 to 2019 and Secretary of State for Defence from 2010 to 2011. A member of the Conservative Party, Fox has served as t ...

, Secretary of State for the Department for International Trade. He held this post until the 2017 general election. In June 2017, Stewart was returned as the MP for Milton Keynes South with a majority of 1,725 over Labour candidate Hannah O'Neill. He retained his place on the Transport Committee in September 2017. In December 2017, following the publication of the National Infrastructure Commission's report on the Oxford-Milton Keynes-Cambridge corridor, he was appointed as the Government's official champion for the project. In July 2018, he was asked by the Prime Minister to join the Government and he became an Assistant Whip in the Government Whips Office. In June 2020, he was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland. He served in this role until September 2022.

Personal life

He is openly gay and was formerly Deputy chairman (Political) of

LGBTory LGBTory is a Canadian LGBT conservatism, LGBT conservative organization. The group was established in 2015, as an advocacy group for LGBT supporters of the Conservative Party of Canada and provincial conservative parties. While officially open t ...

, the

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 ...

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

Group.MP Iain Stewart on how he was bullied for being gay
BBC news website, 12 June 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2013. He is now a Patron of the group. In his

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...

to the house, on 25 June 2010, he paid tribute to

Alan Turing Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical co ...

, and

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony B ...

's official apology for the state's persecution of Turing.MP calls for pardon for computer pioneer Alan Turing
BBC news website, 24 May 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2013. He has spoken about how he was bullied at school for being gay and on the impact of homophobic bullying in schools. He was shortlisted for the Stonewall 'Politician of the Year' 2012.Stonewall Press Release of Shortlisted Candidates
, '' Stonewall'', 28 September 2012

References

External links

Campaign website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Iain 1972 births Living people Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies LGBT members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present Gay politicians Alumni of the University of Exeter Politics of Milton Keynes People educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School LGBT politicians from Scotland Politicians from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire Scottish accountants Scottish Conservative Party