Sir Oliver Heald (born 15 December 1954) is a British barrister and Conservative Party 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 o ...

(MP) for North East Hertfordshire, formerly North Hertfordshire, since 1992.

Background

Heald was born in

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, Southeast England, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers River Thames, Thames and River Kennet, Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 mot ...

, and was educated at the

Reading School Reading School is a grammar school for boys with academy status in the English town of Reading, the county of Berkshire. It traces its history back to the school of Reading Abbey and is, thus, one of the oldest schools in England. There are no ...

and Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he read Law. He was called to the Bar at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

in 1977 and was a practising barrister in London and East Anglia at Fenners Chambers in Cambridge from 1979 until he was appointed a Government Minister in 1995. He became the Chairman of the North Hertfordshire Conservative Association for two years from 1984. He unsuccessfully contested the

London Borough of Southwark The London Borough of Southwark ( ) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas ...

seat of

Southwark and Bermondsey Southwark and Bermondsey was an inner city constituency in London, United Kingdom. Its sole Member of Parliament was Simon Hughes, in the first stage of his career in the house, as a Liberal then Liberal Democrat after the party's founding in ...

at the 1987 general election but finished in third place 12,550 votes behind the sitting

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Simon Hughes Sir Simon Henry Ward Hughes (born 17 May 1951) is a former British politician. He is now the Chancellor of London South Bank University, an External Adviser to The Open University, and UK Strategic Adviser to Talgo. Hughes was Deputy Leader ...

. He became the Vice-President of the Southwark and Bermondsey Conservative Association in 1988 for five years, becoming the President for five years from 1993.

Early career

Heald was elected to 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. T ...

for North Hertfordshire at the 1992 general election following the retirement of the Conservative MP Ian Stewart. He held the seat with a majority of 16,531 and has remained an MP since. He made 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 ...

on 9 June 1992 in which he spoke of his political beginnings on a

soapbox A soapbox is a raised platform on which one stands to make an impromptu speech, often about a political subject. The term originates from the days when speakers would elevate themselves by standing on a wooden crate originally used for shipme ...

Speakers' Corner A Speakers' Corner is an area where open-air public speaking, debate, and discussion are allowed. The original and best known is in the northeast corner of Hyde Park in London, England. Historically there were a number of other areas desig ...

. In

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

he served on the

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

Select committee for two years from 1992. He was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In ...

at the Home Office Peter Lloyd in 1994. Later in the year he became the PPS to the

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was a United Kingdom cabinet position, responsible for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The post was originally named President of the Board of Agriculture and was created in 1889. ...

, William Waldegrave. He was promoted to serve in the Government of John Major in 1995 when he was appointed as the

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the UK government, immediately junior to a Minister ...

at the Department of Social Security, where he remained until the fall of the Conservative government in 1997. In 1995 he introduced the ''Insurance Companies (Reserves) Act''.

In Opposition

The seat he represented was abolished in 1997 and since that general election he has been returned to Parliament for the new seat of North East Hertfordshire. After the election he became an Opposition Whip under the new leadership of

William Hague William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, before moving on to become a Spokesman for Home Affairs with responsibility for police matters. He was made a Spokesman for

Health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

Iain Duncan Smith Sir George Iain Duncan Smith (born George Ian Duncan Smith; 9 April 1954), often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. He was ...

in 2001. He joined Michael Howard's Shadow Cabinet as the Shadow Leader of the House of Commons in 2003. In 2004 he was then appointed to serve as Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and in 2005 was appointed by David Cameron as the Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. In July 2007 he became a backbencher following 13 years' continuous service on the Conservative Front Bench. From November 2007 to September 2012 he was a member of the

Work and Pensions Select Committee The Work and Pensions 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 Work and Pensi ...

, and from March 2008 – September 2012 he was a member of the

Committee on Standards in Public Life The Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) is an advisory non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom Government, established by John Major in 1994 to advise the Prime Minister on ethical standards of public life. It promotes a code o ...

. From July 2010 until September 2012 he was appointed to the House of Commons Standards and Privileges Committee and he has also been a member of the UK Delegation to the Council of Europe.

Return to Government

In 2012, Heald returned to Government as Solicitor-General even though he had previously helped to lead the rebellion against the House of Lords Reform Bill which he vociferously opposed. However, he did not actually vote for or against the Bill which probably helped his chances of promotion. On 29 September 2016, he was appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and may therefore use the

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

The Right Honourable ''The Right Honourable'' (abbreviation: ''Rt Hon.'' or variations) is an honorific Style (form of address), style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire and the Commonwealth ...

''.

Heald was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum. In December 2017 Heald voted with fellow Conservative

Dominic Grieve Dominic Charles Roberts Grieve (born 24 May 1956) is a British barrister and former politician who served as Shadow Home Secretary from 2008 to 2009 and Attorney General for England and Wales from 2010 to 2014. He served as the Member of Parl ...

and nine other Conservative MPs against the government, and in favour of guaranteeing Parliament a " meaningful vote" on any deal Theresa May agrees with Brussels over

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 ...

Personal life

Heald became the Executive Chairman of the Society of Conservative Lawyers in July 2008. He takes a particular interest in healthcare. He and his wife Christine (née Whittle) live in his Hertfordshire constituency, in the market town of Royston; they have a son and two daughters.Debrett's People of Today
His daughter Sarah stood as a Conservative candidate in Manchester Withington in the 2017 election.

References

External links

Oliver Heald MP
official site
Oliver Heald's Blog
official blog
Open Rights Group – Oliver Heald MP
, - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Heald, Oliver 1954 births Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies English barristers English King's Counsel Knights Bachelor Living people Members of the Middle Temple Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at Reading School 21st-century King's Counsel UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present Member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life