James Nicholas Bethell, 5th Baron Bethell (born 1 October 1967) is a British

hereditary peer The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of April 2025, there are 800 hereditary peers: 30 dukes (including six royal dukes), 34 marquesses, 189 earls, 108 viscounts, and 439 barons (not counting subsidiary ...

and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

politician in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Innovation at the

Department of Health and Social Care The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for government policy on health and adult social care matters in England, along with a few elements of the s ...

and was involved in negotiating various controversial contracts.

Early life

Bethell was educated at the independent, fee-paying

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...

before going on to study for a Scottish Master of Arts (an undergraduate degree) at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. Bethell worked as a journalist, and then managed the

Ministry of Sound Ministry of Sound or Ministry of Sound Group is a multimedia entertainment business based in London with a nightclub, shared workspace and private members' club, worldwide events operation, music publisher (popular music), music publishing busin ...

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

, before founding Westbourne Communications which he sold to Cicero Group after succeeding to his family titles.

Political career

Bethell unsuccessfully contested election to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

for the

Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre-Anglo-Saxons, Saxon times. The name is of Anglo-Saxon ori ...

constituency in the 2005 general election, losing to Labour candidate and future Mayor of London

Sadiq Khan Sir Sadiq Aman Khan (, ; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting (UK Parliament constituency), Tooting ...

. Bethell contested the 2009 primary to become the Conservative Party's

prospective parliamentary candidate In British politics, a prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) is a candidate selected by political parties to contest under individual Westminster constituencies in advance of a general election. The term originally came into use because of ...

for the

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hampshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 70,131 and the district had a pop ...

. He came second behind

Caroline Dinenage Caroline Julia Dinenage, Baroness Lancaster of Kimbolton, (born 28 October 1971), also styled as Dame Caroline Dinenage, is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gosport since 2010. Dinenage ...

, who went on to become the Member of Parliament in the 2010 general election.

House of Lords

Bethell entered the

in July 2018, after successfully contesting a Conservative hereditary peers' by-election. He had succeeded to the title of Baron Bethell following his father's death in 2007, but hereditary peers have not had an automatic right to a seat in the Lords since the

House of Lords Act 1999 The House of Lords Act 1999 (c. 34) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. The Act was given royal assent on 11 November 1999. For centuries, the House of Lords ...

. In July 2019, he was appointed a

Lord-in-Waiting Lords-in-waiting (male) or baronesses-in-waiting (female) are peers who hold office in the Royal Household of the sovereign of the United Kingdom. In the official Court Circular they are styled "Lord in Waiting" or "Baroness in Waiting" (without ...

and, in March 2020, was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Innovation at the

in the

second Johnson ministry The second Johnson ministry began on 16 December 2019, three days after Boris Johnson's audience with Queen Elizabeth II where she invited him to form a new government following the 2019 United Kingdom general election, 2019 general election. ...

. In November 2020, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' reported Bethell's appointment as the Minister for

NHS Test and Trace NHS Test and Trace was a government-funded service in England, established in 2020 to track and help prevent the spread of COVID-19. The programme is part of the UK Health Security Agency; the service and the agency are headed by Jenny Harr ...

, formed as part of the Johnson ministry's efforts to control the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. According to ''The Times'', Bethell "was a surprise appointment in March having chaired

Matt Hancock Matthew John David Hancock (born 2 October 1978) is a British politician who served as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General from 2015 to 2016, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from January to July 20 ...

's leadership campaign in 2019 and giving ima £5,000 donation." He became the subject of allegations of "cronyism" published in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' over his selection to an advisory role of lobbyists like

George Pascoe-Watson George Pascoe-Watson (born 21 August 1966) is a British journalist and public relations consultant. He was formerly the political editor of ''The Sun'' newspaper, succeeding Trevor Kavanagh in January 2006. He left ''The Sun'' in 2009 to pursue ...

, whose clients include the

Boston Consulting Group Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the "Big Three (management consultancies), Big Three" (or MBB, the world's three large ...

"which has won several large government contracts during the pandemic." In July 2021, Bethell was placed under investigation by the

House of Lords Commissioner for Standards There are currently two House of Lords Commissioners for Standards, officers of the United Kingdom House of Lords. When the post was created in 2010 there was a single commissioner who was "responsible for the independent and impartial investigat ...

over a "complaint regarding Lord Bethell sponsoring a pass for Gina Coladangelo", who was a lobbyist and lover of the then Health secretary

. In August 2021, it was reported that Bethell had replaced his mobile phone earlier that year and not transferred data from his previous phone, meaning that it could not be searched for messages related to an £85m contract with

Abingdon Health Abingdon Health is a leading international developer, manufacturer and distributor of lateral flow assay diagnostic tests, sometimes called rapid tests, lateral flow immunoassays (LFIA), lateral flow tests (LFT) or quick tests. Since its format ...

that was subject to judicial review. In November 2021 he stated in a witness statement that three prior explanations he had given for why he could not access his messages – that he lost his phone, that his phone was defective and that he had given it to a relative – were incorrect and that he had deleted them because he incorrectly thought they were backed up. In June 2023, Bethell appeared on ''BBC'' Radio 4 to defend the government which was trying to prevent disclosure of Boris Johnson's WhatsApp messages to the COVID-19 inquiry and stated that no decisions were made in WhatsApp groups during the pandemic. In December 2023, after

Michelle Mone Michelle Georgina Mone, Baroness Mone, (''née'' Allan; born 8 October 1971) is a Scottish businesswoman and life peer. She has set up several businesses, including MJM International Ltd in 1996 and the lingerie company Ultimo along with her ...

admitted her involvement in PPE Medpro, Bethell posted a screenshot of a text message that Mone had sent him in 2020. On 17 September 2021, Lord Bethell left government during the second

cabinet reshuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the head of state changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parliam ...

of the

. In November 2021, it emerged that Lord Bethell had been part of a government meeting regarding a £600 million contract with

Randox Randox is a Northern Irish health and toxicology company in the ''in vitro'' diagnostics industry headquartered in Crumlin, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, owned by Peter FitzGerald. The company develops diagnostic solutions for hospitals, cl ...

, the clinical diagnostics firm for which

Owen Paterson Owen William Paterson (born 24 June 1956) is a British former politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2010 to 2012 and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2012 to 2014 under Prime Minist ...

was found to have breached parliamentary standards in which, against protocol, no minutes were taken.

Personal life

Bethell is married to Melissa (née Wong), a businesswoman. Lord and Lady Bethell have four children. He succeeded his father

Nicholas Nicholas is a male name, the Anglophone version of an ancient Greek name in use since antiquity, and cognate with the modern Greek , . It originally derived from a combination of two Ancient Greek, Greek words meaning 'victory' and 'people'. In ...

as Baron Bethell in 2007. Bethell is a member of the board of trustees of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence and a fellow of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bethell, James Bethell, 5th Baron 1967 births Living people People educated at Harrow School Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 5 Ministry of Sound Conservative Party (UK) hereditary peers Conservative Party (UK) Baronesses- and Lords-in-Waiting Hereditary peers elected under the House of Lords Act 1999 Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary candidates