Simon Anthony Hart, Baron Hart of Tenby (born 15 August 1963) is a British

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 who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire from

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

to 2024. He served as the

Chief Whip of the House of Commons The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom I ...

and

Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury is the official title of the most senior whip of the governing party in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Today, any official links between the Treasury and this office are nominal and the title ...

from October 2022 to July 2024. He previously served as

Secretary of State for Wales The secretary of state for Wales (), also referred to as the Welsh secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Wales Office. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Ki ...

in the Johnson government from 2019 to 2022. After

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

was elected as Conservative leader and appointed prime minister, Hart was appointed

Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office The Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office is a junior ministerial role at the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The post is currently held by Abena Oppong-Asare and Georgia Gould (politician), Georgia Gould. History Responsibil ...

in July 2019. In December 2019, during the formation of 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. ...

, Hart was promoted to the Cabinet as

, succeeding

Alun Cairns Alun Hugh Cairns (born 30 July 1970) is a Welsh Conservative politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Vale of Glamorgan from 2010 to 2024. He served as Secretary of State for Wales from 2016 to 2019. He was previously ...

who had resigned from the position the previous month. In July 2022, he returned to the backbenches after resigning as Welsh Secretary amid a government crisis that culminated in Johnson's resignation. In October 2022, he was appointed Chief Whip by new prime minister

Rishi Sunak Rishi Sunak (born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2022 to 2024. Following his defeat to Keir Starmer's La ...

. His seat was abolished in the boundary changes. He stood for the new seat of Caerfyrddin in the 2024 general election, but lost.

Early life and career

Simon Hart was born on 15 August 1963 in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

and grew up in

the Cotswolds The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...

. He was privately educated at

Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley or the College of St. Peter at Radley, is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (independent boarding school) for boys near the village of Radley, in Oxfordshire, in the United Kingd ...

before attending the

Royal Agricultural College The Royal Agricultural University (RAU), formerly the Royal Agricultural College, is a public university in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England. Established in 1845, it was the first agricultural college in the English-speaking world. ...

Cirencester Cirencester ( , ; see #Pronunciation, below for more variations) is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames. It is the List of ...

. He worked as a

chartered surveyor Chartered Surveyor is the description (protected by law in many countries) of Professional ''Members'' and ''Fellows'' of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) entitled to use the designation (and a number of variations such as " Char ...

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, ; , 'Merlin's fort' or possibly 'Sea-town fort') is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community (Wales), community in Wales, lying on the River Towy north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. At the 2021 United Kingdom cen ...

and

Haverfordwest Haverfordwest ( , ; ) is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire with a population of 14,596 in 2011. It is also a Community (Wales), community consisting of 12,042 people, making it the secon ...

and served with the Territorial Army for five years in the

Royal Gloucestershire Hussars The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was a volunteer yeomanry regiment which, in the 20th century, became part of the British Army Reserve. It traced its origins to the First or Cheltenham Troop of Gloucestershire Gentleman and Yeomanry raised i ...

(part of the

Royal Wessex Yeomanry The Royal Wessex Yeomanry (RWxY) is a reserve armoured regiment of the British Army consisting of five squadrons, with the regimental headquarters based at Bovington Camp, Dorset. The regiment is part of 3rd (UK) Division and provides battle c ...

). Hart was Master and Huntsman of the South Pembrokeshire Hunt from 1988 to 1999. He was director of the Campaign for Hunting (

fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, normally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of hounds" ...

) from 1999 to 2003. He was the chief executive of the

Countryside Alliance The Countryside Alliance (CA) is a British organisation promoting issues relating to the countryside such as farming, rural services, small businesses and field sports, aiming to "Give Rural Britain a voice". History The Countryside Allian ...

from 2003 to 2010, and later its chairman from 2015 to 2019.

Parliamentary career

At the 2010 general election, Hart was elected as MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, winning with 41.1% of the vote and a majority of 3,423. Hart is an outspoken supporter of

and the badger cull. In January 2013, Hart said the

RSPCA The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is a charity operating in England and Wales which promotes animal welfare. The RSPCA is funded primarily by voluntary donations. Founded in 1824, it is the oldest and largest a ...

's legal role needs more oversight given its "political and commercial activities" in a critique of the charity's role lobbying against fox hunting. He actively campaigned in May 2013 to overturn the 2004 Hunting Bill and assist the

National Farmers Union of England and Wales The National Farmers' Union (NFU) is an employer association representing farming and growing businesses within England and Wales. The NFU originated as the Lincolnshire Farmers' Union (LFU) which was founded in 1904. Over the next four year ...

. Hart was re-elected as MP for Carmathen West and South Pembrokeshire at the 2015 general election with an increased vote share of 43.7% and an increased majority of 6,054. Despite voting Remain in the 2016 European Union referendum, Hart has consistently argued that the result must be honoured and the UK must leave the EU. He helped form and lead the Brexit Delivery Group, a group of 51 MPs who argued for a negotiated exit from the EU. At the snap 2017 general election Hart was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 46.8% and a decreased majority of 3,110. In June 2017 Hart faced questions over breaches of the code of conduct and was being investigated over an alleged breach of paragraph 15. He was later cleared. In August 2018, Hart accused actress

Maxine Peake Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her roles as Twinkle in ''Dinnerladies (TV series), dinnerladies'', a sitcom on BBC One (1998–2000), as List of Shameless (British TV series) characters#Vero ...

of hypocrisy, for 'taking money from the NHS for work on an advertisement, whilst attacking the Government for lack of investment in the NHS'. Peake responded that the fee came from an advertising agency and would not have gone back to the NHS if she had returned it, and she had donated the fee to The Salford Foundation Trust children's charity regardless. On 27 July 2019, in

's administration, he was promoted to Parliamentary Secretary at the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for supporting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and Cabinet ...

, with responsibility for policy implementation. He replaced fellow Conservative

Oliver Dowden Sir Oliver James Dowden, (born 1 August 1978) is a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2023 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he previously held various ministerial positions under Prime ...

and stood down as Chairman of the Countryside Alliance. In the run-up to the 2019 general election, Hart shared an image of a campaign placard which had been defaced during the 2017 general election. Referencing the levels of "abuse … vitriol and intimidation" to which candidates had been subjected in 2017, Hart used a Facebook post to call for high standards of conduct among candidates, a subject on which he says he has worked to find cross-party solutions since the 2017 election. At the 2019 general election, Hart was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 52.7% and an increased majority of 7,745. Hart has served on the

Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee The Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee was a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2015. Remit The committee was created in response to changes to the machinery of gover ...

Welsh Affairs Select Committee The Welsh Affairs Select Committee (or simply the 'Welsh Affairs 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 poli ...

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee (EFRA) 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 Depa ...

Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, formerly the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, is one of the Select committee (United Kingdom), select committees of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, es ...

Commons Select Committee on Standards The Commons Select Committee on Standards is appointed by the House of Commons to oversee the work of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. History The committee was created on 13 December 2012 as one half of the replacements for the Comm ...

and Commons Select Committee of Privileges. Due to the

2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies The 2023 review of Westminster constituencies was the most recent cycle of the process to redraw the Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, constituency map for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The new constituency b ...

, Hart's constituency of Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire was abolished, and replaced with

Caerfyrddin Carmarthen (, ; , 'Merlin's fort' or possibly 'Sea-town fort') is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. At the 2021 census the community had a populatio ...

. In June 2024, Hart was selected as the Conservative candidate for Caerfyddin at the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

. He lost the election for the new seat of Caerfyrddin, coming third with 8,825 votes (19.4%).

Ministerial positions

Following the 2019 general election, Hart was appointed

by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, replacing

. On 22 April 2020, during 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 ...

, he became the second minister to speak in the Commons chamber via remote video link, answering a question from Marco Longhi, the Conservative MP for

Dudley North Dudley North may refer to: *Dudley North, 3rd Baron North (1581–1666), English nobleman and politician *Dudley North, 4th Baron North (1602–1677), English nobleman and politician, son of the above *Sir Dudley North (economist) (1641&ndas ...

, who also spoke remotely. On 6 July 2022, Hart resigned from government in the wake of widespread criticism of

's handling of the Chris Pincher scandal, following the earlier resignations of Chancellor

and Health Secretary

Sajid Javid Sir Sajid Javid (; born 5 December 1969) is a British former politician who served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from June 2021 to July 2022, having previously served as Home Secretary from 2018 to 2019 and Chancellor of the ...

. On 25 October 2022, Hart was appointed

Chief Whip of the Conservative Party The Chief Whip of the Conservative Party oversees the whipping system in the party, which is responsible for ensuring that Conservative MPs or members of the House of Lords attend and vote in parliament in the desired way of the party leadershi ...

as part of his first cabinet.

House of Lords

On 11 April 2025, Hart was awarded a

life peerage In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

in Rishi Sunak's Resignation Peerages List. He was created as ''Baron Hart of Tenby, of Lampeter Velfrey in the County of Pembrokeshire'' on 28 May 2025.

Personal life

Hart lives in Pembrokeshire with his wife Abigail. He has two adult children.

References

''
Official channel
at

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