Andrea Leadsom

Andrea Leadsom
Official portrait, 2020
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health, Start for Life and Primary Care
Assumed office
13 November 2023
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded byNeil O'Brien
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
In office
24 July 2019 – 13 February 2020
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byGreg Clark
Succeeded byAlok Sharma
In office
11 June 2017 – 22 May 2019
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byDavid Lidington
Succeeded byMel Stride
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
In office
14 July 2016 – 11 June 2017
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byLiz Truss
Succeeded byMichael Gove
Minister of State for Energy
In office
11 May 2015 – 14 July 2016
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byMatt Hancock
Succeeded byThe Baroness Neville-Rolfe
Economic Secretary to the Treasury
In office
9 April 2014 – 11 May 2015
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byNicky Morgan
Succeeded byHarriett Baldwin
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded byConstituency established
Majority27,761 (41.5%)
Personal details
Born
Andrea Jacqueline Salmon

(1963-05-13) 13 May 1963 (age 60)
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England
Political partyConservative
Spouse
Ben Leadsom
(m. 1993)
Children3
EducationTonbridge Grammar School
Alma materUniversity of Warwick

Dame Andrea Jacqueline Leadsom DBE (/ˈlɛdsəm/;[1] née Salmon; born 13 May 1963) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for South Northamptonshire since 2010.[2][3] A member of the Conservative Party, she has served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health, Start for Life and Primary Care since November 2023.[4][5] She previously served as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2016 to 2017, Leader of the House of Commons from 2017 to 2019 and Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from 2019 to 2020. Leadsom has twice run to become Leader of the Conservative Party, in 2016 and 2019.

Leadsom was born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire in 1963. After graduating with a degree in political science at the University of Warwick, she began a career in finance including working as Institutional Banking Director at Barclays,[6] and later as Senior Investment Officer and Head of Corporate Governance at Invesco Perpetual.[7] She was elected to the House of Commons at the 2010 general election. She served as Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister from 2014 to 2015[8] and Minister of State for Energy from 2015 to 2016.

Leadsom was a prominent member of the Leave campaign during the 2016 referendum on EU membership, and gained standing in TV debates.[9] Upon David Cameron's resignation, Leadsom became one of five candidates in the 2016 Conservative Party leadership election. In the second round of voting by MPs, she came second to Theresa May.[10] May appointed Leadsom as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Leadsom served in the May government as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2016 to 2017. Following the snap 2017 general election, Leadsom was appointed Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council. On 22 May 2019, she resigned in protest at May's Brexit strategy. Two days later, May announced her resignation as party leader, taking effect on 7 June.[11] Leadsom stood as a candidate to succeed May as leader of the Conservative Party in June 2019 but was eliminated in the first round of voting, finishing 8th out of 10 candidates with 11 votes.[12]

Upon the appointment of Boris Johnson as prime minister, Leadsom was appointed Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. She left the Cabinet in the 2020 cabinet reshuffle and remained in the House of Commons as a backbencher until 2023 when she returned to the frontbench as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health, Start for Life and Primary Care.

  1. ^ Anna Firth (29 April 2016). "Andrea Leadsom on Newsnight". Archived from the original on 7 July 2016 – via YouTube.
  2. ^ "No. 59418". The London Gazette. 13 May 2010. p. 8744.
  3. ^ Home Archived 15 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Andrea Leadsom. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  4. ^ "Ministerial appointments: November 2023". GOV.UK. 13 November 2023. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  5. ^ "Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Public Health, Start for Life and Primary Care) - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  6. ^ "Andrea Leadsom Institutional Banking Director" (PDF).
  7. ^ Mackintosh, James (8 July 2016). "Leadsom's Résumé Controversy Overblown, Her Former Supervisor Says". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  8. ^ "Andrea Leadsom MP". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  9. ^ "Who is Conservative leadership contender Andrea Leadsom?". 30 June 2016. Archived from the original on 10 July 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  10. ^ Bulman, May (11 July 2016). "Andrea Leadsom quits Tory leadership contest". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 11 July 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  11. ^ "Latest as May makes statement outside No 10". BBC News. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  12. ^ "Andrea Leadsom and Esther McVey out of race to be Tory leader". The Guardian. 13 June 2019.

© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search