James Cartlidge

James Roger Cartlidge (born 30 April 1974) is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Suffolk since May 2015.

James Cartlidge

MP
Cartlidge in 2019
Member of Parliament
for South Suffolk
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Preceded byTim Yeo
Majority22,897 (42.8%)
Personal details
Born (1974-04-30) 30 April 1974
London, England
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)Emily
Children4
Alma materUniversity of Manchester
WebsiteOfficial website

Early life and education

James Cartlidge was born on 30 April 1974. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth's School,[1] a state grammar school for boys in the market town of Chipping Barnet in north west London, followed by the University of Manchester, where he studied Economics.[1]

Business career

Cartlidge's professional background is as an entrepreneur, having founded Share to Buy ltd, a shared ownership property portal, mortgage broker and host of the ‘London Home Show’, the capital's biggest event for first time buyers.

Political career

Cartlidge stood for parliament in Lewisham Deptford in the 2005 general election finishing third with 12.4% of the vote. He was also an elected member of Babergh District Council before his election to the House of Commons in May 2015.

In the 2015 General Election Cartlidge won 53% of the vote, 34% more than the second place candidate from the Labour Party. Cartlidge won 2,996 more votes than the last election of his predecessor, the veteran MP Tim Yeo, who retired before Cartlidge's election having been de-selected.[2][3]

Cartlidge has championed South Suffolk produce and one of his first political acts was to bring a barrel of beer from Suffolk into the House of Commons, which he drank with his new parliamentary colleagues.[4] He also held a South Suffolk Food Day in the House of Commons which featured businesses such as Jimmy's Farm, Suffolk Food Hall and Gifford's Hall Vineyard. The then Secretary of State for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, The Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP attended the event and spoke to the producers about their businesses.

Cartlidge has worked to improve mobile phone signal in the constituency and launched a campaign in Boxford for greater efforts to provide mobile telephone signal in 'not-spots'.[5] He has taken a train journey from Sudbury to Marks Tey with Rail Executives from Abellio Greater Anglia, Network Rail and the Department for Transport to highlight issues for people travelling by train in the constituency.[6][7]

Cartlidge was elected to the Public Accounts Commission in November 2015 and the Work and Pensions Committee in October 2016.[8]

Cartlidge was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.[9]

In January 2018 he was appointed as PPS to the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, and remained his PPS when Hunt was promoted as Foreign Secretary.[10][11] In August 2019 he was appointed as PPS to the Defence Secretary Ben Wallace (politician).

In 2019 Cartlidge was one of only 73 MPs to vote against equal marriage in Northern Ireland.[12] He has publicly expressed his strong support for equal marriage but voted against imposing this law in Northern Ireland 'in absentia'.[13]

Cartlidge is the Patron of the Shotley Pier Project. This community project is working to restored the Victorian pier on the Shotley Pier.[14]

Personal life

Cartlidge is married to Emily, with whom he has four children. His father-in-law is the former Conservative MP, Gerald Howarth, Member of Parliament for Aldershot until 2017.[15]

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References
  1. "Bringing an expert view on housing to the House". Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  2. Suffolk South Parliamentary constituency, BBC News
  3. Biography UK Parliament website. Accessed 26 May 2015.
  4. MPs set to slake their thirst with a pint of Sudbury’s finest Pickwick Bitter Archived 2 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Stowmarket Mercury, 12 June 2015
  5. Emma Brennan (6 February 2016). "Boxford launch of petition to improve mobile phone signals in rural areas - Latest Suffolk and Essex News". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  6. "How to avoid 'leafgate' this year". Suffolk Free Press. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  7. New MP James Cartlidge tackles railway issues between Sudbury and Marks Tey Archived 2 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Stowmarket Mercury, 19 May 2015
  8. "James Cartlidge MP - UK Parliament". parliament.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  9. Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  10. "James appointed PPS to Jeremy Hunt". James Cartlidge. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  11. Geater, Paul. "New job for Suffolk MP James Cartlidge as aide to Jeremy Hunt at FCO". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  12. Wakefield, Lily (9 July 2019). "Here's how every MP voted on equal marriage in Northern Ireland". Pink News. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  13. https://www.jamescartlidge.com/news/equal-marriage-northern-ireland
  14. https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/shotely-pier-group-welcomes-patron-south-suffolk-mp-james-cartlidge-1-5362294
  15. "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 01 Jun 2015 (pt 0002)". publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Tim Yeo		 Member of Parliament
for South Suffolk
2015–present		 Incumbent
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