Mims Davies

Miriam Jane Alice "Mims" Davies[1] (born 2 June 1975) is a British Conservative Party politician who was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Eastleigh in May 2015.[2] She was the Minister for Sport and Civil Society, until a Government reshuffle in July 2019, following which she became the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment at the Department for Work and Pensions. She was elected as the Member of Parliament for Mid Sussex at the 2019 general election.[3]

Mims Davies

MP
Davies in 2019
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment
Assumed office
25 July 2019
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byAlok Sharma
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Sport, Civil Society and Loneliness
In office
5 November 2018 – 25 July 2019
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byTracey Crouch
Succeeded byNigel Adams (Sport)
The Baroness Barran (Civil Society and Loneliness)
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales
In office
26 July 2018 – 5 November 2018
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byStuart Andrew
Succeeded byNigel Adams
Member of Parliament
for Mid Sussex
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byNicholas Soames
Majority18,197 (29.0%)
Member of Parliament
for Eastleigh
In office
7 May 2015 – 6 November 2019
Preceded byMike Thornton
Succeeded byPaul Holmes
Personal details
Born (1975-06-02) 2 June 1975
Political partyConservative
Children2
Alma materSwansea University
WebsiteOfficial website

Early life and career

Davies was educated at the Royal Russell School in London and Collyers Sixth Form College in Horsham, and studied Politics and International Relations at Swansea University;[4] she was the first in her family to enter higher education.[5] She worked primarily as a local radio presenter, reporter and producer.[4] She later worked as a road safety communications officer with the Automobile Association, the police force and Sussex Safer Roads Partnership.[5]

Political career

Davies served as a Conservative Party town councillor and as a District councillor on Mid Sussex District Council for the Haywards Heath Lucastes ward from 2011 to 2015. Davies was initially co-opted onto Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common Parish Council, which began her political involvement.

At the 2015 general election on 7 May, Davies was elected as MP for Eastleigh defeating Liberal Democrat incumbent Mike Thornton by over 9,000 votes. She was re-elected in the 2017 general election, increasing her share of the vote by 8.2% and receiving over half of the total votes in the constituency,[6] the first majority vote in Eastleigh since the 1992 election. In addition to this, Davies is the first and to date only woman to represent the Eastleigh constituency since its creation in 1955.

She campaigned for the UK to leave the European Union during the 2016 referendum.[7]

Davies was appointed an Assistant Government Whip on 9 January 2018 and subsequently to the role of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Wales on 26 July 2018.[8]

In the House of Commons she sat on the Commons Reference Group on Representation and Inclusion and previously sat on the Consolidation Bills (Joint Committee) and Women and Equalities Committee.[9] On 23 October 2018, Davis resigned from a committee chaired by Commons Speaker John Bercow, citing lack of confidence in Bercow's ability to tackle bullying and sexual harassment problems in Parliament.[10][11][12][13]

On 5 November 2018, Davies was appointed Minister for Sport and Civil Society at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, after the resignation of Tracey Crouch over a delay to the introduction of reduced limits on the stakes of fixed odds betting terminals.

In February 2019, in her role as Sports Minister, she called for an urgent summit with football leaders in order to address issues relating to abuse in the sport.[14] She suggested there should be a zero tolerance approach to problems concerning racist, homophobic and antisemitic chanting.[15]

In May 2019, she attended the "End the cage age" event campaigning against caged birds. This event was organised by Compassion in World Farming. Davies stated that she was against caged laying hens.[16]

In July 2019, Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed Davies to the position of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment. She joined the Department for Work and Pensions.

On 30 October 2019, Davies announced she would be standing down as MP for Eastleigh in order to spend more time with her children, who attend boarding schools, and later announced she was to be on the shortlist for the Mid Sussex constituency, where Nicholas Soames was retiring.[17][18] On 9 November, she was selected to stand for the seat, which she won at the 2019 general election with 53.3% of the vote.[3]

Personal life

Davies has two children and is divorced. She was a carer to her two elderly parents before becoming an MP and this experience informed a significant portion of her parliamentary work.[19] She is a keen runner and has completed several long-distance races, including the 2017 London Marathon.[20]

gollark: I have NOT found this to be an actual problem.
gollark: You literally cannot execute any async code without one.
gollark: For all the async runtimes, you, well, need a runtime.
gollark: Okay, that's just you using it wrong.
gollark: A panic/abort/crash/whatever is controlled and fairly safe.

References
  1. "No. 61230". The London Gazette. 18 May 2015. p. 9122.
  2. Eastleigh parliamentary constituency – Election 2015, bbc.co.uk; accessed 8 May 2015.
  3. "Sussex Mid Parliamentary constituency". BBC election results 2019 GE. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  4. Carr, Tim; Dale, Iain; Waller, Robert (22 May 2015). The Politicos Guide to the New House of Commons 2015: Profiles of the New MPs and Analysis of the 2015 General Election Results. Biteback Publishing. ISBN 9781849549240.
  5. "About Mims Davies". Mims Davies MP for Eastleigh Constituency. J Jamieson. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  6. "Eastleigh parliamentary constituency – Election 2017". BBC News. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  7. "EU vote: Where the cabinet and other MPs stand". BBC. 22 June 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  8. "Mims Davies is new Wales Office minister". BBC News. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  9. "Mims Davies". Parliament UK. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  10. "Theresa May briefs cabinet on Brexit negotiations". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  11. Kentish, Benjamin (23 October 2018). "Pressure on John Bercow after three Tory MPs resign from Commons committee he chairs". The Independent. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  12. Yorke, Harry (23 October 2018). "John Bercow thrust back into spotlight over Westminster bullying as three Government members quit his committee". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  13. "MPs quit Commons group because Speaker Bercow chairs it". BBC News. 23 October 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  14. "Sports minister Mims Davies to hold meeting with football leaders to tackle abuse". BBC. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  15. "Sports minister Mims Davies calls for summit to tackle increase in abuse". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  16. "Mims Davies on Twitter". Twitter. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  17. "Standing Down Statement". Mims Davies MP. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  18. "Mims Davies Statement". 6 November 2019.
  19. "Carers". 9 June 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  20. "Latest News: MPs look back at Marathon effort". 6 June 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Mike Thornton		 Member of Parliament
for Eastleigh
2015–2019		 Succeeded by
Paul Holmes
Preceded by
Nicholas Soames		 Member of Parliament
for Mid Sussex
2019–present		 Incumbent
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