Nick Herbert
Encyclopedia
Nicholas Le Quesne "Nick" Herbert (born 7 April 1963) is a British Conservative Party
politician and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Arundel and South Downs. He is currently Minister of State for Police and Criminal Justice
, with his time split between the Home Office
and the Ministry of Justice
.
and Magdalene College, Cambridge
, where he read law and land economy
. He was appointed as the director of public affairs
at the British Field Sports Society
in 1990 and remained in that position for six years. He joined Business for Sterling
in 1998 as their chief executive where he helped launch the campaign against adopting the Euro currency, before becoming a director of the think tank
Reform
in 2000 until his election to parliament
in 2005.
seat of Berwick-upon-Tweed
at the 1997 general election
where he finished in third place some 8,951 votes behind the veteran Liberal Democrat MP Alan Beith
. His selection to contest the West Sussex
seat of Arundel and South Downs
at the 2005 general election did not come about without incident. The sitting Conservative MP, Howard Flight
, had been forced to resign as a vice chairman of the party and had the whip
removed by Michael Howard
in 2005 after he had told a Conservative Way Forward
meeting that the Conservatives would have to make more cuts than they were promising. With no whip, he was not considered as an approved candidate
and, despite protest and the local association refusing to select a new candidate, he finally resigned just a month before the election. Herbert was selected and elected, holding the seat with a slightly reduced majority of 11,309. He made his maiden speech
on 6 June 2005.
On his election, he became the first out
gay Conservative MP to be open about his homosexuality at the time he was initially elected (he is not the first out gay Conservative MP; that distinction goes to Alan Duncan
, who voluntarily came out in 2002 and Michael Brown
, who was 'outed' in 1994). Herbert lives in Arundel
with his civil partner Jason Eades.
. After David Cameron
became leader of the Conservative Party, Herbert became a Shadow Minister for home affairs
on 16 December 2005. This meant he had to leave the Home Affairs Select Committee. In July 2007, he joined the Shadow Cabinet for the new position of Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, shadowing veteran Labour minister Jack Straw
. On 19 January 2009 he was made Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
.
and Liberal Democrats
in May 2010, Herbert was appointed as a Minister of State
at the Home Office
with responsibility for policing
and at the Ministry of Justice
with responsibility for criminal justice. To undertake this role, Herbert was appointed a Privy Counsellor on 9 June 2010.
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politician and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Arundel and South Downs. He is currently Minister of State for Police and Criminal Justice
Minister of State for Police
The Minister of State for Policing and Criminal Justice is a ministerial position held jointly at the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice in the Government of the United Kingdom. The current minister is Nick Herbert, a Conservative MP, who was appointed 13 May 2010...
, with his time split between the Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
and the Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Justice is a ministerial department of the UK Government headed by the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, who is responsible for improvements to the justice system so that it better serves the public...
.
Background
Herbert was educated at HaileyburyHaileybury and Imperial Service College
Haileybury and Imperial Service College, , is a prestigious British independent school founded in 1862. The school is located at Hertford Heath, near Hertford, from central London, on of parkland occupied until 1858 by the East India College...
and Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary Magdalene...
, where he read law and land economy
Land economy
Land economy is the study of law, economics, and the environment. The University of Cambridge and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology are currently the only universities in the world offering such a degree at undergraduate level....
. He was appointed as the director of public affairs
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
at the British Field Sports Society
Countryside Alliance
The Countryside Alliance is a British organisation promoting issues relating to the countryside such as country sports, including hunting, shooting and angling...
in 1990 and remained in that position for six years. He joined Business for Sterling
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
in 1998 as their chief executive where he helped launch the campaign against adopting the Euro currency, before becoming a director of the think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
Reform
Reform (think tank)
Reform is a British centre-right, liberal, think tank based in London, whose declared mission is to set out a better way to deliver public services and economic prosperity via private sector involvement and market de-regulation. Reform describes itself as independent and non-partisan...
in 2000 until his election to parliament
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
in 2005.
Political career
He unsuccessfully contested the NorthumberlandNorthumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
seat of Berwick-upon-Tweed
Berwick-upon-Tweed (UK Parliament constituency)
Berwick-upon-Tweed is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
at the 1997 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
where he finished in third place some 8,951 votes behind the veteran Liberal Democrat MP Alan Beith
Alan Beith
Sir Alan James Beith is a British Liberal Democrat politician and Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed.-Early life:Alan Beith was born in 1943 in Poynton, in Cheshire...
. His selection to contest the West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
seat of Arundel and South Downs
Arundel and South Downs
Arundel and South Downs is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
at the 2005 general election did not come about without incident. The sitting Conservative MP, Howard Flight
Howard Flight
Howard Emerson Flight, Baron Flight is a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom and a member of the House of Lords. He was Member of Parliament for Arundel and South Downs from 1997 to 2005...
, had been forced to resign as a vice chairman of the party and had the whip
Whip (politics)
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...
removed by Michael Howard
Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...
in 2005 after he had told a Conservative Way Forward
Conservative Way Forward
Conservative Way Forward is a British campaigning group that operates within the Conservative Party. It is a Thatcherite group in outlook and agenda, and Baroness Thatcher herself is the President....
meeting that the Conservatives would have to make more cuts than they were promising. With no whip, he was not considered as an approved candidate
Prospective parliamentary candidate
Prospective parliamentary candidate is a term used in British politics to refer to candidates selected by political parties to fight individual constituencies in advance of a general election. This terminology was motivated by the strict limits on the amount of expenses incurred by an actual...
and, despite protest and the local association refusing to select a new candidate, he finally resigned just a month before the election. Herbert was selected and elected, holding the seat with a slightly reduced majority of 11,309. He made his maiden speech
Maiden speech
A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament.Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country...
on 6 June 2005.
On his election, he became the first out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
gay Conservative MP to be open about his homosexuality at the time he was initially elected (he is not the first out gay Conservative MP; that distinction goes to Alan Duncan
Alan Duncan
Alan James Carter Duncan is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Rutland and Melton, and a Minister of State in the Department for International Development....
, who voluntarily came out in 2002 and Michael Brown
Michael Brown (UK politician)
Michael Russell Brown is a British former Conservative Party politician and is now a newspaper and broadcast political journalist. He was a Member of Parliament from 1979 to 1997.-Biography:...
, who was 'outed' in 1994). Herbert lives in Arundel
Arundel
Arundel is a market town and civil parish in the South Downs of West Sussex in the south of England. It lies south southwest of London, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester. Other nearby towns include Worthing east southeast, Littlehampton to the south and Bognor Regis to...
with his civil partner Jason Eades.
Shadow Cabinet
After his election to Parliament, Herbert joined the Home Affairs Select CommitteeHome Affairs Select Committee
The Home Affairs Select Committee is a Committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.-Remit:The Home Affairs Committee is one of the House of Commons Select Committees related to government departments: its terms of reference are to examine "the expenditure,...
. After David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
became leader of the Conservative Party, Herbert became a Shadow Minister for home affairs
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
on 16 December 2005. This meant he had to leave the Home Affairs Select Committee. In July 2007, he joined the Shadow Cabinet for the new position of Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, shadowing veteran Labour minister Jack Straw
Jack Straw
Jack Straw , British politician.Jack Straw may also refer to:* Jack Straw , English* "Jack Straw" , 1971 song by the Grateful Dead* Jack Straw by W...
. On 19 January 2009 he was made Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is a UK cabinet-level position in charge of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the successor to the positions of Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport...
.
In Government
On the Coalition forming between the ConservativesConservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
and Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
in May 2010, Herbert was appointed as a Minister of State
Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians or officials in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a "minister of state" is a junior minister, who is assigned to assist a specific cabinet minister...
at the Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
with responsibility for policing
Minister of State for Police
The Minister of State for Policing and Criminal Justice is a ministerial position held jointly at the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice in the Government of the United Kingdom. The current minister is Nick Herbert, a Conservative MP, who was appointed 13 May 2010...
and at the Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Justice is a ministerial department of the UK Government headed by the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, who is responsible for improvements to the justice system so that it better serves the public...
with responsibility for criminal justice. To undertake this role, Herbert was appointed a Privy Counsellor on 9 June 2010.
Personal life
Herbert joined his long-term partner, Jason Eades, in civil partnership in early January 2009 after a 10-year relationship.External links
- Nick Herbert MP official constituency website
- Profile at the Conservative Party
- Reform.co.uk
- David Cameron's rising star Nick Herbert 'marries' his boyfriend, Richard Eden, The TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, 4 January 2009 - Nick Herbert claimed stamp duty on joint home: MPs expenses, Jon Swaine and Martin Beckford, The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, 11 May 2009