The Lord Harper | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Official portrait, 2022 | |
| Secretary of State for Transport | |
| In office 25 October 2022 – 5 July 2024 | |
| Prime Minister | Rishi Sunak |
| Preceded by | Anne-Marie Trevelyan |
| Succeeded by | Louise Haigh |
| Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury | |
| In office 9 May 2015 – 14 July 2016 | |
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | Michael Gove |
| Succeeded by | Gavin Williamson |
| Minister of State for Disabled People | |
| In office 15 July 2014 – 8 May 2015 | |
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | Mike Penning |
| Succeeded by | Justin Tomlinson |
| Minister of State for Immigration | |
| In office 4 September 2012 – 8 February 2014 | |
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | Damian Green |
| Succeeded by | James Brokenshire |
| Parliamentary Secretary for Political and Constitutional Reform | |
| In office 11 May 2010 – 4 September 2012 | |
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Chloe Smith |
| Shadow Minister for Disabled People | |
| In office 3 July 2007 – 11 May 2010 | |
| Leader | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | Jeremy Hunt |
| Succeeded by | Margaret Curran |
| Member of the House of Lords Lords Temporal | |
| Assumed office 13 May 2025 Life Peerage | |
| Member of Parliament forForest of Dean | |
| In office 5 May 2005 – 30 May 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Diana Organ |
| Succeeded by | Matt Bishop |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Mark James Harper (1970-02-26)26 February 1970 (age 55) |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | Margaret Harper |
| Alma mater | Brasenose College, Oxford |
Mark James Harper, Baron Harper (born 26 February 1970) is a British politician who served in theCabinet asChief Whip of the House of Commons from 2015 to 2016 and asSecretary of State for Transport from 2022 to 2024. A member of theConservative Party, he served as theMember of Parliament (MP) forForest of Dean inGloucestershire from2005 until his defeat in 2024.
Harper was born inSwindon and studiedphilosophy, politics and economics atBrasenose College, Oxford. He was achartered accountant before his election to Parliament. Under thecoalition government ofDavid Cameron he served asParliamentary Secretary for Political and Constitutional Reform before being promoted toMinister of State for Immigration in the2012 reshuffle. During his tenure at theHome Office, he devised acontroversial campaign in which advertising vans told illegal migrants to "go home".[1] He resigned as Immigration Minister in February 2014, but quickly returned to government asMinister of State for Disabled People in theJuly 2014 reshuffle.
Harper was promoted to Cameron's cabinet asChief Whip of the House of Commons following the2015 general election; he served in the role for a year before being sacked by incoming Prime MinisterTheresa May in 2016. Harper was a candidate forleader of the Conservative Party in the2019 leadership contest, finishing ninth out of 10 candidates with 10 votes.[2] During theJohnson premiership, he was the chair of theCOVID Recovery Group of Conservative MPs advocating for looser COVID-19 restrictions. AfterRishi Sunak became Prime Minister, Harper was appointed to theCabinet asSecretary of State for Transport.[3]
Harper was born and raised inSwindon,Wiltshire, where he had a working-class upbringing: his father was a manual worker and his mother was employed by a book club.[4] He was educated atHeadlands Comprehensive School andSwindon College. He readphilosophy, politics and economics atBrasenose College, Oxford, where he studied under ProfessorVernon Bogdanor.[5]
Upon graduation in 1991, Harper joinedKPMG as anauditor. After qualifying as achartered accountant, he joinedIntel Corporation. In 2002, he left Intel to set up his own accountancy practice.[6][7]
Before entering Parliament, Harper was the treasurer of theSwindon Conservative Association and served as vice-chairman for a year in 1998.
At the2001 general election, Harper contested theGloucestershire seat ofForest of Dean but came second to the incumbentLabour Party MPDiana Organ; Harper won 38.8% of the vote.[8]
Organ retired at the2005 general election and Harper was elected for the Conservatives with a majority of 2,049 votes, similar to the Labour majority at the previous election,[9] and 40.9% of the vote.[10] At the same general election, Harper's wife Margaret stood for election as the Conservative candidate inWorcester, where she finished in second place to theLabour candidate,Michael Foster.[10]
On 24 May 2005, Harper made hismaiden speech,[11] in which he advocated giving the parents of children with special educational needs the option of sending their children to a non-mainstream school – an issue of local interest in Harper's Gloucestershire seat and one close to the heart of the then Shadow Education Secretary,David Cameron, whose son Ivan was born with severe learning difficulties.[12] When Cameron was elected leader of the party in December 2005, he made Harper a spokesman on armed forces welfare issues and veterans.
Harper has sat on the Commons Administration Committee and briefly on the Work and Pensions Committee. On matters of foreign policy, he has consistently voted in support of British military intervention overseas.[13] Harper was described in 2015 as aEurosceptic.[14] Even so, he campaigned to remain in the European Union during the2016 referendum on ending the UK's membership.[15]
The scandal over MPs' expenses showed Harper to be a frugal parliamentarian: his only significant expenses claim was for a brief period of temporary accommodation occupied on a short-term basis soon after being elected in 2005.[16]
In the reshuffle of July 2007, Harper was made Shadow Minister for Disabled People, a position he held until the general election in 2010.[17][18]
At the2010 general election, Harper was re-elected with an increased vote share of 46.9% and an increased majority of 11,064.[19] Soon afterwards, Harper becameParliamentary Secretary for Political and Constitutional Reform.[20] He worked withDeputy Prime MinisterNick Clegg on theParliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 that changed the voting system for electing MPs (Harper was not enthusiastic about the proposal,[5] which had been a key bargaining chip in thecoalition negotiations in May 2010).
In October 2010, the government introduced thePublic Bodies Act to theHouse of Lords,[21] which would allow it to sell or lease public forests in England. Harper supported the bill, describing it as an "exciting opportunity for community ownership." However, the measure was widely criticised by many residents within his Forest of Dean constituency[22][23] and by politicians with connections to the large oak forest after which Harper's parliamentary seat is named – includingBaroness Jan Royall, leader of the opposition in the House of Lords. Following a public meeting – after which Harper had to be rescued by the police from what he described as "a baying mob"[24] – and a sustained national campaign which included the newly formed local Forest of Dean pressure groupHands off our Forest, the government announced it had abandoned its plans and would remove the forestry clauses from the Public Bodies Bill.[25][26][27]
Harper worked on theHouse of Lords Reform Bill, which set out to introduce a smaller second chamber consisting mostly of elected peers. This was a Liberal Democrat policy that had also been mentioned as an aspiration in the Conservative Party's manifesto of 2010. In July 2012, 91 Conservative MPs defied the whips and voted with Labour against the proposals, something which led the coalition government to abandon the planned reform soon afterwards.[28]
In the reshuffle of September 2012, Harper was promoted toMinister of State for Immigration at a time when levels of inward migration were falling but emigration rates were falling faster still, leading to a rise in net migration into the UK.[29]
Over the summer of 2013, Harper trialled a campaign aimed at illegal immigrants that consisted, in part, of lorries with hoardings attached to their load areas driving around London displaying the sign "Here Illegally? Go Home or Risk Arrest" with more information in smaller print on how to contact theHome Office for advice. The scheme was seen as offensive by some and it divided opinion within the coalition's ministerial team.[30] In October 2013, Harper told MPs: "The advertising vans in particular were too much of a blunt instrument and will not be used again".[31][32] As immigration minister, Harper stated "British citizenship is a privilege, not a right".[33][34][35]
Harper resigned as immigration minister on 8 February 2014, after he discovered that his self-employed cleaner did not have permission to work in the UK. In his resignation letter, Harper stated that he first made checks on his cleaner in 2007 and "considered the issue again" when appointed a minister in the Cabinet Office in 2010 and immigration minister in September 2012 but had concluded that "no further check was necessary". After launching a campaign to get employers and landlords to carry out "reasonable checks" on workers, Harper said that he thought it prudent to check the documents again, but could not locate them, and asked his cleaner for new copies. When his private office checked the details with immigration officials, it was found she did not have indefinite leave to stay in the UK. He immediately told Home SecretaryTheresa May, and then after notifying Prime MinisterDavid Cameron, he resigned. He was replaced byJames Brokenshire.[36][37]
The ministerial reshuffle in July 2014 saw Harper restored to office in the role ofMinister of State for Disabled People at theDepartment for Work and Pensions (DWP).[38] He took over responsibility for the relatively newPersonal Independence Payment (PIP), as well as for theWork Capability Assessment (WCA) used to assess entitlement toEmployment and Support Allowance (ESA) – a legacy of New Labour. Both operations were plagued by large backlogs of unassessed claims.[39]
In October 2014, theOffice for Budget Responsibility disclosed that Harper's department had failed to make the anticipated £3 billion annual saving in incapacity benefits spending expected by 2014 (the DWP achieved no saving at all from this budget over the whole of the 2010–15 parliamentary term).[40]
In December 2014, Harper attracted negative media attention after Steve Parry-Hearn, a prospective Labour parliamentary candidate, accused him of hypocrisy when he called for businesses to improve disabled access, even though his own high street constituency office was inaccessible to wheelchair users.[41][42]
In January 2015, Harper appeared before theWork and Pensions Select Committee to face questions over the problems with PIP.[43] A former senior civil servant appointed by the DWP to review PIP had found the scheme beset by "delays and backlogs" and had described the process, which was introduced by another minister in April 2013, as still representing "a major delivery challenge." Macmillan benefits advisers had told the reviewer that people had died while waiting for their PIP claim to be processed. The MS Society described these delays as unacceptable and some charities called for the PIP scheme to be halted.[44]
In March 2015, the US firmMaximus began carrying out WCAs in place ofAtos under a completely new contract that would cost almost £600 million and run until late 2018.[45] There was initial optimism within Whitehall that a new contract and a new provider would mean the start of a new chapter in fit-for-work assessment, although two House of Commons select committees – the Work and Pensions Committee and the Public Accounts Committee – had between them concluded that the DWP's policies, its operational decisions and its failure to monitor Atos adequately were to blame for many of the assessment's earlier failings.[46][47][48] A review by theNational Audit Office of the performance of the new contract in its first year was sceptical about its value for money,[49] although the WCA backlog had been virtually eliminated by the spring of 2016.
By the time he left the DWP, Harper had brought about a substantial reduction in the size of the backlog of PIP claims as well. This was achieved by: drafting in hundreds more DWP decision-makers; assessing more claims on the basis of the documents supplied by claimants, rather than through more time-consuming face-to-face assessments; changing the way that waiting times were measured; and streamlining the whole end-to-end process.[50][51]
At the2015 general election, Harper was again re-elected with a decreased vote share of 46.8% and a decreased majority of 10,987.[52][53] He was promoted to Chief Whip after the Conservative general election victory in May 2015.
In December 2015, after a vote in favour of using Britain's military capabilities against theIslamic State in Syria, theLondon Evening Standard reported that: "David Cameron dashed to the Government whips' office to congratulate Chief Whip Mark Harper following the Commons vote on the war, which saw MPs back action after a 10-hour debate."[54]
Following David Cameron's resignation and the ascension ofTheresa May to the Prime Ministership, May dismissed Harper from the cabinet and he returned to thebackbenches.
At the snap2017 general election, Harper was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 54.3% and a decreased majority of 9,502.[55] He was again re-elected at the2019 general election with an increased vote share of 59.6% and an increased majority of 15,869.[55]
During theCOVID-19 pandemic, Harper was a critic of the government's approach. In November 2020, he became chair of theCOVID Recovery Group, a group of MPs who advocated against lockdown and for looser restrictions.[56]
In April 2022, Harper submitted a letter of no confidence in Prime MinisterBoris Johnson in the wake of thePartygate scandal. Harper said that Johnson was "no longer worthy" of remaining Prime Minister.[57][58]
In June 2022, Harper was re-selected as the Conservative candidate for Forest of Dean at the2024 general election.[59]
Upon the accession ofRishi Sunak to the Prime Ministership, Harper made a return to the frontbench when he was appointedSecretary of State for Transport on 25 October 2022.[60] His appointment came amida period of significant industrial action held by railway staff. Harper refused to negotiate with the unions, which led to a years-long standoff and rolling strikes.[61][62] In July 2023 the closure of almost all ticket offices at railway stations, making hundreds of staff redundant, was proposed after Harper instructed train operators to cut costs.[63] The proposal was later scrapped.[64]
In October 2023, Harper spoke out against the governing Conservative Party's transportation policies, particularly anti-pollution charges on cars and low speed limits. He called his party "proudly pro-car."[65] In particular, his speech at the party conference appeared to "echo conspiracy theories about sinister plots linked to the concept of '15-minute cities'", suggesting that councils could "decide when people could go the shops", described by the BBC as "not an accurate characterisation of '15-minute cities'."[66]
At the2024 general election, the railway unions campaigned specifically against Harper, aiming to dislodge him in favour of the Labour candidateMatt Bishop. Harper was narrowly defeated in the election.[67] Negotiations resumed after his defeat and the dispute was largely resolved by the new government that September.[68]
It was announced in the2024 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours of April 2025 that Harper was to be made alife peer;[69] he was created asBaron Harper,of Forest of Dean in the County of Gloucestershire on 12 May 2025.[70] He wasintroduced to theHouse of Lords the next day,[71] where he sits as a Conservative peer.[72]
Harper is married to Margaret.[7] In 2015, he was sworn in as a member ofHer Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council.[73] This gave him theHonorific Prefix "The Right Honourable" for life.
British citizenship is a privilege, not a right
British citizenship is a privilege, not a right
The Home Office said: 'British citizenship is a privilege, not a right. Deprivation of citizenship on conducive grounds is rightly reserved for those who pose a threat to the UK or whose conduct involves very high harm.'
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for theForest of Dean 2005–2024 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Shadow Minister for Forces Families and Welfare 2005–2007 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Minister for the Disabled 2007–2010 | Position abolished |
| Preceded by | Minister of State for Immigration 2012–2014 | Succeeded byas Minister of State for Security and Immigration |
| Preceded by | Minister of State for Disabled People 2014–2015 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief Whip of theHouse of Commons 2015–2016 | Succeeded by |
| Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury 2015–2016 | ||
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Transport 2022–2024 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Conservative Chief Whip of theHouse of Commons 2015–2016 | Succeeded by |
| Cabinet members | .svg) | |
|---|---|---|
| Also attended meetings | ||
| Departures | ||
|  | |
| Asylum and immigration 1999–2002 | | |
|---|---|---|
| Immigration, citizenship and counter-terrorism 2002–2005 | ||
| Immigration, citizenship and nationality 2005–2006 | ||
| Borders and immigration 2006–2010 | ||
| Immigration 2010–2023 | ||
| Legal migration and delivery 2023–2024 | ||
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