Jesse Norman | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2020 | |
| Shadow Leader of the House of Commons | |
| Assumed office 5 November 2024 | |
| Leader | Kemi Badenoch |
| Preceded by | Chris Philp |
| Minister of State for Decarbonisation and Technology[a] | |
| In office 26 October 2022 – 13 November 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Rishi Sunak |
| Preceded by | Lucy Frazer |
| Succeeded by | Anthony Browne |
| In office 12 November 2018 – 23 May 2019 | |
| Prime Minister | Theresa May |
| Preceded by | Jo Johnson |
| Succeeded by | Michael Ellis |
| Minister of State for the Americas and the Overseas Territories | |
| In office 7 September 2022 – 26 October 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Liz Truss |
| Preceded by | Rehman Chishti |
| Succeeded by | David Rutley |
| Financial Secretary to the Treasury | |
| In office 23 May 2019 – 16 September 2021 | |
| Prime Minister | Theresa May Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | Mel Stride |
| Succeeded by | Lucy Frazer |
| Paymaster General | |
| In office 23 May 2019 – 24 July 2019 | |
| Prime Minister | Theresa May |
| Preceded by | Mel Stride |
| Succeeded by | Oliver Dowden |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport | |
| In office 15 June 2017 – 12 November 2018 | |
| Prime Minister | Theresa May |
| Preceded by | Andrew Jones |
| Succeeded by | Andrew Jones |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Industry and Energy | |
| In office 18 July 2016 – 14 June 2017 | |
| Prime Minister | Theresa May |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Richard Harrington |
| Chairman of theCulture, Media and Sport Committee | |
| In office 18 June 2015 – 18 July 2016 | |
| Preceded by | John Whittingdale |
| Succeeded by | Damian Collins |
| Member of Parliament forHereford and South Herefordshire | |
| Assumed office 6 May 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Paul Keetch |
| Majority | 1,279 (1.8%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Alexander Jesse Norman (1962-06-23)23 June 1962 (age 62) London, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | |
| Relations | Sir Mark Norman, Bt (uncle) Sir Torquil Norman (father) |
| Children | 3 |
| Residence(s) | London Hereford |
| Education | Eton College |
| Alma mater | Merton College, Oxford University College London |
| Website | jessenorman |
| Academic background | |
| Thesis | Visual reasoning in Euclid's geometry : an epistemology of diagrams (2003) |
Alexander Jesse Norman (born 23 June 1962) is a British politician who has served asShadow Leader of the House of Commons since November 2024. A member of theConservative Party, he has been aMember of Parliament (MP) forHereford and South Herefordshire since2010.[1][2]
Norman was adirector atBarclays before leaving theCity in 1997 toresearch andteach atUniversity College London. Prior to that he ran an educational charity inEastern Europe during and after theCommunist era.[3]
He served as a Minister in the Treasury, Foreign Office, Cabinet Office, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and the Department for Transport. Among his MInisterial roles he served asPaymaster General andFinancial Secretary to the Treasury. Upon Kemi Badenoch's victory in the2024 Conservative Party Leadership Election, Norman was appointed Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, replacingChris Philp.
Jesse Norman was born on 23 June 1962 in London. He is the son ofSir Torquil Norman and his wife Lady Elizabeth Montagu (daughter of the10th Earl of Sandwich), the paternal grandson ofAir CommodoreSir Nigel Norman, 2nd Bt, CBE, and the great-grandson ofSir Henry Norman, 1st Bt. He and his sons are therefore inremainder to theNorman baronetcy.[4][5]
Norman was educated atEton College andMerton College, Oxford, graduating with a Second inClassics.
Norman pursued further studies atUniversity College London, where he was appointed anHonoraryResearch Fellow inphilosophy, taking aMaster of Philosophy (MPhil) in 1999 and aDoctor of Philosophy (PhD) in 2003. His doctoral thesis was titled "Visual reasoning inEuclid's geometry: an epistemology of diagrams".[6] He also lectured in philosophy at University College London andBirkbeck, University of London. He was elected as avisiting fellow atAll Souls College, Oxford in 2016–17,[7] and a Two-Year Fellow in 2022.[8]
Norman's research interests includeEdmund Burke andAdam Smith.[8]
He was for many years atrustee ofThe Roundhouse, a North London arts venue and charity founded by his father, Sir Torquil Norman.[9] He has also served on the board of theHay Festival, the Kindle Centre in Hereford, and the Friends of St Mary's church,Ross-on-Wye.[10]
He was a Senior Fellow atPolicy Exchange and writes regularly for the national press. His bookCompassionate Conservatism (2006), co-written withJanan Ganesh, has been described as "the guidebook to Cameronism" byThe Sunday Times. Its successor,Compassionate Economics, was favourably reviewed byDaniel Hannan.[11] His other policy publications include "Living for the City" (2006) and "From Here to Fraternity" (2007).
His books includeThe Achievement ofMichael Oakeshott (ed.) (1992),Breaking the Habits of a Lifetime (1992) andAfter Euclid (2006); The Big Society: The Anatomy of the New Politics (2010), published byUniversity of Buckingham Press.
His biography ofEdmund Burke waslong-listed for the2013 Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction,[12] and was described as "A must-read for anyone interested in politics and history" by the Sunday Telegraph.
His bookAdam Smith: What He Thought, and Why It Matters (2018),[13] won the Parliamentary non-fiction book award in 2018.,[14] and was described as "superb" in the Financial Times.
Norman's first novel,The Winding Stair, about the rivalry betweenFrancis Bacon andEdward Coke, was published in June 2023.[15]
At the2006 local elections in Camden, Norman was one of the threeConservative candidates forCamden Town with Primrose Hill ward. However, he was unsuccessful, in what was a close contest between theLabour andLiberal Democrat parties.[16]
At the2010 general election, Norman was elected to Parliament as MP forHereford and South Herefordshire with 46.2% of the vote and a majority of 2,481.[17][18]
He was a member of theTreasury Select Committee from July 2010 to March 2015, is Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Employee Ownership, founder of the PFI Rebate Campaign and founding member of the Campaign for an Effective Second Chamber which campaigns for theHouse of Lords to be appointed rather than elected.[19]
On 10 July 2012, Norman was reported to be the organiser ringleader of the rebellion over theHouse of Lords Reform package presented to theHouse of Commons.[20][21]Ed Miliband, the then leader of the Labour Party, described the scene involving Cameron and Norman as "fisticuffs in the Lobby" atPrime Minister's Questions.[22][23]
In 2013, Norman said that so manyOld Etonians were in government positions because of Eton's "ethos" of public service that "other schools don't imbue the same commitment". Later on Twitter, Norman said his comments were "defending one institution, not attacking others".[24] Norman describes his educational background as following "an educational argument between my mother, who despised any form of privilege, and my father, who took the view that he had set up his own business, so he was entitled to spend money on his kids' education".[25]
Norman was dismissed from Downing Street's Policy Board in September 2013 after rebelling against the Government again in opposition to military intervention inSyria.[26]
On 27 June 2014, prior to the nomination ofJean-Claude Juncker to thepresidency of the European Commission, Norman gave his wholehearted support of Cameron's stance, as being "absolutely right... in opposing Mr Juncker". He argued that the EU constitution requires elected heads to choose its "President" and secondly that Juncker's manifesto fails to tackle what he (Norman) sees as the President's duty to address the unpopularity of EU mandates. Norman also said thatdemocracy, for the British, involves legitimacy derived from the ballot box, whereas for some Europeans, it involves centralisedbureaucracy.[27]
In September 2014, Norman raised the issue of rules concerningfootball club ownership in theHouse of Commons, alleging the then-Chairman ofHereford United had a criminal conviction,[28] in support of Supporters Trust's campaign to oust the Agombar régime at Hereford Utd FC. On 19 December 2014, the club was wound up in the High Court.[29]
At the2015 general election, Norman was re-elected as MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire with an increased vote share of 52.6% and an increased majority of 16,890.[30]
On 19 June 2015, he was elected as Chairman of theCulture, Media and Sport Committee.[31]
On 8 September 2015 at a hearing of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee convened to discuss recent allegation of blood doping inathletics, Norman said the following "When you hear the London Marathon, potentially the winners or medallists at the London Marathon, potentially British athletes are under suspicion for very high levels of blood doping... " thus seemingly using parliamentary privilege to implicatePaula Radcliffe as being involved, since she is the only BritishLondon Marathon winner since 1996. This prompted Radcliffe to respond with a statement denying any involvement in doping,[32] though Norman said it was not his intention to implicate any individual.[33]
FollowingTheresa May's appointment as Prime Minister in July 2016, Norman was appointedParliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Industry and Energy.
Norman was again re-elected at the snap2017 general election, with an increased vote share of 53.5% and a decreased majority of 15,013.[34][35]
Norman was appointedParliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport after the2017 general election, before advancing toMinister of State at the same department in November 2018.[citation needed]
In May 2019, Norman was appointedPaymaster General andFinancial Secretary to the Treasury by May; he remained in the latter position under her successor,Boris Johnson, until he stepped down in September 2021.[36] During his time at the Treasury, he managed the UK Pandemic Furlough and self-employed schemes, launched a 10 year strategy to digitize the tax system, and set up the UK Infrastructure Bank. At the time of stepping down, he was said to have done so over Boris Johnson's bid for more diversity in Government.[37]
At the2019 general election, Norman was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 61.2% and an increased majority of 19,686.[38]
On 6 June 2022, Norman sent hisletter of no confidence to Boris Johnson, in reaction to thePartygate scandal and policy propositions that Norman opposed, such as Johnson'sRwanda plan and theprivatisation of Channel 4. He also denounced the sidelining of Parliament by Johnson's Government, accusing him of "trying to import elements of a presidential system of government that is entirely foreign to our constitution".[39] AfterJohnson's resignation a month later, Norman backedNadhim Zahawi in theJuly–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election.[40] After Zahawi was eliminated, he backedLiz Truss for the leadership.[41]
In September 2022 he returned to Government asMinister of State for the Americas and the Overseas Territories, appointed by Liz Truss following her election as Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister.[42][43]
In October 2022 he moved to theDepartment for Transport, having been appointed by the new PMRishi Sunak (who he had backed in theOctober 2022 Conservative Party leadership election[44]) to the role ofMinister of State for Decarbonisation and Technology from October 2022 to November 2023.[45][46]
On 13 November 2023 he stood down from his Ministerial role citing that it would enable him to spend more time campaigning locally, and saying that he had indicated his wish to step down to the whips some months previously.[47]
At the2024 general election, Norman was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 32.6% and a decreased majority of 1,279.[48]
In July 2024, he announced his backing ofKemi Badenoch in the2024 Conservative Party leadership election, stating that she could "draw the best from the past but galvanise fresh energies and set a new direction".[49] Upon Badenoch's victory in the 2024 leadership election, Norman was appointedShadow Leader of the House of Commons[50]
Norman has been described as a member of the Conservative Party'sOne-Nation wing[25] and one of the main intellectuals ofCameronism.[51] Norman is a supporter of theBig Society, viewing it as an example ofBurkean Conservativism. Norman argues that the Big Society is "a focus on human beings not as economic atoms, but as bundles of capability; a focus on intermediate institutions between the individual and the state; and a focus on society and individual rights as such, rather than as mediated by the state".[52] He is critical ofliberal individualism, putting forth the idea that conservativism should be focused on human responsibility and that social orders should be preserved to address the needs of the "generations past, present and future".[53]
Almost alone among MPs, Norman has never revealed publicly how he voted over the UK's continued membership of theEuropean Union in the2016 referendum saying only, "A referendum is not an act of representative government and I am not a minister, so my vote can properly be a private one."[54] He set out his view of Brexit in an Op-Ed "To get this EU debate out of the sewer, it needs the Pulp Fiction treatment".[55]
In 1992, Norman marriedKate Bingham,[56] only daughter ofThe Lord Bingham of Cornhill,KG, the formerLord Chief Justice.[57] Bingham is known for leading theJohnson government's COVID-19Vaccine Taskforce. They have two sons and one daughter.[25][58]
In November 2019, he was appointed as a member of thePrivy Council.[59]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forHereford and South Herefordshire 2010–present | Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Office established | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy 2016–2017 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport 2017–2018 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of State for Transport 2018–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Paymaster General 2019 | Succeeded by |
| Financial Secretary to the Treasury 2019–2021 | Succeeded by | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
