Sir Michael Ellis | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2020 | |
| Attorney General for England and Wales Advocate General for Northern Ireland | |
| In office 6 September 2022 – 25 October 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Liz Truss |
| Preceded by | Suella Braverman |
| Succeeded by | Victoria Prentis |
| In office 2 March 2021 – 10 September 2021[a] | |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | Suella Braverman |
| Succeeded by | Suella Braverman |
| Minister for the Cabinet Office | |
| In office 8 February 2022 – 6 September 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | Steve Barclay |
| Succeeded by | Edward Argar |
| Paymaster General | |
| In office 16 September 2021 – 6 September 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | Penny Mordaunt |
| Succeeded by | Edward Argar |
| Solicitor General for England and Wales | |
| In office 10 September 2021 – 16 September 2021 | |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | Lucy Frazer |
| Succeeded by | Alex Chalk |
| In office 26 July 2019 – 2 March 2021 | |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | Lucy Frazer |
| Succeeded by | Lucy Frazer |
| Minister of State for Transport | |
| In office 23 May 2019 – 24 July 2019 | |
| Prime Minister | Theresa May |
| Preceded by | Jesse Norman |
| Succeeded by | Chris Heaton-Harris |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Arts, Heritage and Tourism | |
| In office 9 January 2018 – 23 May 2019 | |
| Prime Minister | Theresa May |
| Preceded by | John Glen |
| Succeeded by | Rebecca Pow |
| Deputy Leader of the House of Commons | |
| In office 17 July 2016 – 9 January 2018 | |
| Prime Minister | Theresa May |
| Preceded by | Thérèse Coffey |
| Succeeded by | Chris Heaton-Harris |
| Member of Parliament forNorthampton North | |
| In office 6 May 2010 – 30 May 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Sally Keeble |
| Succeeded by | Lucy Rigby |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Michael Tyrone Ellis (1967-10-13)13 October 1967 (age 58) Northampton, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Alma mater | University of Buckingham City Law School |
| Website | Official website |
Sir Michael Tyrone Ellis (born 13 October 1967) is a British politician and barrister who served asAttorney General for England and Wales between September and October 2022, having previously served in the position from March to September 2021 during the maternity leave ofSuella Braverman. A member of theConservative Party, he previously served asPaymaster General from 2021 to 2022 and asMinister for the Cabinet Office from February to September 2022. Ellis served as theMember of Parliament (MP) forNorthampton North from2010 to2024.
Ellis served in theMay Government asDeputy Leader of the House of Commons from 2016 to 2018, asParliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Arts, Heritage and Tourism from 2018 to 2019, and asMinister of State for Transport from May to July 2019. WhenBoris Johnson becamePrime Minister in July 2019, he was appointedSolicitor General and, in September 2019, he was appointed to thePrivy Council.[1] He also served as Acting Attorney General from March to September 2021 after Braverman was designated as aMinister on Leave. On 15 September 2021, Ellis was appointedPaymaster General in Johnson's second cabinet reshuffle.[2] In February 2022, he was promoted by Johnson toMinister for the Cabinet Office, a position with the right to attend Cabinet. Ellis was appointed Attorney General byLiz Truss on 6 September 2022, but was dismissed from the position by her successor,Rishi Sunak, the following month.
Michael Ellis was born in Northampton on 13 October 1967 to aBritish Jewish family.[3] He was privately educated at two independent schools:Spratton Hall School, a preparatory school in the village ofSpratton inNorthamptonshire, and atWellingborough School, in the town ofWellingborough. He went on to study at the privateUniversity of Buckingham, where he obtained anupper-second classLL.B. degree in 1993, and won theAylesbury Vale District Council Chairman's Prize for the Best Performance in Public Law that year.[4]
At university, Ellis was a student editor of theDenning Law Journal.[4] Whilst at university, he undertook an exchange programme in the United States at theCollege of William and Mary,Marshall-Wythe School of Law inWilliamsburg, Virginia.[4] After attending theInns of Court School of Law in London, he was called to the Bar atMiddle Temple in 1993.[5] His legal practice as a barrister was based in Northampton, and his chamber's head office was in London.[6]
Ellis stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate in the Park ward ofNorthampton Borough Council in 1995.[7] However, he was elected in 1997 as a Conservative councillor onNorthamptonshire County Council, representing the Northampton Park (now Parklands) Ward, winning the seat from his Labour Party rival by 44 votes. He served until the next election in May 2001, when he did not stand again.[8] At the time of his election he was the youngest county councillor in Northamptonshire, at the age of 29.[9]
Ellis became the Conservative parliamentary candidate forNorthampton North in December 2006. This followed a public vote in anopen primary, which was a relatively unusual selection mechanism at the time.[10][11][12][13] Ellis was elected to Parliament in the6 May 2010 general election gaining the seat with a majority of 1,936 and 34.1% of the vote, defeating the sitting Labour MP,Sally Keeble.[14]
In November 2010, Ellis established an All Party Group on theQueen's Diamond Jubilee, which he chaired for the following three years.[15] In this role, Ellis was responsible for organising a gift of a stained glass window of the Queen's coat of arms for the Queen from bothHouses of Parliament.[16]
In July 2010, he was first elected onto the Statutory Instruments (Joint Committee) and worked on the Draft Communications Data Bill during the 2012–13 Parliamentary session.[17] Ellis was interviewed about this Bill withJimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, on theDaily Politics programme on 11 December 2012.[18] In February 2011, Ellis was first elected onto theHouse of CommonsHome Affairs Select Committee.[19][20]
On 11 September 2013, Ellis introduced theMedical Innovation (No.2) Bill, aprivate members bill to the House of Commons.[21][22] The bill was designed to allow doctors more scope to innovate when treating cancer patients, but was criticised by a range of medical and legal bodies, patient groups and charities.[23][24] The bill was withdrawn after its first reading,[25] following an indication from the government that they would support it.[26] Although the Conservative MPDan Poulter MP, who was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health, suggested in July 2014 that the Government was keen to support it, it failed to progress through the House of Commons after the Liberal Democrats declined to support it.[27]
In March 2014, the chancellor of the exchequer,George Osborne announced in the House of Commons during the Budget Speech that a campaign Ellis had been conducting to secure extra funds to reduce potholes had succeeded and that a £200 million fund was being created to be distributed nationwide.[28] In June 2014, it was announced that £3.3 million of this fund would be allocated to Northamptonshire by the Department for Transport, with various repairs in Northampton.[29][30]
In July 2014, Ellis was successful in calling for the Parliamentary authorities to officially mark the assassination of a former member of Parliament for Northampton,Spencer Perceval, who had become Prime Minister, and who wasshot and killed in the House of Commons in 1812. The Parliamentary authorities agreed to install a brass plaque inSt Stephen's Hall commemorating the notable assassination and Ellis called this a "fitting tribute" to the former prime minister and historic Northampton figure.[31]
In October 2014, theNorthampton Chronicle & Echo newspaper reported that Ellis had been canvassing in Northampton when he came across a medical emergency and performedcardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on a constituent.[32]
Ellis was re-elected at the2015 general election. He beat Sally Keeble by 3,245 votes (42%) to retain his seat in the House of Commons.[33]
In May 2016, it emerged that Ellis was one of a number of Conservative MPs being investigated by police in the2015 general election party spending investigation, for allegedly spending more than the legal limit on constituency election campaign expenses.[34] However, in May 2017, the Crown Prosecution Service said that while there was evidence of inaccurate spending returns, it did not "meet the test" for further action.[35]
In July 2016, Ellis was made an Assistant Whip (HM Treasury) and became Deputy Leader of the House of Commons.[36]
Ellis was opposed toBrexit prior to the2016 referendum.[37] He later supportedTheresa May's Brexit deal,[38] and voted against ruling out ano-deal Brexit.[39]
Ellis was re-elected again at the2017 general election. However, his majority over Sally Keeble was reduced to 807 votes.[citation needed]
In February 2018, following the announcement thatNorthamptonshire County Council had brought in a "section 114" notice, putting it in special measures following a crises in its finances, Ellis was one of seven local MPs who released a statement arguing that the problems with the authority were down to mismanagement from the Conservative councillors who led it rather than funding cuts from the Conservative Government. They further argued that government commissioners should take over the running of the council.[40]
As Arts Minister in April 2019, Ellis placed anexport bar on a 500-year-old drawing byLucas van Leyden worth £11.4 million in a bid to keep the work of art in the United Kingdom.[41] He also placed anexport bar on a 17th-centurybaroque cabinet by Roman maker Giacomo Herman[42] and a unique 18th-centuryharpsichord by Joseph Mahoon.[43]
In the2019 general election, his majority over Sally Keeble increased to 5,507.[44]
In the House of Commons he has sat on the Statutory Instruments (Select and Joint Committees) and the Home Affairs Committee.[36] He is a member of theConservative Friends of Israel group, and has participated in delegations to raise concerns about an agreement relating to Iran's nuclear capabilities.[45]
WhenSuella Braverman was designated as aMinister on Leave in 2021, Ellis was appointed Attorney General[46] and designated as also attendingCabinet.[47]
On 8 February 2022, Ellis was appointedMinister for the Cabinet Office in addition to his role asPaymaster General.[48]
Ellis supportedRishi Sunak during theJuly–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election.[citation needed]
On 6 September 2022, Ellis was appointedAttorney General for England and Wales andAdvocate General for Northern Ireland in theTruss ministry, succeedingSuella Braverman. He was dismissed on 25 October 2022 by the new prime ministerRishi Sunak.[citation needed]
Ellis was appointed aKnight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the2023 Political Honours on 18 June for public and political service.[49][50]
Speaking during a sitting at theHouse of Commons onthe 8th of January 2024[51], Ellis expressed views againstProceedings instituted by South Africa against the State of Israel on 29 December 2023 which by then800+ Global Groups and the 57-member states of theOIC had supported.[52]
Ellis announced in May 2024 that he would stand down at the2024 general election.[53]
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