Tessa Munt | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Member of Parliament forWells and Mendip Hills | |
| Assumed office 4 July 2024 | |
| Preceded by | James Heappey (Wells[a]) |
| Majority | 11,121 (22.08%) |
| Member of Parliament forWells | |
| In office 6 May 2010 – 30 March 2015 | |
| Preceded by | David Heathcoat-Amory |
| Succeeded by | James Heappey |
| Member ofSomerset Council for Wells | |
| Assumed office 4 May 2017 Serving with Theo Butt-Philip (Since 2022) | |
| Preceded by | John Osman |
| Majority | 1,494 (38.7%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1959-10-16)16 October 1959 (age 65) Surrey, England |
| Political party | Liberal Democrats (after 1997) |
| Other political affiliations | Labour (mid-1990s) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence(s) | Wedmore,Somerset, England |
| Education | Sutton High School, London |
| Website | tessamunt |
Tessa Jane Munt (née Vasey) (born 16 October 1959)[3] is a BritishLiberal Democrat politician. She is theMember of Parliament forWells and Mendip Hills in Somerset, having previously been elected as the MP forWells from 2010 to 2015 and serving as theParliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to theSecretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills,Vince Cable.[4] As a councillor onSomerset Council, she was the executive member for Children, Families and Education from 2022 until 2023.
Her paternal grandfather was a politician inKenya during the 1950s, whilst her uncle was a member of theChurch of England synod. Her mother was raised within theChurch of Scotland, but her family had mainly Jewish roots.[5]
The eldest of four children born inSurrey, she was educated at a Roman CatholicConvent school until the age of eleven, and then at Reigate County School for Girls and the privateSutton High School, before finishing her education at an independent college.[5] Munt has told theBBC that as a child, she was a victim of sexual abuse.[6]
Munt initially joined the international division ofMidland Bank, before leaving after a year to join a local firm of solicitors. After three years, she started working for a local hotel, and after two years moved toEast Anglia working in the company's sales and marketing team, before moving to personnel and later customer care training.[5]
She then worked in administration forSouth Essex College at theirSouthend-on-Sea campus, before moving into teaching. She then worked for a period insocial services, working with adults with learning difficulties.[5] She also worked part-time as a volunteer for bothChildline and theEnvironmental Investigation Agency. She married in 1992, and had two children.
She spent time working as the personal assistant to former international cricketerPhil Edmonds.[5] She then started working for a solicitors' firm, before being asked to move by a former company partner to join the team at Forsters solicitors. She also spent five years as a Regional Advisory Panel member for theNational Lottery Charities Board.[5]
Munt had joined theLabour Party in the early-1990s, but left after theirelection victory in 1997 due to the centralisation of party policy.[5] She then campaigned in the late-1990s in Suffolk to preserve a Victorian school against a proposed development plan, where she metAndrew Phillips, Baron Phillips of Sudbury, and in 1999 after attending a party conference and meetingNorman Lamb, Munt joined the Liberal Democrats.[5]
Munt was the party's candidate forSouth Suffolk at the2001 general election, when she finished in third place with a 24.9% share of the votes. She also contestedIpswich at the2001 by-election following the death of Labour MPJamie Cann,[7] coming third with 22.4% of the vote.[8]
As her father lived inWells, Somerset,[5] a few weeks after her defeat, the local party committee offered her the option of standing at theWells constituency.[5] She stood at the2005 general election, finishing in second place to sitting MPDavid Heathcoat-Amory with a 37.8% share of the vote.[9]
Munt was elected as the Member of Parliament for Wells at the2010 general election with a majority of 800 votes over David Heathcoat-Amory,[10] who admitted that his involvement in theUnited Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal played a part in his defeat.[10][11][12]
Munt was aparty whip in the House of Commons from 2010 until March 2012, although she threatened to resign from the post if theTrident nuclear missile system was renewed.[13] She was later appointed asParliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) toBusiness SecretaryVince Cable.
In July 2010, newspapers revealed details of an investigation bySedgemoor District Council into her claims of single personcouncil tax discount while having more than one other adult male registered to vote at her home, including a localGP, the broadcasterAndy Kershaw and the media advisor for the family ofMadeleine McCann.[14][15] On 6 September 2010, Sedgemoor District Council said that there were now no criminal proceedings relating to the single person discount on Council Tax and Munt was cleared of any wrongdoing.[16]
On 27 January 2015, Munt resigned asPPS to Cable after she voted for a Commons amendment, not supported by the government, calling for a moratorium onfracking in the UK.[17]
In the2015 election, Munt lost the Wells parliamentary seat to the Conservative party candidateJames Heappey by 7,585 votes.[18] Munt was again the Liberal Democrat candidate for Wells in the following two general elections of2017 and2019, though she was unsuccessful both times.[19][20]
In2017, Munt was elected as a councillor in Somerset, beatingSomerset County Council leader, John Osman, by the slim majority of 95 votes.[21] In2022, she was re-elected to a term which transitioned toSomerset Council, a newunitary authority on 1 April 2023.[22] From May 2022 until May 2023, Munt was part of Somerset Council's executive member for Children, Families and Education.[23]
At the2024 general election Munt was elected to the newly created seat ofWells and Mendip Hills,[24] the successor to the majority of her old seat of Wells, following major boundary changes.
As of 2010[update], Munt lives in the village ofWedmore on theSomerset Levels. She married Martin Munt in 1992, and they had two children before separating.[25] She is a vegetarian,[25] a member of theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament,[26][27] and has been agovernor ofHugh Sexey Middle School in Blackford, Somerset.[28][29]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forWells 2010–2015 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forWells and Mendip Hills 2024–present | Incumbent |
