Jackie Doyle-Price

Dame Jackie Doyle-Price
DBE
Official portrait, 2020
Chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee
In office
8 May 2024 – 30 May 2024
Preceded byWilliam Wragg
Succeeded bySimon Hoare
Minister of State for Industry
In office
7 September 2022 – 27 October 2022
Prime MinisterLiz Truss
Preceded byLee Rowley[a]
Succeeded byNus Ghani
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Mental Health, Inequalities and Suicide Prevention[b]
In office
14 June 2017 – 27 July 2019
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byNadine Dorries
Assistant Government Whip[1][2]
In office
13 May 2015 – 14 June 2017
Prime Minister
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byChloe Smith[3]
Member of Parliament
for Thurrock
In office
6 May 2010 – 30 May 2024
Preceded byAndrew MacKinlay
Succeeded byJen Craft
Personal details
Born
Jacqueline Doyle-Price

(1969-08-05) 5 August 1969 (age 55)
Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
Political partyConservative
SpouseMark Coxshall
Residence(s)Purfleet, Essex, England
Alma materUniversity College, Durham (BA)
Signature
WebsiteOfficial website

Dame Jacqueline Doyle-Price[4] DBE (born 5 August 1969) is a British former Conservative Party politician and former civil servant who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Thurrock from 2010 to 2024. She was first elected as MP in the 2010 general election and was defeated in the 2024 general election.

In September 2022, she was appointed Minister of State for Industry[5] by Prime Minister Liz Truss,[6][7] and returned to the back benches following the appointment of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister in October 2022.[8]

Early life and education

Jacqueline Doyle-Price was born on 5 August 1969[9] on a council estate in Sheffield.[10][11] Growing up in an apolitical working class family,[12][13] her father Brian was a bricklayer whilst her mother Kathleen worked part-time as a sales assistant at Woolworths.[14][15] She was raised in the suburbs of Hillsborough and Wisewood.[10][12][16] She attended Notre Dame Roman Catholic High School, a comprehensive school.[13]

Doyle-Price's interest in politics began when she was 14 years old. Her parents attempted to buy their council house through Margaret Thatcher's Right to Buy scheme and faced resistance from the left-wing Sheffield City Council, which was run by the Labour Party under the local leadership of David Blunkett.[12][17] Doyle-Price claimed that its “left-wing councillors” did "everything they could to bully my parents into not buying their council house", and one of her teachers encouraged her to build upon her new-found interest and participate in politics, suggesting that she "go out and participate in democracy".[16]: 86  Following the council's alleged "intimidation of her parents",[10] Doyle-Price joined the Conservatives to campaign for people to buy their council homes in 1986.[17][18]

Doyle-Price read economics and politics at Durham University.[13] Her constituent college was University College.[12] At Durham, she participated in political activism[16] and joined its student Conservative Association where she worked as an officer with Graham Brady, who would later become a Conservative MP in 1997.[16]: 122  Doyle-Price graduated in 1991.[11][14]

Career before parliament

Shortly after graduating from university, Doyle-Price became a researcher before spending 18 months moving between temporary jobs and unemployment.[16] In 1992, she was employed by South Yorkshire Police as an administrative officer,[14] which became her first permanent job.[16] She also worked for Sheffield Enterprise Agency.[2][19] From 1993 to 2000, after working for South Yorkshire Police,[13] she was employed at City of London Corporation as an assistant parliamentary officer, and from 2000 to 2005 she was an assistant private secretary to the Lord Mayor of the City of London.[9][11][14] From 2005, she worked as an associate[9] policy adviser and consumer advocate for the Financial Services Authority, leaving this job in 2010 to stand for parliament in Thurrock.[11][13][18]

Doyle-Price held several posts in the Conservative Party before her election to parliament.[18] From 1994 to 1997, she was Treasurer of the National Association of Conservative Graduates,[14] and she sat on its national executive.[18] In the 1997 general election, the national party employed her as a press secretary,[18] and from 1997 to 1998 she served as the chairwoman of the Lewisham Deptford Conservative Association.[14] She was constituency officer of the Greenwich and Woolwich Conservatives from 2006 to 2007[14] and stood unsuccessfully for election to Greenwich Council.[20]

Parliamentary career

Doyle-Price first stood for election to parliament in the 2005 general election, where she was the Conservative candidate for Sheffield Hillsborough and came third with 15.02% of the vote behind the Labour MP Angela Smith and the Liberal Democrat candidate.[21]

At the 2010 general election, Doyle-Price was elected as MP for Thurrock with 36.8% of the vote and a majority of 92.[22][23][24]

Doyle-Price made her maiden speech on 28 June 2010, speaking about the need for welfare reform. She was prepared to publicly challenge ministers on behalf of her constituents, particularly on transport issues connected to the Dartford Crossing and on the Government postponement of work to improve Junction 30 of the M25.[25]

In May 2012 she was elected Chairman of the All-Party Gurkha Welfare Group.[26]

In May 2013 Doyle-Price voted against same-sex marriage on its third reading in the House of Commons, having abstained at the second reading. Doyle-Price stated after the vote that whilst she supported equality for same-sex couples, she regarded marriage as a sacrament, and would have voted in favour of a bill which "sought to equalise civil partnership with civil marriage". She also stated that she would reconsider her position if the bill was amended.[27][28]

Doyle-Price was a co-sponsor of the private member's EU membership referendum bill that was given a second reading on 5 July 2013.[29] On 14 January 2014, she led a debate in Westminster Hall on options for the new Lower Thames Crossing.[30]

At the 2015 general election, Doyle-Price was re-elected as MP for Thurrock with a decreased vote share of 33.7% and a majority of 536.[31][32]

Doyle-Price was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 EU membership referendum.[33]

In the House of Commons she has sat on the Public Accounts Committee and Committee of Selection[34] and Women and Equalities Committee.[35]

At the snap 2017 general election, Doyle-Price was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 39.5% and a decreased majority of 345.[36]

At the 2019 general election, Doyle-Price was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 58.6% and an increased majority of 11,482.[37]

In July 2020, Doyle-Price was critical of the availability of what she described as "dangerous" gender-affirming healthcare for trans children.[38] Earlier in the year on International Women's Day, Doyle-Price suggested in parliament that new legislation was needed to strengthen the provisions for single-sex spaces under the Equality Act 2010.[39]

In December 2020, following the revelation that Eddie Izzard had asked to be referred to with she/her pronouns, Doyle-Price stated in regard to Izzard that: "Being a straight man who likes to cross dress is not being a lesbian in a man's body. No man with respect for women would appropriate female same-sex attraction for themselves."[40]

In May 2024, Doyle-Price was reported to be among the senior Tory MPs who supported establishing a duty of candour for senior civil servants.[41]

Ministerial roles

Following the 2015 general election, Doyle-Price was appointed as an assistant whip.[42]

Following the 2017 general election, Doyle-Price was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Mental Health and Inequalities in the Department for Health.[43] In October 2018, she given additional ministerial responsibility for suicide prevention and co-chaired the Women's Mental Health Taskforce.[44][45] She left the government following the election of Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party,[46] but returned to government as Minister of State for Industry when Liz Truss was elected as Prime Minister in September 2022. She left the government again following Rishi Sunak's appointment as Prime Minister.

Personal life

Doyle-Price and Mark Coxshall at William Edwards School in 2014

Doyle-Price lives in Purfleet, Thurrock.[47] Her husband Mark Coxshall served as the Conservative leader of Thurrock Council from 2022 to 2023.[48] They have a son, George Coxshall, who is also a Conservative Thurrock councillor.[49]

Doyle-Price employed her husband Mark Coxshall as her part-time Office Manager on a salary up to £30,000.[50] The practice of MPs employing family members has been criticised by some sections of the media on the lines that it promotes nepotism.[51][52] Although MPs who were first elected in the 2017 general election have been banned from employing family members, the restriction were not retrospective – meaning that Doyle-Price's employment of her husband was lawful.[53]

Doyle-Price is a close friend of former prime minister Liz Truss,[54] and she endorsed her successful campaign in the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister.[55] In 1997, during her tenure as its chairwoman, Doyle-Price introduced Truss to the Lewisham Deptford Conservative Association, which Truss herself would also chair from 1998 to 2000.[54][56][57]

Doyle-Price is a Roman Catholic.[9]

Honours

Doyle-Price was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) on 29 December 2023 in the Truss's resignation honours list, for public and political service as Minister of State for Industry and as MP for Thurrock.[58][59][60][61]

Notes

  1. ^ As Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Industry. Office vacant between 6 July and 7 September 2022.
  2. ^ Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Mental Health and Inequalities (2017–2018).

References

  1. ^ Speight, Neil (7 September 2022). "Borough MP gets ministerial position". Thurrock Nub News. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Cabinet and Ministerial Appointments Following the June 2017 General Election" (PDF). NHS Providers. 21 June 2017. p. 6. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  3. ^ "Ministerial role: Assistant Government Whip". GOV.UK. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  4. ^ "No. 59418". The London Gazette. 13 May 2010. p. 8742.
  5. ^ "Minister of State (Minister for Industry) - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  6. ^ "Robert Jenrick back in government as Liz Truss picks junior ministers". BBC News. 7 September 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  7. ^ "Ministerial Appointments: September 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  8. ^ Speight, Neil (26 October 2022). "Thurrock MP is returned to back benches in Rishi reshuffle". Thurrock Nub News. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  9. ^ a b c d The Times Guide to the House of Commons 2010. London: Times Books. 2010. p. 277. ISBN 978-0-00-735158-9.
  10. ^ a b c Hawkins, Neil (2 April 2015). "ELECTION 2015: Thurrock". Thurrock Gazette. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  11. ^ a b c d Who's Who 2011 (163rd ed.). London: A. & C. Black. 2010. p. 645. ISBN 978-1-4081-2856-5.
  12. ^ a b c d "Jackie Doyle-Price: How I went from a Sheffield council estate to being a Tory MP in Essex". The Yorkshire Post. Archived from the original on 6 October 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  13. ^ a b c d e "New Minister for Industry". The Manufacturing Technologies Association. 7 October 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g Sinclair, Maggie (2013). Dod's parliamentary companion 2013. Dod's. ISBN 978-1-908232-10-6.
  15. ^ Cowburn, Ashley (2 June 2017). "Long read: how political parties lost the working class". New Statesman. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  16. ^ a b c d e f Duncan, Exley (15 May 2019). The End of Aspiration?: Social Mobility and Our Children's Fading Prospects. Policy Press. ISBN 978-1-4473-4832-0.
  17. ^ a b White, Sebastian (25 February 2020). "Jackie Doyle-Price: "We must give women the tools to look after themselves and not suffer in silence"". Politics Home. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  18. ^ a b c d e "Profile on Jackie Doyle-Price, Thurrock's new MP". Thurrock Gazette. 7 May 2010. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  19. ^ "Jackie Doyle-Price MP". GOV.UK. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  20. ^ "London Borough of Greenwich Election Results 1964-2010" (PDF). electionscentre.co.uk. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
  21. ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
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  23. ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  24. ^ "BBC NEWS – Election 2010 – Thurrock". BBC News.
  25. ^ Your Thurrock report Archived 1 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine, 29 June 2010.
  26. ^ "Jackie Doyle-Price". Conservatives.com. Archived from the original on 11 May 2010.
  27. ^ "Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill — Third Reading: Recent Votes".
  28. ^ "Thurrock MPs give reasons for voting against same sex marriage bill". Your Thurrock. 22 May 2013. Archived from the original on 19 February 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  29. ^ Profile Archived 8 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine, politics.co.uk; accessed 6 August 2014.
  30. ^ "Democracy Live" Archived 20 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine, bbc.co.uk; accessed 6 August 2014.
  31. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  32. ^ "Thurrock". bbc.co.uk.
  33. ^ Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 3 February 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  34. ^ "Jackie Doyle-Price". Parliament UK. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  35. ^ "Sex matters: government needs to stand up for women". archive.ph. 6 January 2022. Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  36. ^ "STATEMENT OF PERSONS NOMINATED, NOTICE OF POLL AND SITUATION OF POLLING STATIONS Election of a Member of Parliament for Thurrock" (PDF). Thurrock Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 May 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  37. ^ "Thurrock Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  38. ^ "Jackie Doyle-Price: Tory MP claims trans equality movement is 'regressive'". PinkNews. 14 July 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  39. ^ Duffy, Nick (10 March 2020). "Tory MP Jackie Doyle-Price wants to 'devise a law' to keep trans women out of women-only spaces". PinkNews. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  40. ^ Wakefield, Lily (29 December 2020). "Tory MP Jackie Doyle-Price defends voting against rights for lesbians while also policing who can be a lesbian". PinkNews. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  41. ^ BBC news report
  42. ^ "Her Majesty's Government: December 2015". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 13 May 2015.
  43. ^ "Thurrock MP Jackie Doyle-Price to be health minister under Jeremy Hunt". Thurrock Gazette. Archived from the original on 14 June 2017.
  44. ^ "Minister given task to reduce suicide rate". BBC News. 10 October 2018.
  45. ^ "The Women's Mental Health Taskforce report". GOV.UK. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
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  47. ^ "Jackie Doyle-Price". HuffPost. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  48. ^ Speight, Neil (5 September 2022). "Borough MP pitches into concern over Thurrock Council's dire financial position and lays the blame largely at the door of officer cohort". Thurrock Nub News. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  49. ^ Speight, Neil (6 May 2022). "It's a father and son reunion in the chamber as young Tory triumphs". Thurrock Nub News. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  50. ^ "IPSA". Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. GOV.UK. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  51. ^ "One in five MPs employs a family member: the full list revealed". The Daily Telegraph. 29 June 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
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  55. ^ Speight, Neil (1 August 2022). "Why I'm backing Liz! Borough MP Jackie Doyle-Price outlines the case for her longstanding friend". Thurrock Nub News. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  56. ^ Cole, Harry; Heale, James (1 November 2022). Out of the Blue: The inside story of the unexpected rise and rapid fall of Liz Truss. HarperCollins Publishers. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-00-860579-7.
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  61. ^ "Thurrock MP Jackie Doyle-Price made dame by Liz Truss". Echo News. 29 December 2023. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Thurrock
2010–present 		Incumbent