She unsuccessfully stood as the Conservative candidate in the Morpeth North ward of Castle Morpeth Borough Council in 1999. She subsequently stood as the Conservative candidate in the Hartburn ward of Castle Morpeth Borough Council in 2003, but failed to get elected.[9]
Trevelyan unsuccessfully stood in the 2010 general election as the Conservative candidate for Berwick-upon-Tweed, achieving a swing from the Liberal Democrats to Conservatives of 8.3%. In so doing, she reduced Sir Alan Beith's majority from 8,632 to 2,690.[10]
Parliamentary career
Backbencher
At the 2015 general election, Trevelyan was elected as the MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed, gaining the seat for the Conservatives with a 9.6% swing, after the sitting MP Sir Alan Beith stood down. She was re-elected with an increased majority in the 2017 general election.[11] She increased her majority again in the 2019 election. [12] In the 2024 general election, Trevelyan contended the new seat of North Northumberland and lost to Labour. [13]
In June 2015, Trevelyan was appointed Vice-Chairman of the newly created All-Party Parliamentary Group on Forestry.[14] In Parliament, Trevelyan served on the Public Accounts Select Committee between July 2015 and May 2017.[15]
In November 2018, Trevelyan referred Labour shadow minister Kate Osamor to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, on the grounds that Osamor's behaviour "failed to uphold" the code of conduct for MPs, after Osamor continued to employ her son Haringey Councillor, Ishmael Osamor, as a senior communications adviser, despite her son pleading guilty to possession of drugs valued at £2,500. Osamor denied any wrongdoing and called the referral "politically motivated".[22]
In May 2020 the Labour MP and first British female MP of Chinese descent Sarah Owen accused Trevelyan of Sinophobia after Trevelyan posted a WhatsApp message of a picture of a split fortune cookie, saying in broken English "You not have coronavirus", captioned "Just received my Covid-19 rapid test kit from China. Soooooo relieved!", with a follow-up message of "Just for Bob" and a winking emoji referring to Conservative MP Bob Seely, who responded by sending a love heart and smiling emoji. Owen said: "If Anne-Marie Trevelyan doesn't understand why this sort of humour was left in the 1970s, I would be happy to explain it to her." Seely responded to Owen by saying "It was a well-meaning joke at my expense and I didn't think anything of it", referring to his campaign against the Chinese tech company Huawei. Trevelyan responded to Owen by saying "It was not my intent to cause any offence, and I am truly sorry if I did so".[26][27][28]
After the Beirut explosion of 4 August 2020, the UK government, through Trevelyan's Secretary of International Development Department, aid-funded the UK Emergency Medical Team (UK EMT) were sent to help. The UK also gave £5m in emergency support, £3m of it for the British Red Cross. As International Development Secretary, Trevelyan represented the UK at a donor event hosted by UN secretary general António Guterres and French president Emmanuel Macron.[29][30][31]
During the second jobs controversy Trevelyan supported MPs having second jobs outside parliament, however on different radio shows commented different hours a week a MP should be allowed to work outside parliament. On Times Radio she said they should be allowed to work 8 to 10 hours a week,[39] on BBC Breakfast 10 or 15 hours a week,[39] and on BBC Radio 4 10 to 20 hours a week.[40] Her comment to BBC Breakfast was ridiculed on the current affairs panel showHave I Got New For You, "I think the question of MPs having jobs that involve lobbying perhaps should be looked at again. But, across the board, I don’t think we should have a removal of the ability to maintain a second job, because it brings a richness to our role as members of parliament."[41][importance?][better source needed]
On 21 September 2022, she also assumed responsibility for shipping and aviation, previously handled by the Under-Secretary of State for Transport Robert Courts.[49] She is the first modern Secretary of State for Transport to assume responsibility for shipping directly, as this responsibility has traditionally been delegated to a junior minister.[49]
In March 2018, she attended a protest in London organised by the Fishing for Leave group against proposed access to British waters for EU fisherman up to 2021. The event included the UKIP MEP Nigel Farage. The Independent reported that Trevelyan faced calls[by whom?] for her sacking as a ministerial aide for attending the event in defiance of an order from Conservative whips for party MPs not to take part.[65] On 15 November 2018, Trevelyan resigned from her post as a Parliamentary Private Secretary over Theresa May's draft EU withdrawal agreement.[20][21]
Environmental
Trevelyan has campaigned for reducing plastic packaging.[66] In 2005, she opposed the ban on fox hunting.[67][needs update] She supports fracking, including voting in 2016 in support of fracking under Northumberland National Park,[68] and voting against Labour's motion to ban fracking for shale gas in October 2022.[69][70] Between 2010 and 2012 Trevelyan wrote a series of tweets denying global warming, including stating "[there is] clear evidence that the ice caps aren't melting after all" and "global warming isn't actually happening".[71]
Trevelyan campaigned for dualling the A1 road. In 2007 she set the Dual the A1 campaign group to raise government awareness. In 2014 then-Prime MinisterDavid Cameron announced an initial £290 million investment to upgrade the road.[74]
Trevelyan has campaigned for improving rural broadband.[75] She has also campaigned for reopening the Harbottle Surgery.[76]
This decision from the Secretary of State is incredibly welcome to all of us who have campaigned to protect our precious coastline, and the community in Druridge Bay who have had the spectre of this proposition hanging over them for a number of years. The Prime Minister was clear when he brought forward our goal to stop producing coal to 2024, that this Government will honour its commitments to a cleaner, greener future, and our target of net zero by 2050. This long-fought battle to protect our local environment has been a culmination of years of work by local people, groups and politicians of all parties, coming together to work for the future of their community and I pay tribute to everyone who has played their part in safeguarding our incredible landscape for future generations.[77]
Political campaign finances
Alleged overspending
In May 2016, it was reported that Trevelyan was one of a number of Conservative MPs being investigated by police in the 2015 general election party spending investigation, for allegedly spending more than the legal limit on constituency election campaign expenses.[78] 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.[79]
Donations from Alexander Temerko
In April 2018, Trevelyan was criticised by the Alnwick Labour Party over claims that a Ukrainian businessman gave almost £50,000 to fund her 2015 general election campaign. The Labour Party questioned why the Conservative Party was accepting large donations from such sources. Trevelyan stated that the man in question was now a naturalised British citizen born in Ukraine who had invested significantly in the region, while she had personally not received any funds from Alexander Temerko, with funds going to the Berwick-upon-Tweed Conservative Association, with Trevelyan commenting "as is his right as a British citzen".[80][81]
Trevelyan lives in Northumberland. She is divorced with two teenage children, in October 2017, she said that one of her teenage sons might not have voted for her if he had been old enough to vote.[86] She previously lived in Netherwitton Hall, a Grade II listed country house near Morpeth[87][88] with her former husband John Trevelyan,[89] owner of the Netherwitton Hall Estates.[90][91]
She took part in the Singing for Syrians concert at Westminster in December 2017.[8]
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