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 as Paymaster General and Financial Secretary to the Treasury. Upon Kemi Badenoch's victory in the 2024 Conservative Party Leadership Election, Norman was appointed Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, replacing Chris Philp.
He was for many years a trustee of The Roundhouse, a North London arts venue and charity founded by his father, Sir Torquil Norman.[9] He has also served on the board of the Hay Festival, the Kindle Centre in Hereford, and the Friends of St Mary's church, Ross-on-Wye.[10]
Think tanks and writing
He was a Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange and writes regularly for the national press. His book Compassionate Conservatism (2006), co-written with Janan Ganesh, has been described as "the guidebook to Cameronism" by The Sunday Times. Its successor, Compassionate Economics, was favourably reviewed by Daniel Hannan.[11] His other policy publications include "Living for the City" (2006) and "From Here to Fraternity" (2007).
His books include The Achievement of Michael Oakeshott (ed.) (1992), Breaking the Habits of a Lifetime (1992) and After Euclid (2006); The Big Society: The Anatomy of the New Politics (2010), published by University of Buckingham Press.
His book Adam 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 between Francis Bacon and Edward Coke, was published in June 2023.[15]
He was a member of the Treasury 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 the House of Lords to be appointed rather than elected.[19]
In 2013, Norman said that so many Old 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 in Syria.[26]
On 27 June 2014, prior to the nomination of Jean-Claude Juncker to the presidency 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 that democracy, for the British, involves legitimacy derived from the ballot box, whereas for some Europeans, it involves centralised bureaucracy.[27]
In September 2014, Norman raised the issue of rules concerning football club ownership in the House of Commons, alleging the then-Chairman of Hereford 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 the 2015 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]
Chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee
On 8 September 2015 at a hearing of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee convened to discuss recent allegation of blood doping in athletics, 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 implicate Paula Radcliffe as being involved, since she is the only British London 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]
In May 2019, Norman was appointed Paymaster General and Financial 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 the 2019 general election, Norman was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 61.2% and an increased majority of 19,686.[38]
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]
In opposition
At the 2024 general election, Norman was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 32.6% and a decreased majority of 1,279.[48]
Norman has been described as a member of the Conservative Party's One-Nation wing[25] and one of the main intellectuals of Cameronism.[51] Norman is a supporter of the Big Society, viewing it as an example of Burkean 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 of liberal 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 the European Union in the 2016 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 November 2019, he was appointed as a member of the Privy Council.[59]
Works
The Achievement of Michael Oakeshott (editor) (Gerald Duckworth & Co, 1993) ISBN0715624512
Breaking the Habits of a Lifetime: Poland's First Steps Toward the Market (editor) (Ipswich Press, 1994) ISBN0938864173
After Euclid: Visual Reasoning and the Epistemology of Diagrams (The Center for the Study of Language and Information Publications, 2006) ISBN9781575865096
