Vicky Ford

The Right Honourable
Vicky Ford
PC
Official portrait, 2022
Minister of State for Development
In office
6 September 2022 – 25 October 2022
Prime MinisterLiz Truss
Preceded byOffice established[a]
Succeeded byAndrew Mitchell
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean[b]
In office
16 September 2021 – 6 September 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byJames Duddridge
Succeeded byGillian Keegan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families
In office
14 February 2020 – 16 September 2021
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byKemi Badenoch
Succeeded byWill Quince
Member of Parliament
for Chelmsford
In office
8 June 2017 – 30 May 2024
Preceded bySimon Burns
Succeeded byMarie Goldman
Member of the European Parliament
for East of England
In office
4 June 2009 – 12 June 2017
Preceded byChristopher Beazley
Succeeded byJohn Flack
Personal details
Born
Victoria Grace Pollock

(1967-09-21) 21 September 1967 (age 57)
Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Spouse
Hugo Ford
​
(m. 1996)​
Children3
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge
Websitevickyford.uk

Victoria Grace Ford (née Pollock, 21 September 1967) is a British politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chelmsford from 2017 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, she briefly served as Minister of State for Development from 6 September to 25 October 2022.[1]

Ford served as a Minister in the Department for Education from 2020 to 2021 before moving to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, in the government led by Boris Johnson. In September 2022, she was promoted by new Prime Minister Liz Truss to Minister of State for Development. She returned to the backbenches on 25 October 2022, resigning shortly after Liz Truss resigned as prime minister. Ford lost her seat for Chelmsford to the Liberal Democrats in the 2024 General Election.

Early life and career

Victoria Pollock was born on 21 September 1967 in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, with her parents both English doctors.[2][3][4] As a child, she joined her mother campaigning with the peace movement and her father stood in local elections for the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland.[5]

She first attended Omagh Academy[6] in Omagh, but following her father's death, she went to schools in England. Ford was educated at the independent St Paul's Girls' School and Marlborough College, before studying Maths and Economics at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Between 1989 and 2001, Ford worked for JPMorgan Chase. She was promoted to vice-president in their loan syndication department.[7] In 2001, she joined Bear Stearns as managing director for loan capital markets where she worked until 2003.[2]

Political career

At the 2005 general election, Ford stood as the Conservative Party candidate in Birmingham Northfield, coming second with 28.9% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour Party MP Richard Burden.[8][9][10]

In 2007, she was a major contributor to the Conservative Party's review of UK taxation "The Tax Reform Commission".

Member of the European Parliament

Ford was elected as a Member of the European Parliament for East of England in the 2009 European Parliament election.[11]

As an MEP, Ford was the rapporteur for the Parliament on reforms to firearms laws, offshore oil and gas safety and the fiscal framework directive which seeks to increase transparency and accountability of public spending. She was a lead negotiator on the Horizon 2020 fund for research and on bank capital requirements, deposit guarantee schemes and residential mortgages.[12]

From 2009 to 2014 she was a member of the European Parliament Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.[13]

From 2014 to 2017 she was Chair of the European Parliament Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection,[14] an economic committees of the Parliament, focusing on digital policy and unlocking trade opportunities for services and goods.[15]

In 2016, Ford was ranked as one of the top ten most influential members of the European Parliament by Politico Europe, particularly for her work on digital policy.[16]

Parliamentary career

Ford was elected as MP for Chelmsford at the snap 2017 general election with 53.7% of the vote and a majority of 13,572.[17][18][19] On 21 June 2017, Ford made her maiden speech in the Queen's speech debate, the first of the 2017 intake to do so.[20]

In August 2018 Ford was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ministerial team.

At the 2019 general election, Ford was re-elected as MP for Chelmsford with an increased vote share of 55.9% and an increased majority of 17,621.[21][22]

In the February 2020 cabinet reshuffle, Ford was appointed as the Minister for Children; a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Education, with responsibility for children and families.[23]

In the September 2021 Cabinet reshuffle, Ford ceased to serve as Minister for Children and became the new Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.[24] In January 2022, she issued a statement condemning the 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état.[25]

Ford was appointed Minister of State for Development, attending cabinet, by the incoming Prime Minister Liz Truss on 6 September 2022,[26] and was appointed to the Privy Council on 13 September 2022 [27] She left her post on 25 October when Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister and returned to the backbenches.[28]

In 2024, Ford contested the Chelmsford constituency as the incumbent Member of Parliament, losing to Liberal Democrat Marie Goldman.[29] It was the first time the constituency had not elected a Conservative Member of Parliament since the 1964 General Election.

Personal life

Vicky married Hugo Ford in 1996, and together they have three children. The couple met at the University of Cambridge, where she was a student at Trinity College and he was a student at Magdalene College. He is an oncologist and is the director of cancer services at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.[30][31][32]

Notes

  1. ^ Office is a re-establishment of the post for international development. Anne-Marie Trevelyan was the final Secretary of State for International Development before the office's abolition and merger with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 2020.
  2. ^ Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa from September to December 2021

References

  1. ^ "Rishi Sunak - live updates: Jacob Rees-Mogg among departures as Sunak appoints new cabinet after warning of 'difficult decisions' ahead". Sky News. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Vicky Ford interview: Europe's values". Agendani. 2 September 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  3. ^ Ford, Victoria Grace. UK Who's Who. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U250798. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  4. ^ "Vicky Ford". European Parliament. 21 September 1967. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  5. ^ "Local Government Elections 1973-81: Omagh". Economic and Social Research Council (Ark). Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  6. ^ Hill, Henry (25 October 2017). "May's Men and Women: The Conservative Commons intake of 2017". Conservative Home. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  7. ^ Townsend, Piers (28 March 2001). "Bear Stearns Hires JP Morgan Loan Specialist". Financial News. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  8. ^ "Vicky Ford". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  9. ^ "Result: Birmingham Northfield". BBC News. 6 May 2005. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  10. ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  11. ^ "European Election 2009, UK Results, East of England". BBC News. 7 June 2009. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  12. ^ "Vicky Ford, History of Parliamentary Service, 7th parliamentary term". Europarl.europa.eu. 21 September 1967. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  13. ^ "Vicky Ford, Reports as Rapporteur 7th parliamentary term". Europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  14. ^ "Internal Market and Consumer Protection – Members". europarl.europa.eu. European Parliament. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  15. ^ "Committee Guide IMCO". theparliamentmagazine.eu. 29 June 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  16. ^ Heath, Ryan. "The 40 MEPs who actually matter". Politico. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  17. ^ "MEP Vicky Ford to fight for Chelmsford seat in General election". ITV. 29 April 2017. Archived from the original on 7 May 2017. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  18. ^ "Election 2017: Chelmsford parliamentary constituency". BBC News. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2017.,
  19. ^ "Chelmsford City Council". Retrieved 18 May 2017.[permanent dead link‍]
  20. ^ "Debate on the Address". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Commons. 21 June 2017. col. 137–139. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  21. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  22. ^ "Chelmsford parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  23. ^ "Ministerial appointments: February 2020". GOV.UK. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  24. ^ "Will Quince replaces Vicky Ford as children and families minister". early years alliance. 17 September 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  25. ^ "UK Minister for Africa statement on Burkina Faso". GOV.UK. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  26. ^ "New Ministerial Appointments". GOV.UK. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  27. ^ "Orders for 13 September 2022" (PDF). Privy Council Office. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  28. ^ Archived 2022-10-26 at the Wayback Machine[dead link‍]
  29. ^ "General election results". www.chelmsford.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  30. ^ "Vicky Ford MEP". secca.org.uk. South East Cambridgeshire Conservatives. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  31. ^ "Vicky Ford MEP – My East Anglia". East Life. 14 November 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  32. ^ "Dr Hugo Ford". Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vicky Ford.
European Parliament
Preceded by Member of the European Parliament
for East of England
2009–2017 		Succeeded by
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Chelmsford
2017–2024 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families
2020–2021 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister for Africa
2021–2022 		Succeeded by
Preceded byas Secretary of State for International Development Minister of State for Development
6 September–25 October 2022 		Succeeded by