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Greg Hands

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Prime Minister
  
David Cameron

Succeeded by
  
Anne Milton

Party
  
Conservative Party

Preceded by
  
John Randall

Spouse
  
Irina Hundt

Prime Minister
  
David Cameron

Name
  
Greg Hands

Preceded by
  
Danny Alexander

Preceded by
  
Iain Coleman


Greg Hands httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommons55

Role
  
Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Office
  
Chief Secretary to the Treasury since 2015

Education
  
Robinson College, Cambridge

Previous offices
  
Treasurer of the Household (2013–2015), Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom (2005–2010)

Similar People
  
Damian Hinds, David Gauke, Danny Alexander, Seema Malhotra, David Laws

Profiles

Autumn statement greg hands defends osborne s plans


Gregory William Hands (born 14 November 1965) is a British Conservative Party politician and was Chief Secretary to the Treasury in the second ministry of David Cameron. Following the 2017 General Election, he retained his position as Minister of State for Trade and Investment but also undertakes the Minister for London role, replacing Gavin Barwell who lost his seat.

Contents

He is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chelsea and Fulham, elected in 2010 in the newly created constituency formed with the splitting of the former constituencies of Kensington and Chelsea as well as Hammersmith and Fulham. Previously, Hands represented the constituency from 2005 to 2010, when it was the Hammersmith and Fulham constituency.

Alcuin lecture 2016 global britain the future of british trade after brexit with greg hands mp


Early life and career

Hands was born in New York City, and completed his secondary education at Dr Challoner's Grammar School, Amersham in 1984. He went on to attend Robinson College, Cambridge, where he was awarded a first in modern history in 1989. He joined the Conservative party as a student, served as the chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association and was on the executive committee of the Cambridge University Students' Union.

During his gap year he worked in a swimming pool in Berlin, and became interested in the Eastern Bloc, visiting Prague and other Eastern European cities on future holidays. He worked on trading floors in the City of London and New York City until 1997. He has dual American/British nationality.

Political career

Hands was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in 1998. He became the leader of the Conservative group in 1999 and remained in that capacity until 2003. He stood down as councillor for the Town Ward in Fulham at the local elections in 2006. Hands was elected to the House of Commons at the 2005 General Election when he gained Hammersmith and Fulham from the Labour Party with a majority of 5,029 votes. The sitting Labour MP Iain Coleman retired due to ill health, and was replaced as Labour’s candidate by Melanie Smallman. During March 2010 the UK media reported that Lord Ashcroft donated over £42,000 to fund Hands' 2005 Hammersmith & Fulham campaign.

Hands made his maiden speech on 26 May 2005, in which he referred to the fact that the BBC was the largest employer in his constituency, and that Hammersmith Broadway was the busiest road interchange in Europe.

In 2007, Hands was selected to be the Conservative candidate for the new Chelsea and Fulham parliamentary constituency. His previous seat of Hammersmith and Fulham was abolished for the 2010 General Election, with Hammersmith having its own seat (being fought by Shaun Bailey for the Conservatives), and Fulham joining Chelsea in a new seat. In January 2009, Hands was appointed to the Conservative front bench team as a Shadow Treasury Minister. He is also the Parliamentary Chairman of Conservative Friends of Poland.

Hands was re-elected in the 2010 general election for the new seat of Chelsea and Fulham.

He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne; having shadowed the Treasury in Opposition.

On 14 October 2011, Hands was appointed as an Assistant Government whip in the House of Commons as a consequence of the mini-reshuffle following the resignation of Dr Liam Fox as Secretary of State for Defence.

In May 2015, following the Conservatives' general election win, Hands was promoted to the position of Chief Secretary to the Treasury and thus the cabinet. He was made a privy councillor in the process. In the 2016 reshuffle following the EU referendum and Theresa May's appointment as prime minister he was made Minister of State for International Trade at the newly formed Department for International Trade.

Following the Grenfell Tower fire which killed at least 80 people, Hands was criticised for calling for the Notting Hill Carnival to be moved. Local residents, event organisers and the Labour MP for Kensington all rejected his suggestion, with some accusing him of using the disaster as an "excuse" to move the carnival, a long-held ambition of some Notting Hill residents. Justice4Grenfell coordinator Yvette Williams stated that "The Carnival route does not go near Grenfell and I’m failing to find the link between the Grenfell Tower fire and Carnival". Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London dismissed Hands' proposal.

References

Greg Hands Wikipedia