Mark Francois

Early life

Mark Gino Francois was born in Islington, London. He was educated at the Nicholas Comprehensive School in Basildon, Essex and at the University of Bristol where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in History in 1986. He was also the chairman of the University's Conservative Association. He completed his studies at King's College London where he earned a MA in War Studies in 1987.

On leaving university he became a management trainee with Lloyds Bank. In 1988 he joined lobbying company Market Access International, leaving as a director in 1996 to set up his own lobbying firm Francois Associates.

Councillor and parliamentary candidate

He was a member of Basildon District Council for four years from 1991. He stood for Brent East during the 1997 general election, and lost to Ken Livingstone (who later became the Mayor of London). Following the death of Alan Clark in 1999, he narrowly lost out to Michael Portillo in the selection for the 1999 Kensington and Chelsea by-election. On the retirement of Dr. Michael Clark at the 2001 general election he beat Boris Johnson to be selected to fight the safe Conservative seat of Rayleigh.

Member of Parliament

Francois won in Rayleigh in 2001 with a majority of 8,290 and was re-elected in 2005 and 2010 with increased majorities. He made his maiden speech on 4 July 2001.

He served as a member of the Environmental Audit Select Committee for the duration of his first term in Parliament. He was promoted to become an Opposition whip in 2003 by Michael Howard; to Shadow Economic Secretary in September 2004; and later to Shadow Paymaster General scrutinising HMRC. He was promoted to be Shadow Minister for Europe in May 2007 and joined the Shadow Cabinet at the January 2009 reshuffle. As Shadow Minister for Europe Francois oversaw the Conservative Party's withdrawal from the federalist EPP grouping in the European Parliament, the creation of the ECR grouping and the Conservative's opposition in the House of Commons to the Treaty of Lisbon, which he spoke against on many occasions including on 5 March 2008 in the debate to pass the European Union (Amendment) Act 2008.

When the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats joined in a coalition government following the United Kingdom general election, 2010 he was appointed Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, a sinecure given to a Government Whip that entails being kept as 'captive' at Buckingham Palace when the Queen opens Parliament. He joined the Privy Council on 9 June 2010. He is a Vice-President of Conservative Friends of Poland. In 2011, he was a member of the special Select Committee set up to scrutinise the Bill that became the Armed Forces Act 2011.

He was appointed Minister for State for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans in the Ministry of Defence in September 2012. From October 2013 to May 2015, he was Minister of State with responsibility for the armed forces, cyber activity, and force generation.

Following the 2015 general election, he became Minister of State for Communities and Resilience and Minister for Portsmouth at the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Francois left the government after Theresa May was appointed Prime Minister, but she appointed him to conduct a review into the use of reserves in the Army.

Territorial Army

Francois served as an officer the Territorial Army from 1985 – 1991, including with the local Royal Anglian Regiment. He lives in Rayleigh. He has been a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies since 1999, a member of the Lions Club, President of the Rayleigh Conservative Club and Honorary President of the Rayleigh Brass.

Personal life

He was briefly married to Karen Thomas, whom he married in June 2000 in Langdon Hills, Basildon.