Michael Ellis (British politician)

Early life

Michael Ellis was born on 13 October 1967 to a British Jewish family.

He was educated at two independent schools: at Spratton Hall Preparatory School and Wellingborough School, followed by the independent University of Buckingham, where he obtained an LLB degree in 1993, including First Class Honours in Public (Constitutional) Law and won the Aylesbury Vale District Council Chairman's Prize for the Best Performance in Public Law that year. At university he was also a student editor of the Denning Law Journal.

Whilst at university, Ellis undertook an exchange program in the United States at the College of William and Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law in Williamsburg, Virginia.

After attending the Inns of Court School of Law in London, Ellis was called to the Bar at Middle Temple in 1993.

Legal and political career

Ellis's legal practice as a barrister was based in Northampton, and his chambers' head office was in London.

Ellis was elected as a Conservative Councillor on Northamptonshire County Council, representing the Park (now Parklands) Ward of Northampton North in 1997 and he served until the next election in 2001. At the time of his election he was the youngest County Councillor in Northamptonshire, at the age of 29.

Ellis became the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Northampton North in December 2006 following a public vote in an open primary. The use of the open primary method, allowing party and non-party members the opportunity to attend a hustings and vote for an individual, has previously been an uncommon way of choosing parliamentary candidates in the British political system, however it became more widely used during 2009, particularly by the Conservative Party.

Member of Parliament

Ellis was elected to Parliament in the General Election of 6 May 2010. He won the seat with a majority of 1,936 and 34.1% of the vote, defeating the sitting Labour MP, Sally Keeble.

In November 2010 Ellis established an All Party Group on the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, which he Chaired for the following three years.

In February 2011 Ellis was elected by fellow members of parliament to membership of the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee. As a member of this Committee Ellis frequently questions prominent figures in public life appearing before it, including police chiefs, the Home Secretary and Russell Brand. and has been referred to by The Independent newspaper as being a member who asks his questions with "all the gravitas of a prosecuting counsel".

He was also a member of the Joint Committee on the Draft Communications Data Bill during the 2012–13 Parliamentary session. Ellis was interviewed about this Bill with Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, on the Daily Politics program on 11 December 2012.

In his role chairing the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Ellis was responsible for organising a gift for Queen Elizabeth II from both Houses of Parliament. This was a stained glass window of The Queen's Coat of Arms, which was funded entirely by current members of parliament and Members of the House of Lords. Ellis was also responsible for organising the planting of a Red Windsor apple tree on Speaker's Green at the Houses of Parliament. This was part of the Woodland Trust's Jubilee Woods project which planted six million trees around the United Kingdom during the Jubilee year.

On 25 September 2012 Ellis was appointed Parliamentary Adviser to Lord Feldman of Elstree, the Conservative Party Co-Chairman.

On 11 September 2013 Ellis introduced the Medical Innovation (No.2) Bill, a Private members bill to the House of Commons. This Bill was also introduced into the House of Lords by Lord (Maurice) Saatchi on 3 December 2012 and was designed to allow doctors more scope to innovate when treating cancer patients. The bill was withdrawn after its first reading, following an indication from the government that they would support it.

Ellis is a member of the Conservative Friends of Israel group, and has participated in delegations to raise concerns about an agreement relating to Iran's nuclear capabilities.

The Government’s support for the Bill was confirmed on 21 July 2014 by Dr Dan Poulter MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health, in an answer to a written Parliamentary question from the Labour MP Jim Fitzpatrick MP.

Ellis was re-elected at the 2015 general election. He beat fellow candidate, and predecessor, Sally Keeble by 3,245 votes (42%) to secure his seat in the House of Commons. As well as Keeble, Ellis beat UKIP candidate Tom Rubython, Green Party candidate Tony Clarke and Liberal Democrat Angela Patterson.

Ellis was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.

Anti-pothole campaign

In March 2014 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne announced in the House of Commons during the Budget Speech that a campaign Ellis had been conducting to secure extra funds to reduce potholes had succeeded and that a £200 million fund was being created to be distributed nationwide. In June 2014 it was announced that £3.3 million of this fund would be allocated to Northamptonshire by the Department for Transport.

Road repair funds are being spent in Ellis' constituency including repair work in the Westone, Boothville and Kingsthorpe areas of Northampton North.

In July 2014 Ellis was successful in calling for the Parliamentary authorities to officially mark the assassination of a former Member of Parliament for Northampton, Spencer Perceval, who had become Prime Minister, and who was shot and killed in the House of Commons in 1812. It had previously been believed that the place of the assassination had been marked by some disordered floor tiles in St Stephen's Hall in Parliament until they were removed by workmen during renovations. The Parliamentary authorities agreed to install a brass plaque in St Stephen's Hall commemorating the assassination – Spencer Perceval is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated – and Ellis called this a "fitting tribute" to the former Prime Minister and historic Northampton figure.

In October 2014 the Northampton Chronicle and Echo newspaper reported that Ellis had been canvassing in Northampton when he came across a medical emergency and performed Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) on a constituent.