Nick Herbert

Background

Herbert was educated at Haileybury and Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he read law and land economy. After Cambridge, he worked for the Conservative Research Department on the Rural & Environmental bureau. He went on to be appointed as the director of public affairs at the British Field Sports Society in 1990 and remained in that position for six years, from which he helped to form the Countryside Movement which later became the Countryside Alliance.

He joined Business for Sterling in 1998 as its Chief Executive where he led the launch of the 'no' campaign against adopting the Euro currency, before founding the think tank Reform as its Director in 2001, until his election to parliament in 2005.

Political career

He unsuccessfully contested the Northumberland seat of Berwick-upon-Tweed at the 1997 general election where he finished in third place some 8,951 votes behind the veteran Liberal Democrat MP Alan Beith.

In 2001 he co-founded the Reform think tank which focuses on reforming public services via private sector involvement and de-regulation.

His selection to contest the West Sussex seat of Arundel and South Downs at the 2005 general election did not come about without incident. The sitting Conservative MP, Howard Flight, had been forced to resign as a vice chairman of the party and had the whip removed by Michael Howard in 2005 after he had told a Conservative Way Forward meeting that the Conservatives would have to make more cuts than they were promising. With no whip, he was not considered as an approved candidate and, despite protest and the local association refusing to select a new candidate, he finally resigned just a month before the election. Herbert was selected and elected, holding the seat with a slightly reduced majority of 11,309. He made his maiden speech on 6 June 2005.

Shadow Cabinet

After his election to Parliament, Herbert joined the Home Affairs Select Committee. After David Cameron became leader of the Conservative Party, Herbert was appointed as a Shadow Minister for home affairs on 16 December 2005. This meant he had to leave the Home Affairs Select Committee. In July 2007, he joined the Shadow Cabinet for the new position of Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, shadowing veteran Labour minister Jack Straw. On 19 January 2009 he was made Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Government

On the Coalition forming between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in May 2010, Herbert was appointed as a Minister of State at the Home Office with responsibility for policing and at the Ministry of Justice with responsibility for criminal justice. To undertake this role, Herbert was appointed a Privy Counsellor on 9 June 2010. He championed the introduction of elected Police and Crime Commissioners to replace police authorities, street level crime mapping, and swifter justice.

Herbert decided to step down from Government at the time of David Cameron's first major reshuffle in September 2012.

Backbenches

Herbert formed, and co-chairs, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Global TB, and in 2014 launched the Global TB Caucus which he co-chairs with South Africa's Health Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, initiating the Barcelona Declaration with a speech to the World Lung Conference.

In 2014 he launched GovernUp, a cross-party project which aims to promote "the far-reaching reforms needed in Whitehall and beyond to enable more effective and efficient government". He authored Why Vote Conservative 2015 ahead of the general election that year.

Herbert played a leading role in making the case for equal marriage, launching the Freedom to Marry campaign in 2012 ahead of the successful Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013. In June 2015 Herbert helped to launch, and became the first chair, of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global LGBT Rights.

In January 2016, Herbert launched Conservatives For Reform In Europe, the campaign to remain in the EU, subject to the Prime Minister's renegotiations. He was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.

Personal life

Herbert joined his long-term partner, Jason Eades, in civil partnership in early January 2009 after a 10-year relationship.