Tim Loughton

Early life and education

Loughton was born on 30 May 1962 in Eastbourne, East Sussex, England. From 1973 to 1980, he was educated at Priory School, a state comprehensive school in Lewes, East Sussex. From 1980 to 1983, he studied classical civilisation at the University of Warwick. There, he was secretary of the University of Warwick Conservative Association. He graduated with a first class honours Bachelor of Arts (BA Hons) degree 1983. He then joined Clare College, University of Cambridge, where he studied Mesopotamian archaeology between 1983 and 1984.

Life and career

Loughton followed a career in the City of London as a fund manager from 1984 for Fleming Private Asset Management, becoming a director from 1992-2000.

Registrable shareholdings are Classwatch Limited and the Mindful Policy Group Trading Ltd.

Early career

Loughton's first attempt at election to the House of Commons was in the 1992 general election, when he stood against David Blunkett in the Sheffield Brightside constituency. In 1995 Loughton was selected as the candidate for the seat of East Worthing and Shoreham, a seat created as a result of boundary changes, replacing the Worthing and Shoreham constituencies.

Loughton entered Parliament at the 1997 general election and was re-elected at the 2001 general election. At the 2005 general election, Loughton polled 43.9% of the vote, with a majority to 8,183. At the 2010 general election, Loughton polled 48.5% of the vote with a majority of 11,105.

From 2000-2001 Loughton was Shadow Minister for Environment and from 2003-2010 he was Shadow Minister of Health and Children, during the Conservative Party's time as the shadow cabinet in opposition to the Labour Party.

In 2001, Loughton referred to then leader of the Conservative Party William Hague as "baldy and he has a funny accent" and compared him to former Labour Leader Neil Kinnock.

In 2010, Loughton appeared in the Channel 4 documentary series, Tower Block of Commons.

Ministerial career

In May 2010 Loughton was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families, a position commonly known as 'children's minister'.

Andrew Roth in The Guardian said that he was an "assiduous debater, although specialist opponents can consider his viewpoints complete and utter rubbish". During Prime Minister's Questions on 13 July 2011, the Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow told Loughton - following considerably loud cheers from the government benches and loud jeers from the opposition benches - that if he couldn't behave like an adult, then he ought to leave the chamber.

In February 2012, Loughton was part of a ministerial working group on how the law should be changed regarding how to amend the Children Act 1989. According to The Guardian newspaper of 3 February 2012 the working group aimed to include in the new Children's Act one "presumption of shared parenting" for children's fathers and mothers after cases of divorce or spousal break up.

In May 2012, he said marriage was a religious institution that should remain between one man and one woman. On 5 February 2013 Loughton voted against the Second Reading of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill.

Loughton was sacked as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families in the government reshuffle of September 2012.

Post-ministerial career

In January 2013 Loughton was involved in a political dispute involving his earlier work as a minister in the Department of Education when he compared the role of Education Secretary Michael Gove to "Young Mr Grace" from the British sitcom Are You Being Served?, suggesting there was little interaction between ministers and staff in the department. The next day Loughton was described in a briefing from the Department of Education to The Spectator as a "lazy, incompetent narcissist obsessed only with self-promotion". The following month Loughton tabled "hostile" parliamentary questions to the Department of Education on the subject of complaints by staff, which the Independent described as "a significant escalation of hostilities" between Loughton and some of his old colleagues.

In September 2013, Loughton was forced to apologise to former children's minister Sarah Teather after he was recorded at an event saying the Department of Education as a result of Teather was a "family free zone" and that Teather "did not believe in family" as "she certainly didn't produce one of her own". The comments made by Loughton were branded "disgusting" by Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat minister for Women and Equalities.

Sussex Police investigation

In March 2013 it was revealed that Loughton had been investigated by Sussex Police under the Malicious Communications Act following a complaint lodged by a constituent over Loughton's reply to their email. After several months, Loughton was advised by the Sussex Police that they would not be filing any charges. Loughton subsequently gave his account of the affair in a parliamentary privilege protected House of Commons speech and criticised the police response. Loughton then mailed a Hansard copy of the speech to the constituent, an action he believed was covered by parliamentary privilege.

The constituent lodged another complaint about being sent the parliamentary papers, and Loughton was issued with a Police Information Notice (PIN) by Sussex Police. Loughton then arranged an emergency parliamentary debate, during which he accused the police of violating parliamentary privilege by issuing the PIN. A motion for the Standards and Privileges Committee to investigate his claims was granted.

At a hearing of the Standards and Privileges committee in January 2014, Loughton said that by issuing the PIN the police had "exacerbated the situation out of all control". Sussex Chief Constable Martin Richards apologised to the committee, claiming he was unaware the Parliamentary Papers Act 1840 gave full legal protection to all parliamentary papers and blamed conflicting legal advice. Former deputy Chief Constable of Sussex Police Robin Merrett claimed he "could understand" the constituent being "alarmed" at receiving the copy of Hansard and "fully supported" the police actions. In March 2014 the Standards and Privileges Committee found Sussex Police in contempt of Parliament, forcing Sussex Police to issue an apology.

Backbench career

In August 2015, it was revealed that Loughton was amongst a number of supporters of other political parties who had paid £3 to register to join the Labour Party in an attempt to participate in its leadership election. He subsequently said he had registered using his parliamentary email account and wanted to "blow the gaff on what a complete farce the whole thing is. If I’d got a voting paper I was going to tweet myself ripping it up, just to make a point about how ridiculous the whole open exercise is. In the box at the end of the application it asks: 'What are your reasons for wanting to become a supporter of the Labour party?' I put: 'To vote to Jeremy Corbyn and consign Labour to oblivion for a generation' and then I got a 'welcome to the Labour party' email. I wasn’t exactly hiding my intent."

Loughton was an involved figurehead in the EU Referendum UK on 26 June, committing himself to the eventually successful Vote Leave campaign.

On 6 September 2016, Loughton acted as Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee following the resignation of Keith Vaz.

On 12 February 2017 Loughton made comments about his attendance at the BAFTAs complaining that Ken Loach during the acceptance speech for outstanding British film spoke "usual predictable drivel".

On 29 June 2017 Loughton came fifth in the ballot of private members bills. Loughton introduced the Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration Etc.) Bill.

Personal life

Loughton married Elizabeth Juliet MacLauchlan in 1992, and they have two daughters and one son.

On 16 April 2015, he was elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA).