In this week’s Spectator, I profile the 2015 intake of Tory MPs: a bright, pragmatic bunch who don’t like to call themselves Thatcherite. Ministers who have sat in the Commons Chamber and heard maiden speeches from this new bunch have been seriously impressed, with some remarking that they’ve wondered what they’ve done with their own lives after hearing the extraordinary experiences that the new intake have brought with them into the Chamber.
Those extraordinary experiences include working as postmen, teachers, doctors, rural auctioneers, and nurses. There are very few political animals who’ve slaved as special advisers before becoming MPs, or whose families are political dynasties. But the bulk of these new MPs have had hugely successful careers in the law and business before getting elected: Lucy Frazer, for instance, is one of the youngest QCs in the country and now also the Tory MP for South East Cambridgeshire.
This impressive pile of CVs inevitably means people are trying to identify the ‘rising stars’ of the Tory intake. I didn’t name them in the column for two reasons. The first is that people who have successful careers outside Parliament can still be ill-suited to the Commons. The second is that people are often named as ‘rising stars’ purely because they have lots of friends in Parliament already who will talk them up. Later on, they are talked up as being impressive backbenchers or effective ministers because they are very good company over lunch and journalists enjoy spending time with them. Those who come to Parliament having fought lonely campaigns without friends in high places, or who just don’t fancy the lunch circuit are at a disadvantage. Often we have no idea whether someone is good at mastering their portfolio, representing their constituents and combing through the fine detail of legislation, but because they talk a good game or have powerful friends, an impression of them as impressive forms. Sometimes that impression is unjustified.
With all those caveats in place, here are the names of impressive new Tory MPs worth keeping an eye on. There are many others, too, and this list is in no way definitive. In fact, it’s harder to draw up a list of the unimpressive new MPs – though there are one or two of those in every intake and every party.
Tom Tugendhat – Tonbridge and Malling MP and former soldier. He has written for Coffee House before and is well-respected by colleagues. Has been heavily involved in organising the 2015 intake, both when they were candidates and as they settled in as MPs.
Nusrat Ghani – Wealden. Britain’s first female Muslim Tory MP who worked for BBC World Service and Age Concern.
Lucy Frazer – South East Cambridgeshire. Impressive legal career, mentioned above, and already reputed to be fiercely hardworking. An early victim of the No Understanding of Irony brigade for her maiden speech.
James Cleverly – Braintree MP and GLA member for Bexley and Bromley. Considered a little more ideological than his colleagues, though on our podcast this week he explains why he and other new MPs are more practically-minded than previous intakes.
James Cleverly
Oliver Dowden – Hertsmere MP. Former Downing Street aide but respected in his own right by colleagues.
Matt Warman – Boston and Skegness. Former Telegraph journalist.
Matt Warman
Maria Caulfield – Lewes. Cancer nurse who describes herself as working class and is a key figure in the parliamentary campaign against assisted dying.
Scott Mann – North Cornwall. A former postman who had to deliver his opponents’ leaflets as part of his day job before hitting the campaign trail himself. Described by one Tory fan as the ‘hero’ of the new intake and a key ‘blue collar Conservative’.
Johnny Mercer – MP for Plymouth Moor View who has already made a name for himself in three different ways. The first is as a star of a shower gel advert. The second is for his excellent maiden speech. The third is for the campaigns he is running on soldiers’ welfare. A former Army officer himself, Mercer has called for an end to prescriptions of malaria drug Lariam for soldiers because of the severe side effects it can cause.
Johnny Mercer
Harry Cole wrote an excellent piece on the secret Tory A-list earlier this year. It contains many of these new MPs, and a number of other colleagues you should keep an eye on. We’ll see how accurate the predictions of their colleagues and allies turn out to be.
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