Vicky Ford

Victoria Grace Ford (née Pollock, 21 September 1967) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as Minister of State for Development from 6 September to 25 October 2022.[1] She has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chelmsford since 2017. She is a former investment banker, district councillor, and was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East of England from 2009 to 2017.

The Right Honourable
Vicky Ford
MP
Official portrait, 2022
Minister of State for Development
In office
6 September 2022 – 25 October 2022
Prime MinisterLiz Truss
Preceded byOffice established[lower-alpha 1]
Succeeded byAndrew Mitchell
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean[lower-alpha 2]
In office
16 September 2021 – 6 September 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byJames Duddridge
Succeeded byGillian Keegan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families
In office
14 February 2020 – 16 September 2021
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byKemi Badenoch
Succeeded byWill Quince
Member of Parliament
for Chelmsford
Assumed office
8 June 2017
Preceded bySimon Burns
Majority17,621 (30.8%)
Member of the European Parliament
for East of England
In office
4 June 2009 – 12 June 2017
Preceded byChristopher Beazley
Succeeded byJohn Flack
Personal details
Born
Victoria Grace Pollock

(1967-09-21) 21 September 1967
Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Spouse
Hugo Ford
​
(m. 1996)​
Children3
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge
Websitewww.vickyford.uk

Ford served as a Minister in the Department for Education from 2020 to 2021 before moving to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, in the government led by Boris Johnson. In September 2022, she was promoted by new Prime Minister Liz Truss to Minister of State for Development. She returned to the backbenches on 25 October 2022, resigning shortly after Liz Truss resigned as prime minister.

Early life and career

Victoria Grace Pollock was born on 21 September 1967 in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, to Anthony and Deborah Marion Pollock. Her parents were both English doctors.[2][3][4] As a child, she joined her mother campaigning with the peace movement and her father stood in local elections for the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland.[5]

She attended primary school and Omagh Academy[6] in Northern Ireland, but following her father's death, she went to schools in England. Ford was educated at independent St Paul's Girls' School, independent Marlborough College and then studied Maths and Economics at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Between 1989 and 2001, Ford worked for JPMorgan Chase. She was promoted to vice-president in their loan syndication department.[7] In 2001, she joined Bear Stearns as managing director for loan capital markets where she worked until 2003.[2]

Political career

Ford joined the Conservative Party in 1986. In 2006, Ford was elected as a local councillor, representing Balsham Ward at South Cambridgeshire District Council. She was a parliamentary candidate in the 2005 general election for Birmingham Northfield constituency, but lost to incumbent Labour Party MP Richard Burden.[8][9]

In 2007, she was a major contributor to the Conservative Party's review of UK taxation "The Tax Reform Commission".

Member of the European Parliament

Ford was elected as Conservative Party Member of the European Parliament for East of England in the 2009 European Parliament election.[10] She was a member of the Bureau of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group and a member of the Parliament's delegation for relations with China.

As an MEP, Ford was the rapporteur for the Parliament on reforms to firearms laws, offshore oil and gas safety and the fiscal framework directive which seeks to increase transparency and accountability of public spending. She was a lead negotiator on the Horizon 2020 fund for research and on bank capital requirements, deposit guarantee schemes and residential mortgages.[11]

From 2009 to 2014 she was a member of the European Parliament Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.[12]

From 2014 to 2017 she was Chair of the European Parliament Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection,[13] an economic committees of the Parliament, focusing on digital policy and unlocking trade opportunities for services and goods.[14]

In 2016, Ford was ranked as one of the top ten most influential members of the European Parliament by Politico Europe, particularly for her work on digital policy.[15]

Member of Parliament

Ford was elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Chelmsford at the 2017 general election.[16] On 21 June 2017, Ford made her maiden speech in the Queen's speech debate, the first of the 2017 intake to do so.[17] In the 2017–19 parliament she served on the Science and Technology and the Women and Equalities select committees.

In August 2018 Ford was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ministerial team. In August 2019, she became Parliamentary Private Secretary to Alok Sharma, the Secretary of State for International Development.

In the February 2020 cabinet reshuffle, Ford was appointed as the Minister for Children; a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Education, with responsibility for children and families.[18]

In the September 2021 Cabinet reshuffle, Ford ceased to serve as Minister for Children and became the new Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.[19] In January 2022, she issued a statement condemning the 2022 Burkinabé coup d'état.[20]

Ford was appointed Minister of State for Development, attending cabinet, by the incoming Prime Minister Liz Truss on 6 September 2022,[21] and was appointed to the Privy Council on 13 September 2022 [22] She left her post on 25 October when Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister and returned to the backbenches.[23]

Personal life

Vicky married Hugo Ford in 1996. They have three children. The couple met at the University of Cambridge, where she was a student at Trinity College and he was a student at Magdalene College. He is an oncologist and is the director of cancer services at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.[24][25][26]

Notes
  1. Office is a re-establishment of the post for international development. Anne-Marie Trevelyan was the final Secretary of State for International Development before the office's abolition and merger with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 2020.
  2. Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa from September to December 2021

References
  1. "Rishi Sunak - live updates: Jacob Rees-Mogg among departures as Sunak appoints new cabinet after warning of 'difficult decisions' ahead". Sky News. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  2. "Vicky Ford interview: Europe's values". Agendani. 2 September 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  3. Ford, Victoria Grace. UK Who's Who. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U250798. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  4. "Vicky Ford". European Parliament. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  5. "Local Government Elections 1973-81: Omagh". Economic and Social Research Council (Ark). Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  6. Hill, Henry (25 October 2017). "May's Men and Women: The Conservative Commons intake of 2017". Conservative Home. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  7. Townsend, Piers (28 March 2001). "Bear Stearns Hires JP Morgan Loan Specialist". Financial News. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  8. "Vicky Ford". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  9. "Result: Birmingham Northfield". BBC News. 6 May 2005. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  10. "European Election 2009, UK Results, East of England". BBC News. 7 June 2009. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  11. "Vicky Ford, History of Parliamentary Service, 7th parliamentary term". Europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  12. "Vicky Ford, Reports as Rapporteur 7th parliamentary term". Europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  13. "Internal Market and Consumer Protection – Members". europarl.europa.eu. European Parliament. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  14. "Committee Guide IMCO". theparliamentmagazine.eu. 29 June 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  15. Heath, Ryan. "The 40 MEPs who actually matter". Politico. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  16. "Election 2017: Chelmsford parliamentary constituency". BBC News. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2017.,
  17. "Debate on the Address". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Commons. 21 June 2017. col. 137–139. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  18. "Ministerial appointments: February 2020". GOV.UK. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  19. "Will Quince replaces Vicky Ford as children and families minister". early years alliance. 17 September 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  20. "UK Minister for Africa statement on Burkina Faso". GOV.UK. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  21. "New Ministerial Appointments". GOV.UK. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  22. "Orders for 13 September 2022" (PDF). Privy Council Office. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  23. Archived 2022-10-26 at the Wayback Machine
  24. "Vicky Ford MEP". secca.org.uk. South East Cambridgeshire Conservatives. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  25. "Vicky Ford MEP – My East Anglia". East Life. 14 November 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  26. "Dr Hugo Ford". Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
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