Jackie Doyle-Price Explained

Dame Jackie Doyle-Price
Office:Chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee
Predecessor:William Wragg
Successor:TBD
Term Start:8 May 2024
Term End:30 May 2024
Office1:Minister of State for Industry
Primeminister1:Liz Truss
Term Start1:7 September 2022
Term End1:27 October 2022
Predecessor1:Lee Rowley
Successor1:Nus Ghani
Office2:Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Mental Health, Inequalities and Suicide Prevention
Parliament2:United Kingdom
Term Start2:14 June 2017
Term End2:27 July 2019
Predecessor2:Office established
Office3:Assistant Government Whip[1] [2]
Term Start3:13 May 2015
Term End3:14 June 2017
Predecessor3:Office established
Successor3:Chloe Smith[3]
Office4:Member of Parliament
for Thurrock
Termstart4:6 May 2010
Termend4:30 May 2024
Successor4:Jen Craft
Primeminister2:Theresa May
Predecessor4:Andrew MacKinlay
Successor2:Nadine Dorries
Birth Name:Jacqueline Doyle-Price
Birth Date:5 August 1969
Birth Place:Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
Nationality:British
Party:Conservative
Residence:Purfleet, Essex, England
Spouse:Mark Coxshall
Alma Mater:University College, Durham (BA)
Signature:Signature of Jackie-Doyle Price.svg

Dame Jacqueline Doyle-Price (born 5 August 1969) is a British former Conservative Party politician and former civil servant who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Thurrock from 2010 to 2024. She was first elected as MP in the 2010 general election and was defeated by Jen Craft of the Labour Party in the 2024 general election.

In September 2022, she was appointed Minister of State for Industry[4] by Prime Minister Liz Truss,[5] [6] and returned to the back benches following the appointment of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister in October 2022.[7]

Early life and education

Jacqueline Doyle-Price was born on 5 August 1969[8] on a council estate in Sheffield.[9] [10] Growing up in an apolitical working class family,[11] her father Brian was a bricklayer whilst her mother Kathleen worked part-time as a sales assistant at Woolworths.[12] [13] She was raised in the suburbs of Hillsborough and Wisewood.[14] [15] She attended Notre Dame Roman Catholic High School, a comprehensive school.

Doyle-Price's interest in politics began when she was 14 years old. Her parents attempted to buy their council house through Margaret Thatcher's Right to Buy scheme and faced resistance from the left-wing Sheffield City Council, which was run by the Labour Party under the local leadership of David Blunkett.[16] Doyle-Price claimed that its “left-wing councillors” did "everything they could to bully my parents into not buying their council house", and one of her teachers encouraged her to build upon her new-found interest and participate in politics, suggesting that she "go out and participate in democracy". Following the council's alleged "intimidation of her parents", Doyle-Price joined the Conservatives to campaign for people to buy their council homes in 1986.[17]

Doyle-Price read economics and politics at Durham University. Her constituent college was University College. At Durham, she participated in political activism and joined its student Conservative Association where she worked as an officer with Graham Brady, who would later become a Conservative MP in 1997. Doyle-Price graduated in 1991.

Career before parliament

Shortly after graduating from university, Doyle-Price became a researcher before spending 18 months moving between temporary jobs and unemployment. In 1992, she was employed by South Yorkshire Police as an administrative officer, which became her first permanent job. She also worked for Sheffield Enterprise Agency.[18] From 1993 to 2000, after working for South Yorkshire Police, she was employed at City of London Corporation as an assistant parliamentary officer, and from 2000 to 2005 she was an assistant private secretary to the Lord Mayor of the City of London. From 2005, she worked as an associate policy adviser and consumer advocate for the Financial Services Authority, leaving this job in 2010 to stand for parliament in Thurrock.

Doyle-Price held several posts in the Conservative Party before her election to parliament. From 1994 to 1997, she was Treasurer of the National Association of Conservative Graduates,[12] and she sat on its national executive. In the 1997 general election, the national party employed her as a press secretary, and from 1997 to 1998 she served as the chairwoman of the Lewisham Deptford Conservative Association. She was constituency officer of the Greenwich and Woolwich Conservatives from 2006 to 2007 and stood unsuccessfully for election to Greenwich Council.[19]

Parliamentary career

Doyle-Price first stood for election to parliament in the 2005 general election, where she was the Conservative candidate for Sheffield Hillsborough and came third with 15.02% of the vote behind the Labour MP Angela Smith and the Liberal Democrat candidate.[20]

At the 2010 general election, Doyle-Price was elected as MP for Thurrock with 36.8% of the vote and a majority of 92.[21] [22] [23]

Doyle-Price made her maiden speech on 28 June 2010, speaking about the need for welfare reform. She was prepared to publicly challenge ministers on behalf of her constituents, particularly on transport issues connected to the Dartford Crossing and on the Government postponement of work to improve Junction 30 of the M25.[24]

In May 2012 she was elected Chairman of the All-Party Gurkha Welfare Group.[25]

In May 2013 Doyle-Price voted against same-sex marriage on its third reading in the House of Commons, having abstained at the second reading. Doyle-Price stated after the vote that whilst she supported equality for same-sex couples, she regarded marriage as a sacrament, and would have voted in favour of a bill which "sought to equalise civil partnership with civil marriage". She also stated that she would reconsider her position if the bill was amended.[26] [27]

Doyle-Price was a co-sponsor of the private member's EU membership referendum bill that was given a second reading on 5 July 2013.[28] On 14 January 2014, she led a debate in Westminster Hall on options for the new Lower Thames Crossing.[29]

At the 2015 general election, Doyle-Price was re-elected as MP for Thurrock with a decreased vote share of 33.7% and an majority of 536.[30] [31]

Doyle-Price was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 EU membership referendum.[32]

In the House of Commons she has sat on the Public Accounts Committee and Committee of Selection[33] and Women and Equalities Committee.[34]

At the snap 2017 general election, Doyle-Price was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 39.5% and a decreased majority of 345.[35]

At the 2019 general election, Doyle-Price was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 58.6% and an increased majority of 11,482.[36]

In July 2020, Doyle-Price was critical of the availability of what she described as "dangerous" gender-affirming healthcare for trans children.[37] Earlier in the year on International Women's Day, Doyle-Price suggested in parliament that new legislation was needed to strengthen the provisions for single-sex spaces under the Equality Act 2010.[38]

In December 2020, following the revelation that Eddie Izzard had asked to be referred to with she/her pronouns, Doyle-Price stated in regard to Izzard that: "Being a straight man who likes to cross dress is not being a lesbian in a man's body. No man with respect for women would appropriate female same-sex attraction for themselves."[39]

In May 2024, Doyle-Price was reported to be among the senior Tory MPs who supported establishing a duty of candour for senior civil servants.[40]

Ministerial roles

Following the 2015 general election, Doyle-Price was appointed as an assistant whip.[41]

Following the 2017 general election, Doyle-Price was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Mental Health and Inequalities in the Department for Health.[42] In October 2018, she given additional ministerial responsibility for suicide prevention and co-chaired the Women's Mental Health Taskforce.[43] [44] She left the government following the election of Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party,[45] but returned to government as Minister of State for Industry when Liz Truss was elected as Prime Minister in September 2022. She left the government again following Rishi Sunak's appointment as Prime Minister.

Personal life

Doyle-Price lives in Purfleet, Thurrock.[46] Her husband Mark Coxshall served as the Conservative leader of Thurrock Council from 2022 to 2023.[47] They have a son, George Coxshall, who is also a Conservative Thurrock councillor.[48]

Doyle-Price employed her husband Mark Coxshall as her part-time Office Manager on a salary up to £30,000.[49] The practice of MPs employing family members has been criticised by some sections of the media on the lines that it promotes nepotism.[50] [51] Although MPs who were first elected in the 2017 general election have been banned from employing family members, the restriction were not retrospective – meaning that Doyle-Price's employment of her husband was lawful.[52]

Doyle-Price is a close friend of former prime minister Liz Truss,[53] and she endorsed her successful campaign in the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister.[54] In 1997, during her tenure as its chairwoman, Doyle-Price introduced Truss to the Lewisham Deptford Conservative Association, which Truss herself would also chair from 1998 to 2000.[55] [56]

Doyle-Price is a Roman Catholic.

Honours

Doyle-Price was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) on 29 December 2023 in the Truss's resignation honours list, for public and political service as Minister of State for Industry and as MP for Thurrock.[57] [58] [59]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Borough MP gets ministerial position . 7 September 2022 . 19 November 2022 . Thurrock Nub News . Speight . Neil.
  2. Web site: 21 June 2017 . Cabinet and Ministerial Appointments Following the June 2017 General Election . 2022-11-19 . NHS Providers . 6.
  3. Web site: Ministerial role: Assistant Government Whip . 2022-11-19 . GOV.UK.
  4. Web site: Minister of State (Minister for Industry) - GOV.UK . 3 October 2022 . www.gov.uk .
  5. News: 7 September 2022 . Robert Jenrick back in government as Liz Truss picks junior ministers . BBC News . 7 September 2022.
  6. Web site: Ministerial Appointments: September 2022 . 8 September 2022 . GOV.UK .
  7. Web site: Thurrock MP is returned to back benches in Rishi reshuffle. Neil. Speight. 26 October 2022. Thurrock Nub News. 27 October 2022.
  8. Book: The Times Guide to the House of Commons 2010 . Times Books . 2010 . 978-0-00-735158-9 . London . 277.
  9. Web site: Hawkins . Neil . 2 April 2015 . ELECTION 2015: Thurrock . 19 November 2022 . Thurrock Gazette .
  10. Book: Who's Who 2011 . 2010 . A. & C. Black . 978-1-4081-2856-5 . 163rd . London . 645.
  11. Web site: 7 October 2022 . New Minister for Industry . 19 November 2022 . The Manufacturing Technologies Association.
  12. Book: Sinclair, Maggie . Dod's parliamentary companion 2013 . Dod's . 2013 . 978-1-908232-10-6.
  13. Web site: Cowburn . Ashley . 2 June 2017 . Long read: how political parties lost the working class . 19 November 2022 . New Statesman .
  14. Web site: Jackie Doyle-Price: How I went from a Sheffield council estate to being a Tory MP in Essex . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20191006021408/https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/politics/jackie-doyle-price-how-i-went-from-a-sheffield-council-estate-to-being-a-tory-mp-in-essex-1-10034038 . 6 October 2019 . 16 October 2019 . The Yorkshire Post.
  15. Book: Duncan, Exley . The End of Aspiration?: Social Mobility and Our Children's Fading Prospects . 15 May 2019 . Policy Press . 978-1-4473-4832-0 .
  16. Web site: White . Sebastian . 25 February 2020 . Jackie Doyle-Price: "We must give women the tools to look after themselves and not suffer in silence" . 19 November 2022 . Politics Home .
  17. Web site: 7 May 2010 . Profile on Jackie Doyle-Price, Thurrock's new MP . https://web.archive.org/web/20110718220007/http://www.thurrockgazette.co.uk/news/8153386.Profile_on_Jackie_Doyle_Price__Thurrock_s_new_MP/ . 18 July 2011 . 18 November 2022 . Thurrock Gazette.
  18. Web site: Jackie Doyle-Price MP . 2022-11-19 . GOV.UK . en.
  19. Web site: London Borough of Greenwich Election Results 1964-2010. electionscentre.co.uk. 20 May 2023.
  20. Web site: Election Data 2005 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111015054249/http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/electdata_2005ob.txt . 15 October 2011 . 18 October 2015 . Electoral Calculus.
  21. News: Jackie wins Thurrock for Tories. The Enquirer. 7 May 2010. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120227145745/http://www.theenquirer.co.uk/Jackie+wins+Thurrock+for+Tories%20id=2640. 27 February 2012. 10 May 2010.
  22. Web site: Election Data 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130726162034/http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/electdata_2010.txt . 26 July 2013 . 17 October 2015 . Electoral Calculus.
  23. News: BBC NEWS – Election 2010 – Thurrock . BBC News.
  24. http://www.yourthurrock.com/2010/06/29/maiden-speech-in-house-of-commons-for-jackie-doyle-price Your Thurrock report
  25. Web site: Jackie Doyle-Price. https://web.archive.org/web/20100511073104/http://www.conservatives.com/People/Members_of_Parliament/Doyle-Price_Jackie.aspx. dead. 11 May 2010. Conservatives.com.
  26. Web site: Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill — Third Reading: Recent Votes .
  27. Web site: 22 May 2013 . Thurrock MPs give reasons for voting against same sex marriage bill . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210219160730/https://www.yourthurrock.com/2013/05/22/thurrock-mps-give-reasons-for-voting-against-same-sex-marriage-bill/ . 19 February 2021 . 11 November 2021 . Your Thurrock.
  28. http://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2013/07/05/as-it-happens-eu-referendum-bill-s-first-big-commons-test Profile
  29. https://www.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/house-of-commons-25732286 "Democracy Live"
  30. Web site: Election Data 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151017112223/http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/electdata_2015.txt . 17 October 2015 . 17 October 2015 . Electoral Calculus.
  31. News: Thurrock . bbc.co.uk.
  32. News: Goodenough. Tom. Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?. 11 October 2016. The Spectator. 16 February 2016. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20170203120144/http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/02/which-tory-mps-back-brexit-who-doesnt-and-who-is-still-on-the-fence/. 3 February 2017.
  33. Web site: Jackie Doyle-Price. Parliament UK. 26 September 2018.
  34. Web site: Sex matters: government needs to stand up for women. archive.ph. 6 January 2022. 8 January 2022.
  35. Web site: STATEMENT OF PERSONS NOMINATED, NOTICE OF POLL AND SITUATION OF POLLING STATIONS Election of a Member of Parliament for Thurrock . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170519225533/https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/sites/default/files/assets/documents/election-pg-20170608-nominated-thur-v01.pdf . 19 May 2017 . 15 May 2017 . Thurrock Council.
  36. News: Thurrock Parliamentary constituency . 13 December 2019 . BBC News . BBC.
  37. Web site: 14 July 2020 . Jackie Doyle-Price: Tory MP claims trans equality movement is 'regressive' . 23 August 2020 . PinkNews.
  38. Web site: Duffy . Nick . 10 March 2020 . Tory MP Jackie Doyle-Price wants to 'devise a law' to keep trans women out of women-only spaces . 16 January 2021 . PinkNews.
  39. Web site: Wakefield . Lily . 29 December 2020 . Tory MP Jackie Doyle-Price defends voting against rights for lesbians while also policing who can be a lesbian . 16 January 2021 . PinkNews.
  40. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1ddlg1n7mmo BBC news report
  41. Web site: Her Majesty's Government: December 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150513172007/https://www.gov.uk/government/news/her-majestys-government-12-may-2015. dead. 13 May 2015. GOV.UK.
  42. Web site: Thurrock MP Jackie Doyle-Price to be health minister under Jeremy Hunt. https://web.archive.org/web/20170614172234/http://www.thurrockgazette.co.uk/news/15346932.Thurrock_MP_Jackie_Doyle_Price_to_be_health_minister_under_Jeremy_Hunt/. dead. 14 June 2017. Thurrock Gazette.
  43. News: Minister given task to reduce suicide rate. 10 October 2018. BBC News.
  44. Web site: The Women's Mental Health Taskforce report. GOV.UK. 17 February 2019.
  45. Web site: MP Jackie looking forward to borough challenges in parliament after leaving government. Neil. Speight. 27 July 2019. Thurrock Independent.
  46. Web site: Jackie Doyle-Price . 18 November 2022 . HuffPost .
  47. Web site: Speight . Neil . 5 September 2022 . Borough MP pitches into concern over Thurrock Council's dire financial position and lays the blame largely at the door of officer cohort . 18 November 2022 . Thurrock Nub News .
  48. News: Speight . Neil . 6 May 2022 . It's a father and son reunion in the chamber as young Tory triumphs . Thurrock Nub News . 22 June 2023.
  49. Web site: IPSA . 26 September 2018 . Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority . GOV.UK.
  50. News: 29 June 2015 . One in five MPs employs a family member: the full list revealed . 26 September 2018 . The Daily Telegraph.
  51. News: Mason . Rowena . 29 June 2015 . Keeping it in the family: new MPs continue to hire relatives as staff . 26 September 2018 . The Guardian.
  52. News: 21 April 2017 . MPs banned from employing spouses after election in expenses crackdown . 26 September 2018 . London Evening Standard.
  53. News: Grylls . George . Wace . Charlotte . 6 September 2022 . How Liz Truss overcame revelations of an affair and the 'Turnip Taliban' . The Times . 18 November 2022 . 0140-0460.
  54. Web site: Speight . Neil . 1 August 2022 . Why I'm backing Liz! Borough MP Jackie Doyle-Price outlines the case for her longstanding friend . 18 November 2022 . Thurrock Nub News .
  55. Book: Cole . Harry . Out of the Blue: The inside story of the unexpected rise and rapid fall of Liz Truss . Heale . James . 1 November 2022 . HarperCollins Publishers . 978-0-00-860579-7 . 35 .
  56. News: 2014 . BBC Democracy Live: Elizabeth Truss MP . . https://web.archive.org/web/20140717090407/http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/representatives/profiles/40370.stm . 17 July 2014.
  57. Web site: Resignation Honours: December 2023 . 29 December 2023 . GOV.UK . Cabinet Office . 29 December 2023.
  58. News: 30 December 2023 . Damehood for Thurrock MP Jackie Doyle-Price . Thurrock Nub News . 30 December 2023.
  59. News: 29 December 2023 . Thurrock MP Jackie Doyle-Price made dame by Liz Truss . Echo News . 30 December 2023.