Andrew Mitchell
Andrew John Bower Mitchell (born 23 March 1956) is a British politician currently serving as Deputy Foreign Secretary since 2024 and Minister of State for Development and Africa since 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sutton Coldfield since 2001 having previously served as the MP for Gedling from 1987 to 1997. Mitchell served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development from 2010 to 2012 and then briefly as Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons in late 2012.
For other people named Andrew Mitchell, see Andrew Mitchell (disambiguation).
Andrew Mitchell
Mitchell studied History at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he was elected President of the Cambridge Union in 1978. He was elected to the House of Commons for Gedling in Nottinghamshire at the 1987 general election. He served in the second Major government as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury from 1994 to 1995 and as a junior minister at the Department of Social Security from 1995 to 1997. Mitchell lost his seat to the Labour Party's Vernon Coaker at the 1997 general election. In 2001, he contested Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands, a safe seat for the Conservatives, and was returned to Parliament.
Mitchell was appointed to the Shadow cabinet in 2005 as Shadow Secretary of State for International Development. In this role, he founded Project Umubano, a Conservative Party social action project in Rwanda and Sierra Leone in central and west Africa.[1] Under the coalition government of David Cameron, he served as Secretary of State for International Development from 2010 to 2012. In the September 2012 cabinet reshuffle, he was appointed chief whip. Amid public pressure due to the Plebgate scandal, Mitchell resigned from the government the following month, and returned to the backbenches.[2] In 2022, after serving on the backbenches for 10 years, Mitchell made a return to government as Minister of State for Development and Africa following the appointment of Rishi Sunak as prime minister. He was appointed to the honorific title of Deputy Foreign Secretary on 12 April 2024.[3][4]
Early life and career[edit]
Mitchell was born at Hampstead in north London, the son of Sir David Bower Mitchell, a future Conservative MP of 33 years, and Government Minister. He was educated at Ashdown House School and Rugby School, where the self-confessed "stern disciplinarian" earned the nickname "Thrasher".[5]
In February 1975, he joined the Royal Tank Regiment as a second lieutenant on a Short Service Limited Commission (a commission designed for teenagers applying to Oxford or Cambridge University after leaving the sixth form), spending time in Cyprus where his unit was carrying out peacekeeping duties.[6][7] In October of that year, he transferred to the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve. He resigned his commission on 9 February 1977.[8]
He went to the University of Cambridge, where he read History at Jesus College. He was Chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association in the Michaelmas Term of 1977. He served as President of the Cambridge Union 1978–79,[9] after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1978, later proceeding Master of Arts.[10]
Mitchell worked for Lazard, the investment bank, where he worked with British companies seeking large-scale overseas contracts.[11]
Work as an MP[edit]
Keep Justice Local campaign[edit]
In 2002, Mitchell led the successful Keep Justice Local campaign across his constituency of Sutton Coldfield to safeguard the 50-year-old Magistrates' Court from closure. He presented a petition signed by more than 5,500 constituents, protesting at plans to transfer the Courthouse's work to Birmingham.[49]
However, its closure was again announced in December 2010 by the government in which Mitchell was by then a minister. He said, "We must now ensure that there's a widespread local discussion about the future of the site and the building. I know that our councillors are already looking at how best we can do this".[50]
Voting record[edit]
In 1994, as MP for Gedling, Mitchell voted in the House of Commons for the restoration of the death penalty; the motion was defeated 383–186.[51] Between 2001 and 2010, as MP for Sutton Coldfield, his House of Commons voting record shows that he voted for limiting climate change, civil partnerships for gay couples, greater autonomy for schools, a UK referendum on the EU Lisbon Treaty, replacement of Trident, the invasion of Iraq and the subsequent Iraq investigation, and limiting pollution from civil aviation. During the same period, he voted against ID cards, the closure of post offices, both 42 days' and 90 days' detention without charge or trial, the DNA database, closer EU integration, the relaxation of gambling laws, Section 28 (although in 1988 he had voted in favour),[52] employment discrimination against gay people, the legalisation of recreational drugs, a fully elected House of Lords, and a ban on fox hunting.[53]
In 2013 Mitchell voted against the legalisation of same-sex marriage and also voted for an amendment to the bill which would have allowed a government registrar to opt out of performing marriage ceremonies 'to which he had a conscientious objection'.[53] He was ranked by the Liberal Democrat Voice (connected to, but not part of, the Liberal Democrat Party) as one of the least authoritarian members of Parliament, scoring 3 out of 100 points for his votes between 2005 and 2010.[54] with a joint ranking of 542 out of 619.[55]
Mitchell supported continued membership of the European Union in the 2016 referendum.[56]
Reaction to 2017 general election[edit]
Speaking in January 2018, to the Jesus College, Cambridge, Debating Society, Mitchell expressed the belief that the Labour would win the next general election and Jeremy Corbyn would become the next prime minister. Mitchell explained that this was a prospect he regarded with apprehension, and speculated that under a Labour Government borrowing and taxation would increase drastically.[57]
Famine in Yemen[edit]
In October 2018, Mitchell said that by supporting the Saudi coalition "Britain is complicit in creating" a famine in Yemen.[58]
Relationship with Boris Johnson[edit]
On 31 January 2022, after Boris Johnson issued a statement to the house about the interim report by Sue Gray, into the Partygate scandal, Mitchell announced that he no longer supported the Prime Minister.[59] Mitchell had previously been one of Johnson's longest supporters. In 1993, Johnson attempted to stand as a Conservative candidate in the 1994 European Parliament elections. Mitchell convinced Prime Minister John Major, who was critical of Johnson, not to veto Johnson's candidacy, but Johnson could not find a constituency.[60]
Allegations of lobbying on behalf of donors[edit]
An article in The Sunday Times newspaper on 30 October 2010, quoted by The Guardian newspaper the following day, claimed that Mitchell had pressured the Foreign Office and colleagues to lobby Ghana (successfully) for the lifting of a trading ban on a cocoa company, Armajaro, which had been a repeated donor to Mitchell's parliamentary office and also a donor to the Conservative Party. Ghana had imposed the ban as the company was believed to have been smuggling cocoa out of the country. However, when questioned by ITV News on 2 November about his role in the case, Mitchell said that he had a duty as a member of the government to respond to the company's requests, as it was registered as a British company, and that the government had a responsibility to promote British trade. He argued that he had seen no evidence that the Ghanaian government's suspicions about the company in question had been substantiated, and that the claim that he had acted improperly on behalf of a party donor was unreasonable, as the company had ceased to donate to both the Conservative Party and his parliamentary office several years earlier.[61][62]
Allegations of tax avoidance[edit]
In 2006, Mitchell invested funds in privately owned firms implicated in a tax avoidance scheme.[63] According to The Daily Telegraph, a subsidiary of DV3 purchased the lease on the Dickins & Jones department store building in central London for £65.1 million and sold it a month later to a partnership controlled by DV3 for £65,100, thus avoiding stamp duty.[63] The loophole, although legal, was reported by The Times to be considered "aggressive tax avoidance" by Revenue & Customs.[64]
Personal life[edit]
Mitchell is married to Dr Sharon Bennett, a GP, and has two children.[65] He maintains a residence in his constituency of Sutton Coldfield and primarily lives in Islington, London.[66]
Mitchell is a trustee of International Inspiration – a charity that promotes access to sport, play and physical exercise in low and middle income countries around the world.[67] He sits on the Board of Trustees alongside Sebastian Coe, Katherine Grainger and David Davies.
Mitchell was previously a trustee of the E. M. Radiation Research Trust,[68] now known as the Radiation Research Trust,[69] which conducts research into radiation emissions, from sites such as mobile phone masts. He was also a senior strategy adviser for consultants Accenture. He is also Freeman of the City of London and a Liveryman of the Vintners' Company.
In 2010, Mitchell was sworn in as a Privy Councillor.
Mitchell is a member of the elite Burgundian bacchanalian fraternity, the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin.[70]