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Edward Argar

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The Right Honourable
Edward Argar
MP
Official portrait, 2022
Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
Shadow Lord Chancellor
Incumbent
Assumed office
8 July 2024
LeaderRishi Sunak
Preceded byShabana Mahmood
Minister of State for Prisons, Parole and Probation
In office
13 November 2023 – 5 July 2024
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded byDamian Hinds
Succeeded byThe Lord Timpson
Minister of State for Victims and Sentencing
In office
27 October 2022 – 13 November 2023
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded byRachel Maclean
Succeeded byLaura Farris (Victims)
Gareth Bacon (Sentencing)
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In office
14 October 2022 – 25 October 2022
Prime MinisterLiz Truss
Preceded byChris Philp
Succeeded byJohn Glen
Minister for the Cabinet Office
Paymaster General
In office
6 September 2022 – 14 October 2022
Prime MinisterLiz Truss
Preceded byMichael Ellis
Succeeded byChris Philp
Minister of State for Health
In office
10 September 2019 – 6 July 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byChris Skidmore
Succeeded byMaria Caulfield
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice
In office
14 June 2018 – 10 September 2019
Prime Minister
Preceded byPhillip Lee
Succeeded byChris Philp
Member of Parliament
for Melton and Syston
Charnwood (2015–2024)
Incumbent
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Preceded byStephen Dorrell
Majority5,396 (11.7%)
Personal details
Born (1977-12-09) 9 December 1977 (age 46)
Ashford, Kent, England
Political partyConservative
Alma materOriel College, Oxford
Websitewww.edwardargar.org.uk

Edward John Comport Argar (born 9 December 1977) is a British politician who has served as Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor since July 2024.[1] He most recently served as Minister of State for Prisons, Parole and Probation from November 2023 to July 2024 and as Chief Secretary to the Treasury in October 2022.

A member of the Conservative Party, he previously served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice from 2018 to 2019, Minister of State for Health from 2019 to 2022, and as Paymaster General from September to October 2022. Argar was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Charnwood from the 2015 general election until the seat was abolished for the 2024 general election.

He subsequently stood for election in the newly formed Melton and Syston seat in which he was elected.[2]

Early life

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Argar was born in Ashford and educated at the Harvey Grammar School, before earning a 2:1 in modern history at Oriel College, Oxford.[3]

Early career and Westminster council career

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After leaving university, he spent four years working as Press Secretary for Shadow Foreign Secretary Lord Ancram, who at the time shared an office with then Shadow Cabinet Minister Sir Alan Duncan.[4]

After working for Lord Ancram, he worked for Hedra, a management consultancy which was taken over by Mouchel. In February 2013, he was elected onto the South East Regional Council of the CBI, describing himself as 'Head of Public Affairs, Serco UK & Europe'.[5]

He became a Conservative member of Westminster City Council in 2006 and a cabinet member in 2008.[6] He contested the council leadership in 2012, but lost to Philippa Roe.[7]

Parliament

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He stood in Oxford East in the 2010 general election, with his election leaflet promising a Conservative government would deliver a fairer society with improved public services and more NHS investment.[8] However, he was defeated by Andrew Smith, the former Work and Pensions minister. Argar subsequently attended selections in the constituencies of Newark, Tonbridge and Malling, Wealden and Mid Worcestershire, before being selected to contest the safe seat of Charnwood previously held by Stephen Dorrell; a Daily Telegraph article praising open primaries referred to him as a "serial candidate".[9] The Leicester Mercury, noting his selection had attracted criticism, asked whether Parliamentary candidates should have a link to the constituency.[10]

Argar gave his maiden speech on 4 June 2015. He praised his predecessor, Stephen Dorrell and described the constituency as a post 2010 success story but said he would be "continuing to campaign for fairer funding ..for its schools." On other issues, he said that although the Government had made significant progress in dementia care and mental health provision, more was needed and he promised to vocally support those committed to further improvement. However he was there to represent the whole community in Charnwood, including those on the fringes and he passionately believed in one-nationism.[11][better source needed] Argar was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.[12]

Dementia awareness campaign

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Edward Argar MP

Argar opened a debate on dementia in September 2015. He praised the work done by the previous Labour government in formulating a dementia strategy and described a visit to a Syston community centre. He said some 21m people have a close friend or family member with the disease, and stated that the government has committed £66m to research. He also paid tribute to the Alzheimer's Society, Alzheimer's Research UK and Age UK for their work.[13]

Writing in the Tribune in October 2015, Argar put the annual cost of the disease, which affects 850,000 people, at £23 billion, and argued for government departments, including hospitals, to become dementia-friendly places. He hoped Leicestershire County Council, which had amongst the lowest Government funding, would get a better deal to help provide care support for rural areas. According to Argar, dementia patients stay 20% longer than average in hospitals, and he expressed concern that 41% of hospitals do not include awareness training during staff induction.[14]

Ministerial career

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Argar was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Home Secretary in the January 2019 reshuffle. He was later appointed Under-Secretary of State for Justice in June 2018 replacing Philip Lee. Argar was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Health and Social Care on 10 September 2019. Argar was previously Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice between 14 June 2018 and 10 September 2019. The website Conservative Home noted that by appointing someone who always followed the party line, Theresa May had missed an opportunity to silence a potential critic.[15] The Law Gazette described him as 'a little-known backbencher' and said that like Lee his role would include responsibility for treatment of women and child offenders.[16]

Argar's appointment as Minister of State for Health preceded the start of the COVID-19 virus arrival in January 2020. In June 2020, Argar was interviewed by Nick Robinson on the BBC Today programme. His new quarantine policy was designed to stop travellers from high risk countries from importing the disease. However, asked three times to name European countries with a higher infection rate, Argar repeatedly described the policy leading Robinson to interrupt him saying he was either unable or unwilling to answer the question.[17]

On 6 July 2022, Argar resigned from government in the wake of widespread criticism of Boris Johnson's handling of the Chris Pincher scandal, following a large number of other ministerial resignations.

On 7 September 2022, he was appointed Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office in Liz Truss's first cabinet.[18] He was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council on 13 September 2022 following his appointment.[19]

On 14 October 2022, following the dismissal of Kwasi Kwarteng as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Argar was appointed as Chief Secretary to the Treasury replacing Chris Philp.[20]

Upon the appointment of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister, Argar left the Cabinet and was appointed Minister of State for Victims and Sentencing in the Ministry of Justice.

In opposition

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Following the Conservative Party's defeat in the 2024 United Kingdom general election and the subsequent formation of the Starmer ministry, Argar was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Justice in Rishi Sunak's caretaker Shadow Cabinet.

Personal life

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According to his 2015 election leaflets, he owned a house in Syston, though Westminster City Council documents showed he was a tenant in a flat in Winchester Street, Pimlico, in March 2015.[21][better source needed]

Argar married Laetitia Glossop on 3 September 2022, at the parish church in Hindon, Wiltshire.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ "UK politics live: Lord Cameron resigns as Rishi Sunak announces interim shadow cabinet". BBC News. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  2. ^ "Melton and Syston results". BBC News. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  3. ^ "Oxford East candidates try to woo students". BBC News. 2 May 2010. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  4. ^ "About Edward Argar". Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  5. ^ "Fresh faces voted on to South East Regional Council". cbi.org.uk/. 18 February 2013. Archived from the original on 5 June 2015. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  6. ^ "Wealden Open Primary:Edward Argar". Wealden Conservatives. Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  7. ^ Ben Bloom (1 March 2012). "Philippa Roe to become new Westminster Council leader". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  8. ^ "Ed Argar election leaflet 2010". electionleaflets.org. 2010. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  9. ^ James Kirkup (1 November 2013). "Evening Briefing: A new breed of MP?". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 20 April 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  10. ^ "The Big Question: Do you think parliamentary candidates should have a connection to the constituency?". 28 January 2015. Archived from the original on 29 May 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  11. ^ "HC debate 4 June 2015, c857". Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  12. ^ Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 22 October 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  13. ^ "HC Deb, 9 September 2015, c120WH". 9 September 2015.
  14. ^ Edward Argar (26 October 2015). "The challenge we must meet for dementia sufferers". Tribune magazine. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
  15. ^ Henry Hill (14 June 2018). "Argar replaces Lee at Justice". conservativehome. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  16. ^ Michael Cross (15 June 2018). "Edward Argar MP joins justice ministerial team". Law Gazette. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  17. ^ Sophia Sleigh (4 June 2020). "Edward Argar unable to name single European country with higher coronavirus infection rate than UK". Evening Standard. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  18. ^ "Ministerial Appointments: September 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  19. ^ "Orders for 13 September 2022" (PDF). Privy Council Office. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  20. ^ "Treasury chief secretary Chris Philp moved aside and replaced by Edward Argar amid economic chaos". Sky News. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  21. ^ Source Westminster city council "Declaration file for Councillor Edward Argar.pdf" downloaded 23 March 2015
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Edward Argar.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Charnwood
2015–2024 		Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament
for Melton and Syston
2024–present 		Incumbent
Preceded by Minister for the Cabinet Office
2022 		Succeeded by
Paymaster General
2022
Preceded by Chief Secretary to the Treasury
2022 		Succeeded by
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