Gillian Keegan

Gillian Keegan (born 13 March 1968) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chichester since the 2017 general election. She is the constituency's first female MP.[3] In February 2020 she was appointed as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Apprenticeships and Skills.

Gillian Keegan

MP
Keegan in 2019
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Apprenticeships and Skills
Assumed office
14 February 2020
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byAnne Milton
Member of Parliament
for Chichester
Assumed office
8 June 2017
Preceded byAndrew Tyrie
Majority21,490 (35.9%)
Personal details
Born (1968-03-13) 13 March 1968[1][2]
Knowsley, England
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)Michael Keegan
Alma materLiverpool John Moores University
London Business School
Websitewww.gilliankeegan.com

Early life

Keegan grew up in Knowsley, Merseyside, and went to St Augustine of Canterbury Secondary School (renamed St Thomas Becket Catholic High School) in Huyton. She has a bachelor's degree in Business Studies from Liverpool John Moores University and a Master of Science in Strategy and Leadership (Sloan Fellowship) from London Business School in 2011.[4]

Professional career

Keegan started her career aged 16 as an apprentice at a car factory in Kirkby and went on to have a business career working at Delco Electronics (part of the General Motors Group), NatWest Bank (Senior Buyer), MasterCard International (Commercial Director), Amadeus IT Group (Group Vice President of Multinational Customer Group based in Madrid) and Travelport (Chief Marketing Officer)[5] over 27 years.

Political career

Keegan says that it was her experiences of trade unionism and the Militant-controlled Liverpool City Council while working in Kirkby in the 1980s that convinced her to support the Conservative Party. However, she did not become active in politics until 2014.[6] In 2015, she was advised in her ambitions to become an MP by Justine Greening, whom she met by chance at a London Business School (LBS) reunion; according to her, this demonstrated the power of the LBS network.[7] She unsuccessfully contested the constituency of St Helens South and Whiston in the 2015 general election. In 2015 she became Director of Women2Win—an organisation founded by Theresa May and Baroness Anne Jenkin in 2005 to help elect more women Conservative MPs to Parliament.[8] She had left that position by September 2017.[9]

Keegan was elected as a councillor for the Rogate ward on Chichester District Council in 2014.[3] She was appointed cabinet member for commercial services in May 2015.[10] She stood down as a councillor in February 2018 and in the election that followed in April 2018, the seat was taken by the Liberal Democrat candidate Kate O'Kelly.[11] Keegan went on to beat O'Kelly by 21,490 votes in the General Election in December 2019.

Keegan was selected as the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for the Chichester constituency in May 2017,[8] and was elected to the House of Commons in the General Election held on 8 June 2017.[12] In September 2017, she was appointed to the Public Accounts Committee.[13] Gillian Keegan was appointed PPS to HM Treasury in September 2018.[14] In January 2019 Gillian Keegan became Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Defence.[15]

In February 2019, Keegan was appointed as MP Apprenticeship Ambassador by Anne Milton, with responsibility to support apprenticeship schemes and promote them both within Parliament and to businesses within the UK, working alongside the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network consisting of various advocates of apprenticeship schemes.[16][17]

Keegan endorsed Rory Stewart during the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election.[18]

Gillian Keegan became Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Home Secretary in May 2019.[19] Gillian became PPS to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in September 2019.

In February 2020, Keegan was appointed as the new Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Apprenticeships and Skills, a junior ministerial role at the Department for Education.[20]

In August 2020, Gillian Keegan was criticised for being on holiday during the A-Level results crisis however, Keegan defended herself by clarifying that she was not the Minister responsible for A-Level and GCSE qualifications. Keegan explained that she had indeed been the duty Minister for the first two weeks of summer recess and had obtained special permission to take her government PC to continue working during this period.[21]

Other interests

Keegan was a member of the Board of Governors of Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust[8] from 2015 to 2017.

Personal life

Keegan, who owns several properties and has homes in France and Spain,[22] lives in Petworth in West Sussex with her husband Michael, CEO of Fujitsu UK and Ireland, and has two stepsons.[23][24] Her father-in-law, Denis Keegan, was Conservative MP for Nottingham South.[25]

Keegan is godmother to two of former Speaker John Bercow's children.[26]

References
  1. Staff writer (7 May 2017). "Gillian Keegan: 'Militant trade unionists turned me Tory after I saw how it cost us jobs'". The Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  2. Dale, Iain; Smith, Jacqui (14 November 2019). The Honourable Ladies: Volume II: Profiles of Women MPs 1997–2019. Biteback Publishing. ISBN 9781785904479 – via Google Books.
  3. "Conservative's bid to be Chichester's first female MP". Chichester Observer. 3 May 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  4. Women2Win. "Gillian Keegan". women2win.com. Women2Win. Archived from the original on 31 July 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  5. "Gillian Gibson Named to Travelport Post". TravelAgentCentral.com (Press release). Questex. 18 January 2011. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  6. Riley-Smith, Ben (6 May 2017). "'Theresa factor' credited with surge in women candidates as party looks set to make history by securing more women MPs than ever before". The Telegraph. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  7. "Gillian Keegan". London Business School. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  8. "Keegan selected in Chichester". conservativehome.com. Conservative Home. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  9. "Gillian Keegan MP featured in The Times 'Back to Westminster' series". Women2Win. 11 September 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  10. "New cabinet is announced at Chichester District Council". Chichester District Council. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  11. "District councillor elected for Rogate". Chichester Observer. 13 April 2018. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  12. "Gillian Keegan MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  13. "Membership – Public Accounts Committee". UK Parliament. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  14. Powling, Joshua (13 September 2018). "Chichester MP promoted to treasury role". Chichester Observer. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  15. "Ministry of Defence role for Chichester MP". www.chichester.co.uk.
  16. "A REVOLUTION ON THE SOUTH COAST – UNIVERSITY OPENS TO DEGREE APPRENTICES". University of Chichester. 5 March 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  17. "Chichester MP appointed as Apprenticeship Ambassador". Chichester Observer. 15 February 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  18. Powling, Joshua (12 June 2019). "Chichester's MP announces who she is backing for Tory leader". Chichester Observer. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  19. "Parliamentary Private Secretaries" (PDF). UK Government. June 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  20. Camden, Billy (17 February 2020). "Gillian Keegan appointed apprenticeships and skills minister". FE Week. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  21. "Chichester MP explains decision to go abroad on holiday during exam season". www.chichester.co.uk. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  22. Gillian Keegan, mySociety, retrieved 15 October 2017
  23. "Mrs Gillian Keegan". Chichester District Council. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  24. "Register of interests". Chichester District Council. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  25. "Economy and Jobs". Hansard Online. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  26. "What we learned from MPs' maiden speeches". BBC News. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Andrew Tyrie		 Member of Parliament for Chichester
2017–		 Incumbent
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