Julia Lopez (politician)

Julia Louise Dockerill was born on 4 June 1984 in Harlow[5] and grew up in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, with her two sisters. Her mother was a primary school teacher and her father was a businessman.[6] She attended Bentfield Primary School, then the Hertfordshire and Essex High School in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, before going up to Queens' College, Cambridge, where she read Social and Political Sciences, graduating MA.[7][8]

From 2006, she worked as a researcher in the parliamentary office of then-MP for Cities of London and Westminster and Conservative Party Vice-Chairman, Mark Field. She became his chief of staff and co-authored two of his books Between the Crashes and The Best of Times. Dockerill has also worked as a ghostwriter.[9] While Dockerill was Field's parliamentary aide she was photographed in November 2016 carrying confidential notes on a Brexit-related meeting in Downing Street which indicated that the UK would not stay in the single market, and would not seek a transitional deal with the EU.[10][11]

In 2014, Dockerill was elected a councillor for St Katharine's and Wapping ward on Tower Hamlets London Borough Council.[9][12] In April 2017, she was selected as the Conservative candidate for Hornchurch and Upminster. The seat had been previously represented by Conservative MP Angela Watkinson since its formation in 2010 who had also represented the earlier constituency of Upminster since 2001.[13] Dockerill was elected to Parliament at the 2017 general election with a majority of 17,723 (31.6%) votes.[14] From September 2017, she sat on the Parliamentary International Trade Select Committee.[15]

Lopez supported Brexit in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. She voted against then Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit withdrawal agreement in early 2019. In the indicative votes on 27 March, she voted against a referendum on a withdrawal agreement.[16] In October, Lopez voted for Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit withdrawal agreement.[17] At the December 2019 general election, she was returned with an increased majority of 23,308 (43.2%) votes.[1]

In February 2020, Lopez was promoted to Government as Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office, succeeding Jeremy Quin.

In September 2017 she married her British-Australian long-term partner, who was born in El Salvador, and she adopted his patrilineal surname of Lopez.

Lorenzo works in the Information Technology sector as a developer and has been elected FBCS; they have one daughter.[6]

• Cabinet Office

• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou