Damian Patrick George Hinds (born 27 November 1969) is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Prisons, Parole and Probation since October 2022. He served as

Secretary of State for Education The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. The incumbent is a member of the C ...

from 2018 to 2019 and Minister of State for Security and Borders from 2021 to 2022. A member of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, he has been

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for

East Hampshire East Hampshire is a local government district in Hampshire, England. Its council is based in Petersfield. Other towns are Alton and Bordon. The district was originally to be known as the District Council of Petersfield. It comprised 42 sea ...

since 2010. Hinds was educated at

St Ambrose College St Ambrose College is a Christian Brothers' Roman Catholic boys' grammar school in Hale Barns, Altrincham, Greater Manchester, England. It was founded in 1946 by Dr Joseph Robertson. In 2012 the school became an academy, and was completely re-b ...

and

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

. He was elected for East Hampshire at the 2010 general election. Hinds was appointed

Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury is a junior ministerial post in His Majesty's Treasury, ranked below the First Lord of the Treasury, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Paymaster General and the Fina ...

in 2015. He was moved to the post of

minister of state for employment The Minister of State for Employment is a mid-level position in the Department for Work and Pensions in the British government. History The office was previously held by Julie Marson following the resignation of Mims Davies on 6 July 2022. R ...

in 2016. In the 2018 cabinet reshuffle he was promoted to Secretary of State for Education. He lost this position following

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as ...

's appointment as Prime Minister in 2019. He returned to government in 2021 as Minister of State for Security. He resigned on 7 July 2022.

Early life and career

Hinds was educated at

, a

voluntary aided A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a religious organisation), contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school. In m ...

Roman Catholic grammar school in

Hale Barns Hale Barns is a village near Altrincham in Greater Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre, 2 miles west of Manchester Airport and close to the River Bollin. At the 2011 census, the village had a population of 9,736. Medieval ...

, Greater Manchester. Hinds read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, attaining a

first class degree The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

. He served as

President of the Oxford Union Past elected presidents of the Oxford Union are listed below, with their college and the year/term in which they served. ''Iterum'' indicates that a person was serving a second term as president (which is not possible under the current Union rule ...

. He stood in Stretford and Urmston at the 2005 general election, coming second to incumbent MP

Beverley Hughes Beverley June Hughes, Baroness Hughes of Stretford (born 30 March 1950) is a British politician serving as Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, Hughes was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stretford an ...

, gaining 30.4% of the vote (an increase for the

of 3.3%). Before becoming an MP, Hinds spent 18 years working in the pubs/brewing and hotel industries, in Britain and abroad. Hinds was chairman of the

Bow Group The Bow Group is a UK-based think tank promoting conservative opinion. Founded in 1951, it is the oldest group of its kind, counting many senior Conservative Party MPs and peers among its members. It represents a forum for political debate with i ...

in 2001–02.

Parliamentary career

At the 2010 general election, Hinds was elected Member of Parliament for

, getting 56.8% of the vote (an increase of 9.7%) and achieving a swing from the Liberal Democrats to the Conservative Party of 6.6%. The previous Conservative MP,

Michael Mates Michael John Mates (born 9 June 1934) is a Conservative Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of East Hampshire from 1974 to 2010. He was a minister at the Northern Ireland Office from 1992 to 1993, resignin ...

, had stood down at the election. Hinds sat on the Education

Select Committee Select committee may refer to: *Select committee (parliamentary system) A select committee is a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues originating in the Westminster system o ...

between 2010 and 2012. He was also a member of the

Public Bill Committee In the British House of Commons, public bill committees (known as standing committees before 2006) consider Bills – proposed Acts of Parliament. The House of Lords does not have such committees, as Bills are usually considered by the House as a ...

for the

Defence Reform Act 2014 The Defence Reform Act 2014 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerned with defence procurement and the UK Reserve Forces, particularly the Territorial Army. It has 51 sections and seven schedules. Part 1 of the Act relates t ...

. Hinds served as

from 12 May 2015. In the run-up to the referendum of 2016, he campaigned in favour of the UK remaining in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

. He was made

Minister of State for Employment The Minister of State for Employment is a mid-level position in the Department for Work and Pensions in the British government. History The office was previously held by Julie Marson following the resignation of Mims Davies on 6 July 2022. R ...

by Prime Minister

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...

on 17 July 2016. In the 2018 cabinet reshuffle he was appointed as

, succeeding

Justine Greening Justine Greening (born 30 April 1969) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education from 2016 to 2018. Prior to that, she served as Economic Secretary to the Treasury from 2010 to 2011, Secretary of State for Transpor ...

, who resigned rather than changing position. Parliament lists Hinds' political interests as education, welfare, affordable

credit Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt) ...

, and

social mobility Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families, households or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's current social location within a given society ...

. He has demonstrated a particular interest in the Catholic education sector and the admissions rules that apply to faith free schools. During his tenure as Education Secretary Hinds introduced First Aid and CPR courses to school curriculums and launched a campaign to increase awareness of the importance of technical skills and apprenticeships' education. Hinds lost his post as Education Secretary on 24 July 2019 following the appointment of

as Prime Minister. Hinds returned to government on 13 August 2021 as

Minister of State for Security The minister of state for security is a ministerial position in the government of the United Kingdom, falling under the Home Office. The post was created by then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown on 3 June 2009 by splitting the now-defunct post of the ...

following the resignation of

James Brokenshire James Peter Brokenshire (8 January 1968 – 7 October 2021) was a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party, he served in Theresa May's cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2016 to 2018, ...

on health grounds. In a cabinet reshuffle on 15 September 2021 his ministerial title changed to Minister of State for Security and Borders. He resigned as minister on 7 July 2022, amid the

July 2022 United Kingdom government crisis In early July 2022, 62 of the United Kingdom's 179 government ministers, parliamentary private secretaries, trade envoys, and party vice-chairmen resigned from their positions in the second administration formed by Boris Johnson as Prime Mini ...

Personal life

Hinds married Jacqui Morel, a teacher, on 11 August 2007. They have three children.

Notes

References

External links

*
Conservative Home — Damian Hinds's selectionPetersfield Post — Damian Hinds's selection
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hinds, Damian 1969 births Living people UK MPs 2010–2015 Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People from Cheshire Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Presidents of the Oxford Union Members of the Bow Group Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at St. Ambrose College UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present