Mark Jonathon Mortlock Simmonds (born 12 April 1964) is a

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 ...

politician in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He was the

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 Boston and Skegness in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

, and was first elected in 2001, succeeding Sir Richard Body. He was re-elected in 2005 with a greatly increased majority before his subsequent re-election in 2010 – more than doubling his 2005 majority. In September 2012 he was appointed to the

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

as a

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Asia and the Pacific Minister of State for Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate and Environment is a mid-level position in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in the Government of the United Kingdom, British government. History The office ...

. On 11 August 2014 he resigned this post and confirmed that he would step down as an MP at the 2015 general election. In October 2015, he was appointed non-executive director of the AIM-listed fertiliser company,

African Potash African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

. On 6 January 2020, Simmonds was appointed a non-executive director of the AIM-listed African oil exploration company, LEKOIL, a week before the company announced that it had been the victim of a US$184m fraud.

Early life

Born in

Worksop Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located east-south-east of Sheffield, close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, on the River Ryton and not far from th ...

, Simmonds went to

Worksop College Worksop College (formerly St Cuthbert's College) is a British co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils aged 13 to 18, in Worksop. It sits at the northern edge of Sherwood Forest, in Nottinghamshire, England. Founded ...

, then

Trent Polytechnic Trent may refer to: Places Italy * Trento in northern Italy, site of the Council of Trent United Kingdom * Trent, Dorset, England, United Kingdom Germany * Trent, Germany, a municipality on the island of Rügen United States * Trent, California ...

, where he obtained a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

(Hons) degree in urban estate surveying in 1986. He became an associate of the

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is a global professional body for surveyors, founded in London in 1868. It works at a cross-governmental level, and aims to promote and enforce the highest international standards in the va ...

in 1987. He worked as a surveyor for

Savills Savills plc is a British real estate services company based in London. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The business was established by Alfred Savill (1829–1905) in 1855 in London. B ...

from 1986 to 1988 and was a partner in

Strutt & Parker Strutt & Parker is one of the largest property consultancies in the UK with a network of 60 offices, 10 in prime central London. It was founded in 1885, by the partnership of two friends, Hon. Edward Gerald Strutt and Charles Alfred Parker. In 20 ...

from 1988 to 1996. He was a director of Hillier Parker from 1997 to 1999 and a chairman of Mortlock Simmonds Brown from 1999 until becoming an MP for Boston and Skegness.

Parliamentary career

He contested the Ashfield seat in 1997. Simmonds was promoted to Shadow Health Minister in 2007. On 5 September 2012, he was appointed as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In this role, he was also responsible for the British Overseas Territories. He resigned on 11 August 2014, claiming that he cannot support his family in London on £120k + expenses. According to the ''Telegraph'', although Simmonds legitimately received over £500k from expenses since 2001, changes in the rules following the 2009

United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal The United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal was a major political scandal that emerged in 2009, concerning expenses claims made by members of the British Parliament in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords over the previous year ...

meant he was no longer able to claim mortgage relief on a house in Putney. He subsequently sold the house at a profit of £537k and bought Swineshead Abbey but said it was impossible for "a government minister with children to have a normal family life." He voted against the

Cameron–Clegg coalition The Cameron–Clegg coalition was formed by David Cameron and Nick Clegg when Cameron was invited by Queen Elizabeth II to form a new administration, following the resignation of Prime Minister Gordon Brown on 11 May 2010, after the gene ...

government in 2013 on the issue of British military intervention in the Syrian civil war. Following his decision not to stand again, Simmonds defended charging expenses to the taxpayer purported to total over £10,000 on hoardings and local radio, advertising the role of the MP and promoting democracy in line with current IPSA guidelines. He claimed the money was necessary to communicate with constituents. The political campaigning website

38 Degrees 38 Degrees is a British not-for-profit political-activism organisation. It describes itself as " progressive" and claims to "campaign for fairness, defend rights, promote peace, preserve the planet and deepen democracy in the UK". 38 Degrees t ...

set up a petition calling for him to pay it back. In 2014 he was appointed to the Privy Council, entitling him to the style "

The Right Honourable ''The Right Honourable'' (abbreviation: ''Rt Hon.'' or variations) is an honorific Style (form of address), style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire and the Commonwealth ...

" for life.

Personal life

He married Lizbeth Hanomancin Garcia in December 1994 in London, and they have two daughters (born March 1999 and October 2000) and a son (born April 2002). He lives in his constituency in Swineshead in a house on the former site of Swineshead Abbey. In 2012 he apologised to Parliament for failing to mention an interest in Circle Healthcare when speaking in support of the Health and Social Care Bill in Parliament.

References

External links

*
Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Mark Simmonds MP

TheyWorkForYou.com - Mark Simmonds MP

Video: Open Road - Mark Simmonds interview
hosted by

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. Mark Simmonds talks about welfare reforms proposed by the coalition Government.

News items

Concern over gangmasters in 2003
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simmonds, Mark 1964 births Living people Alumni of Nottingham Trent University People educated at Worksop College Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 People from Worksop Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People from Swineshead, Lincolnshire