Gagan Mohindra (born 7 April 1978) is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been 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 Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

(MP) for South West Hertfordshire since the 2019 general election.

Early life

Mohindra was born into a Punjabi Hindu family in 1978. Mohindra's parents were both from

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

, India, and immigrated to the United Kingdom before Mohindra was born. His paternal grandfather served in the British Indian Army. Mohindra was raised as a Hindu. Mohindra read Mathematics at King's College London and worked in financial services, before founding the Chromex Group four years after graduating, where he worked until 2015. The last filed accounts of the company show liabilities of £1.4 million.

Political career

Mohindra was elected as councillor for the Grange Hill Ward of the Epping Forest District Council in May 2006, and has served as a councillor for the Chigwell and Loughton Broadway division on

Essex County Council Essex County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Essex in England. It has 75 councillors, elected from 70 divisions, and is currently controlled by the Conservative Party. The council meets at County Hall ...

since 2017. He continued in these roles, unpaid, after being elected to Parliament until 2021. Former MP for

Ilford North Ilford North is a constituency created in 1945 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Wes Streeting of the Labour Party. History The seat was created for the 1945 general election, from the northern part of ...

, Lee Scott, succeeded Mohindra in his council seat. Mohindra was also previously Chairman of Essex Conservatives. He stood for the Conservative Party candidate in

North Tyneside North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It forms part of the greater Tyneside conurbation. North Tyneside Council is headquartered at Cobalt Park, Wallsend. North Tyneside is bordered ...

at the 2010 general election and finished third in a traditionally strong Labour seat. He was also shortlisted to become MP for Brentwood and Ongar in 2017, but lost the nomination to

Alex Burghart Michael Alex Burghart (born 7 September 1977) is a British politician, academic and former teacher who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Brentwood and Ongar since 2017. A member of the Conservative Party, he was formerly a special ad ...

. Mohindra was chosen as the Conservative candidate for South West Hertfordshire after former Justice Secretary

David Gauke David Michael Gauke (; born 8 October 1971) is a British political commentator, solicitor and former politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Hertfordshire from 2005 to 2019. He served in the Cabinet under Theresa May, m ...

lost the whip for voting to block a no-deal Brexit. Mohindra was one of 15 MPs of Indian origin elected at the 2019 general election. He is a member of the Conservative Friends of India, a group within the Conservative Party. In 2020, Mohindra was appointed to the Public Accounts Committee. In October 2020, Mohindra voted against the opposition motion to provide free school meals to children during school holidays. In May 2022, during the cost-of-living crisis, Mohindra voted against a motion that could have helped struggling families by taxing high-earning gas megacorporations. On 13 June 2022, Mohindra was appointed

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

Priti Patel Priti Sushil Patel (born 29 March 1972) is a British politician who served as Home Secretary from 2019 to 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she was Secretary of State for International Development from 2016 to 2017. Patel has been the M ...

, the

home secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

References

External links

* 1978 births Living people UK MPs 2019–present Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of Parliament for South West Hertfordshire Members of Essex County Council British politicians of Indian descent {{UK-MP-2019-stub