Johanna Peta Churchill (born 18 March 1964) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...

from

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. A member of the Conservative Party, she served as Minister of State in the Department for Work and Pensions from November 2023 until July 2024. She previously served as

Vice-Chamberlain of the Household The Vice-Chamberlain of the Household is a member of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. The officeholder is usually a senior government whip in the British House of Commons ranking third or fourth after the Chief Whip and ...

from 2022 to 2023. In that role, she took part in the 2023 Coronation and the

2023 State Opening of Parliament A State Opening of Parliament, State Opening of the Parliament of the United Kingdom took place on 7 November 2023 when King Charles III opened the fourth Legislative session, session of the List of MPs elected in the 2019 United Kingdom general ...

Early life

Johanna Churchill was privately educated at Dame Alice Harpur School.

Career

Churchill was the finance director of a scaffolding company and served on

Lincolnshire County Council Lincolnshire County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Lincolnshire in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county; the latter additionally includes North Lincolnshire and No ...

. Churchill was the member of parliament (MP) for the constituency of

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, which encompasses

and

Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. o ...

, having first taken her seat at the 2015 general election. She has sat on the

Women and Equalities Committee The Women and Equalities Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was established following the 2015 general election to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Govern ...

and the

Environmental Audit Select Committee The Environmental Audit Select Committee is a Select committee (United Kingdom), select committee of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine ho ...

. Churchill was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum. She has since stated that the EU referendum result must be respected and therefore supported

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; 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 as Home Secretar ...

in triggering

Article 50 Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) provides for the possibility of an EU member state leaving the European Union "in accordance with its own constitutional requirements". Currently, the United Kingdom is the only state to hav ...

(the formal process of leaving the EU). She entered government when she was made an assistant government whip during the reshuffle on 9 January 2018, having previously served as PPS to

Jeremy Hunt Sir Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (born 1 November 1966) is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2022 to 2024 and Foreign Secretary from 2018 to 2019, having previously served as Secretary of State for Health a ...

, Secretary of State for the Department of Health. In July 2019, Churchill was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prevention, Public Health and Primary Care at the

Department for Health and Social Care The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for government policy on health and adult social care matters in England, along with a few elements of the s ...

in the

first Johnson ministry The first Johnson ministry began on 24 July 2019 when Queen Elizabeth II invited Boris Johnson to form a new government, following the resignation of the predecessor Prime Minister Theresa May. May had resigned as Leader of the Conserv ...

. In September 2021, Churchill was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Agri-Innovation and Climate Adaptation at the

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for environmental quality, environmenta ...

during the second

cabinet reshuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the head of state changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parliam ...

of the

second Johnson ministry The second Johnson ministry began on 16 December 2019, three days after Boris Johnson's audience with Queen Elizabeth II where she invited him to form a new government following the 2019 United Kingdom general election, 2019 general election. ...

. She resigned from this position in 2022 in protest at Boris Johnson's conduct in the Chris Pincher scandal. In 2023, Churchill as

, was " taken hostage" at

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

to ensure the King's safe return after the

. She announced that she would not stand for re-election at the

2024 United Kingdom general election The 2024 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 4 July 2024 to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. The opposition Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, won a lan ...

. She was replaced as the Conservative candidate for the new constituency of Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket by special adviser

Will Tanner William Tanner is a former British political adviser who most recently served as Deputy Chief of Staff to the former Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. Career Tanner served as one of Theresa May's special advisers from 2014 whilst she was Home Secr ...

, who ultimately lost the contest to Labour candidate

Peter Prinsley Peter Richard Prinsley (born 8 April 1958) is a British Labour Party UK, Labour Party politician, who was elected as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket (UK Parliament constituency), Bury ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Churchill, Jo Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Living people Members of Lincolnshire County Council People educated at Dame Alice Harpur School UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–2024 21st-century British women politicians Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century English women 21st-century English politicians Women councillors in England