Kelly Jane Tolhurst (born 23 August 1978) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Rochester and Strood Rochester and Strood is a constituency in Kent represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Lauren Edwards from the Labour Party. It was previously represented from 2015 by Kelly Tolhurst, a Conservative, who served ...

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 ...

to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, she served as

Minister of State for Schools and Childhood The office of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families, formerly Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing, is a junior ministerial position in the Department for Education, previously the ...

from September to October 2022. Tolhurst previously served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Rough Sleeping and Housing from 2020 to 2021, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Aviation and Maritime in 2020 and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Small Business, Consumers and Corporate Responsibility from 2018 to 2020 and was briefly

Deputy Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom I ...

in 2022. She is a former councillor for the Rochester West ward on

Medway Council Medway Council is the local authority of Medway, a local government district in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. The council is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council; it is ...

Early life

Tolhurst was born in Rochester, where her father Morris Tolhurst was a boat builder. She attended Wainscott Primary School in Rochester and Chapter School in

Strood Strood is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in Kent, South East England. Strood forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Kent, Chatham, Rochester, Kent, Rochester, Gillingham, Kent, Gillingham and Rainham, Kent, Rainham. It ...

, a non-selective state school for girls aged 11 to 18. From 2008, she ran a marine survey business, called Tolhurst Associates, with her father, with employment in marketing previous to this point.

Political career

Tolhurst was elected to the Rochester West ward on

in 2011 and served as a councillor until 2018 when she resigned after being appointed as an assistant whip. In the by-election for the ward that followed in March 2018, the seat was taken by the Labour candidate Alex Paterson. Tolhurst was selected to contest the

2014 Rochester and Strood by-election A by-election was held on 20 November 2014 for the UK parliamentary constituency of Rochester and Strood in Kent, England. The sitting Member of Parliament (MP) Mark Reckless called it on joining the UK Independence Party (UKIP), from the C ...

which was triggered by the defection of

Mark Reckless Mark John Reckless (born 6 December 1970) is a British lawyer and former politician who served as a Member of the Senedd (MS) for South Wales East from 2016 until 2021, having previously served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rochester and ...

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...

. Tolhurst lost the by-election, held on 20 November 2014, but regained the seat for the Conservatives at the 2015 general election six months later, securing a majority of over 7,000. She was re-elected in 2017. Tolhurst served on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, the European Scrutiny Committee and the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee. She was made an assistant government whip during the reshuffle on 9 January 2018. Tolhurst was appointed the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets at the

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom Government, from July 2016 to Februar ...

on 19 July 2018. In February 2020, Tolhurst was appointed as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport at the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport ...

, succeeding

Nus Ghani Nusrat Munir Ul-Ghani (born 1 September 1972) is a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament (MP) for Sussex Weald since 2024, having represented the predecessor constituency Wealden from 2015 to 2024. She has served as ...

who had been relieved of ministerial responsibilities. Tolhurst campaigned to remain in the European Union prior to the 2016 referendum. Tolhurst was appointed as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government and Homelessness at the

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for housing, communities, and local government in England. It was established in May 2006 ...

in September 2020, replacing Luke Hall, who had in turn replaced Simon Clarke in a different position in the same department. She resigned from this position in January 2021 after receiving "devastating family news". On 1 July 2022, Tolhurst was appointed Government Deputy Chief Whip and Treasurer of the Household by Prime Minister

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

, following the resignation of

Chris Pincher Christopher John Pincher (born 24 September 1969) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamworth from 2010 until his resignation in 2023. Pincher served as Government Deputy Chief Whip, and Treasurer of t ...

. On 7 September 2022, she was appointed

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

in the

Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for child protection, child services, education in England, educati ...

. On 8 March 2023, she was appointed as a member of the Privy Council. In 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 unseated by

Lauren Edwards Lauren Rae Edwards is an Australian-born British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament for Rochester and Strood since 2024. Early life and career Edwards was born in Altona, Melbourne, Australia, and was educat ...

from the Labour Party.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tolhurst, Kelly 1978 births Conservative Party (UK) councillors Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Councillors in Kent Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Living people People from Rochester, Kent Politics of Medway UK councillors 2011–2015 UK councillors 2015–2019 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–2024 21st-century British women politicians 21st-century English women 21st-century English politicians Women councillors in England Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom