Michael Mark Prisk (born 12 June 1962) is a British politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Hertford and Stortford from

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

until

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Minister of State for Business and Enterprise from 2010 to 2012 and Minister of State for Housing and Local Government from 2012 to 2013.

Early life

Prisk was born at

Redruth Redruth ( , ) is a town and civil parishes in Cornwall, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. According to the 2011 census, the population of Redruth was 14,018 In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, ...

, Cornwall and whilst living at

Camborne Camborne (from Cornish language, Cornish ''Cambron'', "crooked hill") is a town in Cornwall, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 20,845. The northern edge of the parish includes a section of the South West Coast Path, Hell's Mouth, C ...

was educated at the fee-paying

Truro School Truro School is a coeducational private boarding and day school located in the city of Truro, Cornwall, England. It is the largest coeducational independent school in Cornwall with over 1050 pupils from pre-prep to sixth form. It is a member s ...

in 1973–80. He went on to study Land Management at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

, gaining a BSc degree. From 1983 to 1985, he was Chairman of the Youth Section of Peace through NATO. He was vice-chairman of the

Federation of Conservative Students The Federation of Conservative Students (FCS) was the student organisation of the British Conservative Party from the late 1940s to 1986. It was created to act as a bridge between the student movement and the Conservative Party. It produced seve ...

in 1982–83. After graduation, Prisk worked in property and economic development and rose to become director of a £3 million practice. From 1983 to 1985, he worked as a graduate surveyor for

Knight Frank Knight Frank LLP is a global real estate consultancy and estate agency headquartered in London, England. Knight Frank's global network has more than 488 offices across 57 territories and more than 20,000 people managing commercial, agricultur ...

, then as development surveyor for Derrick Wade & Waters where he became manager of the London office from 1985 to 1989. He was a marketing director from 1989 to 1991, then principal of the Mark Prisk Connection from 1991 to 1997. From 1997 to 2001, he was company owner of MP2.

Parliamentary career

Prisk was Chairman of Cornwall Young Conservatives and after unsuccessfully contesting Newham North West in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and Wansdyke in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, he was finally elected as the Conservative MP for the constituency of Hertford and Stortford in

. He was promoted from the backbenches to the Opposition frontbench as Shadow Financial Secretary, Shadow Minister for Economic Affairs, an opposition whip and Shadow Minister for Business and Enterprise. He is author of several pamphlets on urban design. On 26 July 2007,

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

appointed Prisk as Shadow Minister for Cornwall, although there was no formal government post for him to shadow. The party said the move was intended to help place the county's concerns "at the heart of Conservative thinking". Cameron said he endorsed the appointment and it would ensure the voice of Cornwall was heard.

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

Matthew Taylor claimed the appointment was a bid to get around the rule which requires MPs to limit the local cases they take up to their own constituencies, as the Conservatives had no MPs in Cornwall. Prisk defended his role in open letter to the ''

Falmouth Packet Packet Newspapers (Cornwall) Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Newsquest media group, which publishes the ''Packet'' series of weekly tabloid newspapers. The series is named after the Falmouth Packet service, which commenced operati ...

'', noting "as a born and bred Cornishman" his role was to listen to the concerns of people in Cornwall, feed these back to the Shadow Cabinet and make sure Conservative policies properly reflected the needs of Cornwall. No Minister for Cornwall was appointed after the 2010 election; Prisk was appointed as Minister of State for Business and Enterprise in 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 government, following the resignation of Prime Minister Gordon Brown on 11 May 2010, after the general el ...

, until he was shifted to become Minister of State for Housing and Local Government on 5 September 2012. In this role, he was responsible for creating a "Future High Street Forum" to support struggling High Street retailers, but was asked to step down from the frontbench in an October 2013 reshuffle. Prisk campaigned to

remain Remain may refer to: * ''Remain'' (José González EP) * ''Remain'' (KNK EP) *''Remain'', poetry book by Jennifer Murphy, 2005 *''Remain'', album by Tyrone Wells, 2009 *''Remain'', album by Great Divide, 2002 *''Remain'', album by Them Are Us ...

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 Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

in the lead-up to the 2016 referendum on Britain's membership and his constituency narrowly voted to remain by 50.76% to 49.24%. However, after the referendum result, he supported the

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 ...

's plan for implementation of Britain's withdrawal. On 9 September 2019, Prisk wrote to the chairman of his local Conservative Association to declare he would not be standing at the next general election. During November 2022, Prisk announced his position as president of the Conservative Mental Health Group (CMHG). Previous to this role Prisk had supported mental health charities, including the Samaritans and Mind.

Personal life

Prisk married Lesley Titcomb, who became CEO at

The Pensions Regulator The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is a non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government, and the Northern Ireland Executive ...

, in April 1989 in Oxfordshire.

Early life

Parliamentary career

Personal life

Elections contested

Notes

References

External links