Sarah Louise Newton, (née Hick; born 19 July 1961) is a British former politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Truro and Falmouth from

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

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, she served as

Minister of State for Disabled People, Work and Health The Minister of State for Social Security and Disability is a junior minister in the Department for Work and Pensions of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for disabled people. The role has also been known as the Parliamentary Und ...

from 2017 to 2019.

Early life

Born in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, Newton moved to

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

at an early age, and attended Marlborough Infants, Clare Terrace Primary School and Falmouth School, where she was elected

Head Girl The two Senior Prefects, individually called Head Boy (for the male), and Head Girl (for the female) are students who carry leadership roles and are responsible for representing the school's entire student body. Although mostly out of use, in some ...

. Newton read history at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

. She completed a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in the United States, studying as a

Rotary International Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and p ...

Scholar.

Professional career

Newton began her career as a marketing officer for businesses including

Citibank Citibank, N.A. ("N. A." stands for "National bank (United States), National Association"; stylized as citibank) is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of Citigroup, a financial services multinational corporation, multinational corporation. Ci ...

and

American Express American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment card industry, payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Expr ...

. During her six years working for American Express, Newton was responsible for strategic planning, marketing and promotion of the card in the United Kingdom. In the early 1990s, Newton served as the director of Age Concern England. After leaving this post, Newton served as a founder and the initial director of The International Longevity Centre.

Political career

Newton was previously a councillor on Merton Council, and served as both chairman and vice-chairman of

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

. During her time in

, Newton served as the head of Friends of Cannizaro Park. Newton was first elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

in the 2010 general election. She beat the Liberal Democrat candidate by 435 votes. In

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 ...

she won re-election with 44% of the overall vote. After both elections, Newton was one of four MPs sworn into office after taking their oaths in Cornish. During the 2016 EU membership referendum, Newton was one of several figures from the South West region who signed a statement backing the

Britain Stronger in Europe Britain Stronger in Europe (formally The In Campaign Limited) was an advocacy group which campaigned in favour of the United Kingdom's continued membership of the European Union in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, ...

campaign. She became Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability in July 2016. In November 2017, she became the

. In March 2019, she resigned from this role to vote against the government whip on a motion to prevent the United Kingdom from ever leaving the EU without a deal. Newton did not seek re-election as an MP at the December 2019 general election.

Later career

Newton was appointed Chair of the

Health and Safety Executive The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a British public body responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare. It has additionally adopted a research role into occupational risks in Great B ...

from 1 August 2020.

Notes

References

External links

Official websiteGovernment biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newton, Sarah 1961 births Living people Alumni of King's College London Politicians from Gloucestershire People from Cornwall Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Cornwall Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Councillors in the London Borough of Merton 21st-century British women politicians Politicians from Cornwall 21st-century English women 21st-century English politicians Women councillors in England Politicians from Truro Politicians from Falmouth, Cornwall Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts