Theo Clarke

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Theo Clarke
MP
Official portrait of Theo Clarke MP crop 2.jpg
Member of Parliament
for Stafford
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byJeremy Lefroy
Majority14,377 (28.1%)
Personal details
Born
Theodora Roosevelt Clarke

(1985-08-04) 4 August 1985 (age 36)
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Relations
EducationDowne House School
Alma materNewcastle University
Courtauld Institute of Art

Theodora Roosevelt Clarke[1] (born 4 August 1985)[2] is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stafford since the 2019 general election. Prior to her political career, she worked in the arts industry and founded the campaign group Coalition for Global Prosperity.

Early life and career[]

Clarke grew up in the village of Bibury in Gloucestershire.[3][4] She is the daughter of Sir Charles Mansfield Tobias Clarke, 6th Baronet and his second wife Teresa de Chair, a daughter of Somerset de Chair. Her younger brother is former athlete Lawrence Clarke.[4][5] Clarke also has a younger sister, Augusta.[4] She is the niece, by marriage, of the Leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg.[6] Clarke is a distant relative of US Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt.[5][7]

She was privately educated at Downe House School in Newbury, Berkshire.[8] She studied art history at Newcastle University[7] and the Courtauld Institute of Art, specialising in Russian Art. Clarke worked for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the British auction house Christie's before founding Russian Art and Culture, an online arts magazine in 2011.[9][10] She was also a co-founder of the Association of Women in the Arts,[11] and later founded the Coalition for Global Prosperity.[12][13] As part of her work at the campaign group she volunteered in Sierra Leone in the aftermath of the Ebola outbreak.[14]

Parliamentary career[]

Clarke decided to enter politics after witnessing the parliamentary expenses scandal.[14] She contested the Bristol East seat at the 2015 and 2017 general elections as the Conservative Party candidate, but was unsuccessful.[15] The party selected her as the candidate for Stafford on 26 September 2019.[16] The incumbent Conservative MP Jeremy Lefroy had previously announced that he would be standing down at the next election.[17] She was elected as Stafford's MP in the 2019 general election with a majority of 14,377 (28.1%),[18] the largest in the constituency's history.[14]

Clarke has been a member of the International Development Committee since March 2020.[19] She identifies ideologically as a one-nation conservative.[14]

On 5 October 2020, Clarke was appointed as the Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Kenya. She helped implement the UK-Kenya Economic Partnership Agreement which grants duty-free access to the UK market for Kenyan businesses.[20][21]

References[]

  1. ^ "Members Sworn". parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  2. ^ Brunskill, Ian (19 March 2020). The Times guide to the House of Commons 2019 : the definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General Election. p. 338. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC 1129682574.
  3. ^ "Theo Clarke". Stafford Conservatives. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  4. ^ a b c "Lawrence Clarke's Christening". Tatler. 14 December 1990. Archived from the original on 3 September 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Team GB captain Lawrence Clarke's near-death experience inspires him on the track". The Daily Telegraph. 5 March 2015. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  6. ^ Perraudin, Frances (14 November 2019). "Unexpected candidates: from Count Binface to Rees-Mogg's niece". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  7. ^ a b Daly, Patrick (25 May 2017). "Tory candidate Theo Clarke claims to live 'near Stockwood' - she actually lives on 'Uncle' Jacob Rees Moggs' estate in North East Somerset". Bristol Post. Archived from the original on 24 January 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  8. ^ "Our Year". Downe House School Magazine. p. 153. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  9. ^ "Theodora Clarke". Russian Art and Culture. Archived from the original on 6 February 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  10. ^ "About us". Russian Art and Culture. Archived from the original on 6 February 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  11. ^ "Founding Members". Association of Women in the Arts. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  12. ^ Clarke, Theo (11 July 2018). "Theo Clarke: Our army and our aid workers are both essential to the UK's security". ConservativeHome. Archived from the original on 4 January 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  13. ^ "Our Team". Coalition for Global Prosperity. Archived from the original on 6 February 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  14. ^ a b c d Madeley, Peter (6 March 2020). "New Stafford MP Theo Clarke: Time for actions, not words". Express & Star. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  15. ^ "Bristol East". BBC News. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  16. ^ "Tories select election candidate to replace Jeremy Lefroy in Stafford". Express & Star. 26 September 2019. Archived from the original on 30 October 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  17. ^ "Stafford MP Jeremy Lefroy to step down at next general election". BBC News. 14 June 2019. Archived from the original on 14 June 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  18. ^ "Stafford". BBC News. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  19. ^ "International Development Committee membership agreed". parliament.uk. 2 March 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  20. ^ "Trade envoys". GOV.UK. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  21. ^ "UK-Kenya Economic Partnership Agreement enters into force". GOV.UK. Retrieved 17 December 2021.

External links[]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Stafford
2019–present 		Incumbent
Stub icon 1 Flag of EnglandPolitician icon

This article about a Conservative Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom representing an English constituency is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

  • v
  • t
Stub icon

This article about a Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom elected at the 2019 general election or a subsequent by-election is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

  • v
  • t
Stub icon 1 Stub icon 2

This article about a Conservative Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom born in the 1980s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

  • v
  • t
Retrieved from ""