Vicky Ford

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Vicky Ford MP
Ford in 2020
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 February 2020
Prime Minister	Boris Johnson
Preceded by	Kemi Badenoch
Member of Parliament for Chelmsford
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 June 2017
Preceded by	Simon Burns
Majority	17,621 (30.8%)
Member of the European Parliament for East of England
In office 4 June 2009 – 12 June 2017
Preceded by	Christopher Beazley
Succeeded by	John Flack
Personal details
Born	Victoria Grace Pollock (1967-09-21) 21 September 1967 (age 53) Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Hugo Ford (m. 1996)
Children	3
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge
Website	www.vickyford.uk

Victoria Grace Ford (née Pollock; born 21 September 1967) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chelmsford since 2017. A member of the Conservative Party, she is a former investment banker, district councillor, and Member of the European Parliament for the East of England (2009–2017). Since February 2020, Ford has been the Minister for Children.

Early life and career[]

Victoria Grace Pollock was born on 21 September 1967 in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland to Anthony and Deborah Marion Pollock. Her parents were both English doctors.^[1][2][3] As a child, she joined her mother campaigning with the peace movement and her father stood in local elections for the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland.^{[citation needed]}

She attended primary school and Omagh Academy^[4] in Northern Ireland, but following her father's death, she went to schools in England. Ford was educated at independent St Paul's Girls' School, independent Marlborough College and then studied Maths and Economics at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Between 1989 and 2001, Ford worked for JPMorgan Chase. She was promoted to vice-president in their loan syndication department.^[5] In 2001, she joined Bear Stearns as managing director for loan capital markets where she worked until 2003.^[1]

Political career[]

Ford joined the Conservative Party in 1986. In 2006, Ford was elected as a local councillor, representing Balsham Ward at South Cambridgeshire District Council. She was a parliamentary candidate in the 2005 general election for Birmingham Northfield constituency, but lost to incumbent Labour Party MP Richard Burden.^[6][7]

In 2007, she was a major contributor to the Conservative Party's review of UK taxation "The Tax Reform Commission".

Member of the European Parliament[]

Ford was elected as Conservative Party Member of the European Parliament for East of England in the 2009 European Parliament election.^[8] She was a member of the Bureau of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group and a member of the Parliament's delegation for relations with China.^{[citation needed]}

As an MEP, Ford was the rapporteur for the Parliament on reforms to firearms laws, offshore oil and gas safety and the fiscal framework directive which seeks to increase transparency and accountability of public spending. She was a lead negotiator on the Horizon 2020 fund for research and on bank capital requirements, deposit guarantee schemes and residential mortgages.^{[citation needed]}

From 2009 to 2014 she was a member of the European Parliament Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.^{[citation needed]}

From 2014 to 2017 she was Chair of the European Parliament Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection,^[9] an economic committees of the Parliament, focusing on digital policy and unlocking trade opportunities for services and goods.^{[citation needed]}

In 2016, Ford was ranked as one of the top ten most influential members of the European Parliament by Politico Europe, particularly for her work on digital policy.^[10]

Member of Parliament[]

Ford was elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Chelmsford at the 2017 general election.^[11] On 21 June 2017, Ford made her maiden speech in the Queen's speech debate, the first of the 2017 intake to do so.^[12] In the 2017–19 parliament she served on the Science and Technology and the Women and Equalities select committees.

In August 2018 Ford was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ministerial team. In August 2019, she became Parliamentary Private Secretary to Alok Sharma, the Secretary or State for International Development.^{[citation needed]}

In the February 2020 cabinet reshuffle, Ford was appointed as the Minister for Children; a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Education, with responsibility for children and families.^[13]

Personal life[]

Vicky married Hugo Ford in 1996. They have three children. The couple met at the University of Cambridge, where she was a student at Trinity College and he was a student at Magdalene College. He is an oncologist and is the director of cancer services at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.^[14][15][16]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou