Sam Gyimah
Samuel Phillip Gyimah (pronunciation: /ˈdʒiːmɑː/; born 10 August 1976)[1] is a British Conservative Party politician. A Conservative Party A-List candidate, he was elected as the Member of Parliament for East Surrey at the 2010 general election.[2]
In July 2014, after serving as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister and a government whip, Gyimah was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Childcare and Education [3] as well as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State with particular focus upon the constitution.[4] Following the general election in May 2015, Gyimah was reappointed to the education brief.[5]
Early life
Gyimah was born in Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, in southern England. When he was six years old his parents split up and his mother returned to her native Ghana with Gyimah and his younger brother and sister while his father remained in the UK. For the next 10 years Gyimah attended Achimota School, a state school in Ghana, before returning to the UK to take his GCSEs and A-levels at Freman College,[1] a state school in Buntingford, Hertfordshire.[6] He then went on to Somerville College at the University of Oxford, where he read Politics, Philosophy and Economics, and where he was elected President of the Oxford Union.[1]
Life and career
On graduation, Gyimah joined Goldman Sachs as an investment banker, leaving the company in 2003 to join forces with fellow Conservative MP Chris Philp to set up Clearstone Rollright Training, organising HGV training for long term unemployed trainees. Clearstone went bankrupt owing millions to customers, HMRC and small businesses.[1] In 2005, he was awarded the Real Business/CBI Entrepreneur of the Future award.[7]
Parliamentary career
In September 2005 Gyimah edited a report by the Bow Group, a Conservative think tank, entitled From the Ashes: the future of the Conservative Party.[8] He was subsequently elected chairman of the Bow Group from 2006 to 2007.[1][9] Gyimah stood unsuccessfully for election in Kilburn ward in the Camden Council election, 2006.[10]
In December 2009, Gyimah placed third in the Gosport primary election to succeed Peter Viggers, losing to Caroline Dinenage.
Following his appointment to the Conservative Party A-List, he was elected as the MP for East Surrey at the 2010 general election,[2] Gyimah made his maiden speech on 29 July 2010.[11] Gyimah has previously been a member of the International Development Select Committee, having stated an interest in harnessing the private sector towards achieving international development goals.[12] Gyimah has also been active in debates on education and employment, as well as a number of local campaigns to protect the greenbelt in Surrey.[12]
In 2011, Gyimah produced a report with think-tank NESTA, "Beyond the Banks",[13] in support of non-bank alternatives for businesses seeking finance. He was the first MP to call for credit easing as a means of accelerating Britain's economic recovery.[14]
Gyimah was appointed as a Government Whip in October 2013, having previously been Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Prime Minister since the 2012 reshuffle.[2]
Gyimah supported the UK Remaining in the European Union in the 2016 EU referendum.[15]
On 20 November 2015, Gyimah contributed to the filibustering of the opposition-proposed Compulsory Emergency First Aid Education (State-Funded Secondary Schools) Bill to make the teaching of first aid in primary schools compulsory. He spoke until the end of the debate, despite requests from the deputy speaker.[16]
On 21 October 2016, Gyimah filibustered the Sexual Offences (Pardons) bill (nicknamed the "Turing Bill" after Alan Turing), a private member's bill presented by Scottish National Party MP John Nicolson that would pardon all men convicted of abolished offences related to having same sex relationships, and was accused of "reinforc[ing] the age-old homophobic stereotypes of gay men as predatory and/or pedophiles" by stating that the bill did not give enough safeguards to prevent men being accidentally pardoned for sex with a minor or non-consensual sex.[17] Supporters of the bill disputed this as conditions for a pardon included the act being consensual and that it would not break modern British law. He was met with calls of "shame" toward the end of his speech.[18][19][20] He instead supported an amendment proposed by the government to existing legislation, in which only dead men convicted of such offences were automatically pardoned while those who were living would have to apply through the Home Office through a "disregard" process.[20][21]
Personal life
Gyimah has been a volunteer and fundraiser for Crisis, the Down's Syndrome Association and St. Catherine's Hospice in Surrey. He has served as school governor of an inner London school, on the board of a housing association and on the development board of Somerville College. He is a Vice-President of Young Epilepsy (formerly the National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy (NCYPE) in Lingfield.[1] Gyimah is married to Dr Nicky Black, a New Zealander with whom he has one son.[1]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Sam's Background". Sam Gyimah. Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
- 1 2 3 "Sam in Parliament". Sam Gyimah. Archived from the original on 12 June 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
- ↑ "Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Childcare and Education". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
- ↑ "Parliamentary Secretary (Minister for the Constitution)". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
- ↑ "Her Majesty's Government: December 2015". Prime Minister's Office. 12 May 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
- ↑ Cassidy, Sarah. "Sam Gyimah interview: Life-changing events often occur in early days of learning". The Independent. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
- ↑ "Sam Gyimah". LinkedIn. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
- ↑ "Bow Group Annual Report and Accounts, 2005-06". Bow Group. 2006. Archived from the original on 5 October 2006. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
- ↑ "X Bow Spring Singles" (PDF). Bow Group. 2010.
- ↑ "Election 2006: Camden council". BBC News. London: BBC. 5 May 2006. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
- ↑ "House of Commons Hansard; Col 628". Hansard. London: UK Parliament. 28 June 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- 1 2 "Sam Gyimah". conservatives.com. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
- ↑ Westlake, Stian; Gyimah, Sam; Zappalorto, Marco (24 November 2011). "Beyond the Banks: The case for a British Industry and Enterprise Bond". Nesta. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
- ↑ Gyimah, Sam (4 October 2011). "Why Osborne is right". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 6 January 2012. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
- ↑ "EU vote: Where the cabinet and other MPs stand". bbc.co.uk. 22 June 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
- ↑ Stone, Jon (20 November 2015). "Tory MPs block bill to give first aid training to children by talking non-stop until debate ends". The Independent.
- ↑ Pike, Steph (24 October 2016). "Blue with a hint of pink: the Tories and the Turing Bill". Counterfire. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
- ↑ "'Turing Bill' fails to progress in Parliament". bbc.co.uk. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
- ↑ Mason, Rowena (21 October 2016). "Conservative minister obstructs progression of gay pardon law". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
- 1 2 Worley, Will (21 October 2016). "Turing Bill filibustered by Tory minister amid row over how to pardon people convicted under scrapped anti-gay laws". The Independent.
- ↑ Cowburn, Ashley (19 October 2016). "'Alan Turing law' unveiled by government will posthumously pardon thousands of gay men convicted of historic offences". The Independent.
External links
- Sam Gyimah MP official constituency website
- Sam Gyimah on Twitter
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
- Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Peter Ainsworth |
Member of Parliament for East Surrey 2010–present |
Incumbent |