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Nick Timothy

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Nick Timothy
CBE MP
Official portrait, 2024
Downing Street Chief of Staff
In office
14 July 2016 – 9 June 2017
Serving with Fiona Hill
Prime MinisterTheresa May
DeputyJoanna Penn
Preceded byEdward Llewellyn
Succeeded byGavin Barwell
Member of Parliament
for West Suffolk
Incumbent
Assumed office
4 July 2024
Preceded byMatt Hancock
Majority3,247 (7.1%)
Personal details
Born
Nicholas James Timothy

1980 (age 43–44)
Birmingham, England
Political partyConservative
Alma materUniversity of Sheffield

Nicholas James Timothy CBE (born March 1980) is a British Conservative Party politician and former political adviser, serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for West Suffolk since 2024.[1][2] He served as Joint Downing Street Chief of Staff, alongside Fiona Hill, to Prime Minister Theresa May,[3][4][5][6] until after the 2017 general election.[7]

Early life

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Timothy was born in Birmingham, the son of a steel worker and a school secretary.[8] He was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School in Aston, Birmingham,[9] and at the University of Sheffield, where he gained a first in politics.[4][10] He was the first member of his family to attend university.

Timothy has cited as his inspiration in politics the Birmingham-born Liberal Unionist politician Joseph Chamberlain, of whom he wrote a short biography for the Conservative History Group.[11] He has supported conservative philosophies which he believes promote strong communities that make markets work and has argued the Conservative Party should focus on benefiting all citizens and regions.[8][12]

Career

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Early posts

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Following his graduation, Timothy worked at the Conservative Research Department (CRD) for three years, from 2001 to 2004.[4] In 2004, Timothy left the Conservative Research Department to work as corporate affairs adviser for the Corporation of London.[4] In 2005, Timothy took up a post as a policy adviser for the Association of British Insurers.[4] In 2006, Timothy returned to politics after two years in the financial sector, spending a year working for Theresa May - the first of three posts on May's staff.[4] In 2007, Timothy returned to the CRD, where he worked for a further three years.[4]

Home Office

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In 2010, Theresa May was appointed Secretary of State at the Home Office and appointed Timothy as a special adviser, focusing on police reform, immigration, and counter-terrorism policy. He spent five years working for the Home Secretary, before leaving, in 2015, to become a Director at the New Schools Network (NSN).[4][13][14]

New Schools Network

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While at the NSN he spoke in favour of ending the 50% Rule which requires oversubscribed Free Schools to allocate half of their places without reference to faith.[15]

In 2015, Timothy wrote an article to express his worry that the People's Republic of China was effectively buying Britain's silence on allegations of Chinese human rights abuse and opposing China's involvement in sensitive sectors such as the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. He criticised David Cameron and George Osborne for "selling our national security to China" and asserted that "the Government seems intent on ignoring the evidence and presumably the advice of the security and intelligence agencies." He warned that security experts were worried that the Chinese could use their role in the programme to build weaknesses into computer systems which would allow them to shut down Britain's energy production at will and argued that "no amount of trade and investment should justify allowing a hostile state easy access to the country's critical national infrastructure."[16][17]

In October 2016, the Health Service Journal rated him as the fifth most influential person in the English NHS in 2016.[18]

Timothy has stated that he voted to leave the European Union in the 2016 membership referendum.[19][1]

Downing Street

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Following David Cameron's resignation as Prime Minister in the wake of the Brexit referendum result, Timothy took a sabbatical from his position at the NSN to work on Theresa May's 2016 leadership campaign. May's campaign was a success and Timothy was appointed Joint Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister on 14 July 2016.[20]

In spring 2017, May called a snap general election. As a result of the election, the Conservative Party lost its majority and became a minority government dependent on the Democratic Unionist Party for their majority. Timothy, along with Fiona Hill, faced immediate calls for his removal.[21] Theresa May was also given an ultimatum by Conservative Members of Parliament, to sack Timothy or face her own leadership challenge.[22] On 9 June 2017, Timothy resigned as Joint Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister.[23] Reflecting in 2020 on the projected cost of adult social care, Timothy wrote "Many things went wrong in that election campaign, but I resigned as joint Chief of Staff in Downing Street because our social care proposal blew up the manifesto."[24]

Post-Downing Street

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Since leaving Downing Street, Timothy has worked as a columnist for The Daily Telegraph newspaper[25] and a sports columnist for The Critic.[26] Timothy is the founder and co-editor of The Conservative Reader on Substack.[27] Timothy published a book about the future of conservatism, Remaking One Nation, in 2020.[28]

He also became a business consultant, founding trustee of a new specialist maths school,[29] Chairman of the Future of Conservatism project at Onward,[30] a Senior Policy Fellow at Policy Exchange,[31] a visiting professor at Sheffield University, a visiting fellow at Wadham College, Oxford, and an adviser to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China. In early 2023 he completed an independent review of the Home Office on behalf of the Prime Minister and Home Secretary.

In January 2019 Timothy was appointed as a member of the organising committee of the 2022 Commonwealth Games, to be held in his home city of Birmingham.[32] Timothy also served as a board member of the Department for Education and the Government’s £250 million Sports Survival Package.[33]

Brexit and allegations of antisemitism

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In February 2018, Timothy denied allegations of antisemitism[34][35] following the publication of an article of which he was the principal author that claimed the existence of a "secret plot" to stop Brexit by the Jewish philanthropist George Soros.[35] In response, Timothy tweeted: "Throughout my career I’ve campaigned against antisemitism, helped secure more funding for security at synagogues and Jewish schools".[34] When the Jewish Chronicle reported on Theresa May's pro-Israel stance as Prime Minister, a source said "If [Timothy] was a journalist, and he was Jewish, you could imagine him editing the JC."[36]

2019 general election

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In November 2019, Timothy failed to be selected as the Conservative candidate for the Meriden constituency in the West Midlands, for the 2019 general election.[37] The seat had previously been held by Dame Caroline Spelman, who opted to stand down as an MP over the "intensity of abuse arising out of Brexit".[38]

The Trojan Horse Scandal

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In February 2022, The New York Times released a podcast entitled "The Trojan Horse Affair" which was created by Brian Reed and Hamza Syed.[39] The podcast claimed that Nick Timothy contributed to the scandal when he emailed a Birmingham community centre which was due to host an event entitled "Trojan Horse or Trojan Hoax" in order to shut down the event. In the email it is alleged that Nick insinuated that the owners of the community centre would be associated with terrorism if they allowed the event to go ahead.[40] Timothy and Michael Gove wrote a joint foreword for a Policy Exchange report with their own account of how hardline activists had taken over several state schools in an attempt to impose, in the words of one of the several official inquiries, an “intolerant and aggressive Islamic ethos”.[41] The podcast has also since been criticised by Observer columnist Sonia Sodha who argued that it "presents a one-sided account that minimises child protection concerns, misogyny and homophobia in order to exonerate the podcast’s hero, a man called Tahir Alam. In doing so, it breaches the standards the public have the right to expect of journalists, with cruel consequences for those it uses and abuses along the way."[42]

2024 general election

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On 30 July 2023, Timothy was selected as the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for West Suffolk.[43] This was following Matt Hancock's announcement of standing down from parliament.[44] He defeated incumbent MP for Penrith and The Border Neil Hudson[45][46] and former Financial Times journalist Sebastian Payne.[47] He said he hoped to "draw a line" under the controversy of Hancock who was suspended from the Conservative Party after he appeared on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.[48] Timothy was elected Member of Parliament for West Suffolk at the 2024 General Election.[49]

Personal life

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Nick Timothy and his family live in West Suffolk. He is also an Aston Villa supporter.

References

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  1. ^ a b Hardman, Isabel. "Beware the aides of May! The people who'll really run the new government". The Spectator. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  2. ^ "Theresa May's ex-adviser to stand in Matt Hancock's seat in next election". BBC News. 31 July 2023. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  3. ^ "BBC Politics Live – 14 July 2016". BBC News. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h McInerney, Laura (22 March 2016). "Profiles: Nick Timothy". Schools Week. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  5. ^ Dominiczak, Peter (14 July 2016). "Theresa May's Cabinet a triumph for state education and women as new Prime Minister sweeps away Cameron favourites in 'Day of the Long Knives'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  6. ^ "Press Release: Downing Street political advisers". Gov.uk. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  7. ^ "May's key advisers Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy resign following election". The Guardian. 10 June 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  8. ^ a b "The sage of Birmingham: Theresa May's pugnacious chief-of-staff prescribes a new direction for the Conservative Party". The Economist. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  9. ^ Walker, Jonathan (14 July 2016). "Theresa May's top advisor is a Brummie who loves Aston Villa". Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  10. ^ Richardson, Hannah (9 September 2016). "School selection plans could undo years of reform – Morgan". BBC News. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  11. ^ "Conservative History Group: Books". Conservative History Group. 31 July 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2016. Joseph Chamberlain was one of the dominant figures of Victorian and Edwardian Britain – but while he is remembered for his record as Mayor of Birmingham, his role in committing the Conservative Party to social reform has been neglected by modern Tories. In this study, Nick Timothy explores the many roles Chamberlain played during his political life – Radical and Unionist; outsider and Cabinet Minister – and argues that his legacy is every bit as important to modern Conservatism as Disraeli's 'One Nation' approach and Randolph Churchill's Tory Democracy
  12. ^ Gimson, Andrew (15 July 2016). "Profile: Nick Timothy, May's thinker-in-chief and co-Chief of Staff". ConservativeHome. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  13. ^ "Nick Timothy". Centre for Science and Policy. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  14. ^ Parker, George (15 July 2016). "Nick Timothy: Theresa May's political 'brain'". Financial Times. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  15. ^ Coughlan, Sean (28 January 2016). "Call to end limit on religious free schools". BBC. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  16. ^ Why have ministers delayed final approval for Hinkley Point C?, The Guardian, 29 July 2016
  17. ^ Nick Timothy: The Government is selling our national security to China, Conservative Home, 20 October 2015
  18. ^ "HSJ100 2016: The list in full". Health Service Journal. 11 October 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  19. ^ Timothy, Nick (14 June 2016). "I've already voted Leave – but these wretched campaigns show everything that's wrong with British politics". ConservativeHome. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  20. ^ Mason, Rowena (15 July 2016). "May appoints former advisers as joint chiefs of staff". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  21. ^ Anushka Asthana and Rowena Mason (9 June 2017). "Tories say Theresa May must sack 'monsters who sunk our party'". The Guardian.
  22. ^ Swinford, Steven (9 June 2017). "'A toxic clique': Calls for Theresa May's closest advisers, Nick and Fiona, to be sacked or PM will face leadership challenge on Monday". The Telegraph. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  23. ^ "Nick Timothy: Why I have resigned as the Prime Minister's adviser". Conservative Home. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  24. ^ Timothy, Nick (2020). "The Politics of Elder Care". RSA Journal. CLXVI (2). London: 20–21. ISSN 0958-0433.
  25. ^ "Nick Timothy". The Telegraph. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  26. ^ Timothy, Nick (12 July 2024). "The Critic".
  27. ^ Timothy, Nick (12 July 2024). "The Conservative Reader".
  28. ^ Timothy, Nick (2020). Remaking one nation: the future of conservatism. Cambridge, UK ; Medford, MA: Polity. ISBN 978-1-5095-3917-8.
  29. ^ "Aston University Maths School". 12 July 2024.
  30. ^ Timothy, Nick; Rice, Gavin (28 February 2023). "There is still hope for Conservatism in Britain". Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  31. ^ "New additions to our expanded team at Policy Exchange". 12 July 2024.
  32. ^ Brown, Rivkah (23 January 2019). "People like Nick Timothy don't get fired: they just fail into great new jobs". New Statesman. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  33. ^ "Nick Timothy". Gov.UK. 12 July 2024.
  34. ^ a b Weich, Ben (8 February 2018). "Theresa May's former aide accused of using antisemitic slur in Brexit article on George Soros". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  35. ^ a b Bush, Stephen (8 February 2018). "Why is Nick Timothy's Telegraph column on anti-Brexit billionaire George Soros so disturbing?". New Statesman. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  36. ^ Pollard, Stephen (1 April 2017). "Mrs May 'more pro-Israel even than Harper'". Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  37. ^ "Ex Downing Street chief Nick Timothy rejected as Meriden candidate - BBC News". BBC News. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  38. ^ "Dame Caroline Spelman standing down over 'Brexit abuse' - BBC News". BBC News. 5 September 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  39. ^ "The Trojan Horse Affair". The New York Times. 27 January 2022.
  40. ^ "The Trojan Horse Affair". The New York Times. 27 January 2022.
  41. ^ Perry, Dr Damon L.; Stott, Dr Paul (11 December 2022). "The Trojan Horse Affair: A Documentary Record" (PDF). Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  42. ^ Sodha, Sonia (20 February 2022). "The Trojan Horse Affair: how Serial podcast got it so wrong". Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  43. ^ Penna, Dominic (30 July 2023). "Nick Timothy selected as Tory candidate for Matt Hancock's seat". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  44. ^ "Theresa May's ex-adviser Nick Timothy picked as Tory candidate to replace Matt Hancock in West Suffolk". Sky News. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  45. ^ "Penrith MP Neil Hudson linked to Matt Hancock's seat". Cumberland and Westmorland Herald. 25 July 2023.
  46. ^ "Breaking News Penrith and The Border MP looses second selection bid". PenrithTown. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  47. ^ Goodman, Paul (31 July 2023). "Nick Timothy and Bradley Thomas are selected to contest West Suffolk and Bromsgove respectively". Conservative Home. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  48. ^ "New West Suffolk candidate to 'draw a line' under Hancock controversy". BBC News. 1 August 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
  49. ^ Earth, Matthew (5 July 2024). "Nick Timothy wins West Suffolk in General Election 2024". Retrieved 12 July 2024.
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Government offices
Preceded by Downing Street Chief of Staff
2016–2017
With: Fiona Hill 		Succeeded by
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