Rob Butler
OBE MP
Official portrait, 2019
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prisons and Probation
In office
20 September 2022 – 27 October 2022
Prime MinisterLiz Truss
Preceded byStuart Andrew
Succeeded byDamian Hinds
Member of Parliament
for Aylesbury
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byDavid Lidington
Majority17,373 (28.7%)
Personal details
Born
Robert Butler

(1967-06-19) 19 June 1967
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England
Political partyConservative
Alma materUniversity of Sheffield

Robert Butler OBE (born 19 June 1967)[1] is a British Conservative Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Aylesbury since the 2019 general election. He served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prisons and Probations between September and October 2022.[2][3]

Early life

Butler was born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.[4] His earliest years were spent in Bedgrove, until his family moved to Bicester. He attended the University of Sheffield, where he studied French and Economics.[5]

Early career

Butler's professional life began as a TV presenter at the BBC and later Channel 5, where he presented that channel's lunchtime news from its launch in 1997 until the end of 2004.[6] In 2005, he founded a communication and lobbying consultancy, which worked with large and small companies around the world,[7] such as the private healthcare company Bupa.[8]

In 2010, he joined the lobbying firm Pagefield at its launch, as an associate partner[9] and he was still listed as a specialist partner in their senior advisory team at the time of the 2019 election.[10] During that time Pagefield worked with many clients including tobacco giants British American Tobacco,[11] Philip Morris International,[12] arms manufacturer and systems advisors BAE Systems, and the government of Azerbaijan, while its sister company Pagefield Global Counsel provides public relations services to clients such as the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in relation to the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen.[13]

Prior to his election to Parliament, Butler was also a director of His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service.

Parliamentary career

Along with every Conservative candidate standing at the 2019 general election, Butler signed a personal pledge to support party leader Boris Johnson's Withdrawal Agreement. The MPs' pledges and the "oven-ready" Brexit deal were central tenets of the Conservative election campaign.[14] In 2019, Butler was elected to succeed Sir David Lidington as MP for Aylesbury, a safe seat for the Conservative Party since 1929.[5]

While never opposing it in votes or other action, Butler has criticised the HS2 project in words, calling it an "unwanted and ludicrously expensive railway".[15] Butler has served on the Justice Select Committee since March 2020 and is a member of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme for 2020 to 2022.[16][17]

On 13 June 2022, Butler was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Liz Truss, the secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs.[18] He resigned this position on 7 July 2022 amid the July 2022 United Kingdom government crisis.[19]

Honours

Butler was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2023 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours.[20]

References

  1. ↑ 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. 85. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC 1129682574. Archived from the original on 9 November 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  2. ↑ "Ministerial Appointments: September 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  3. ↑ "Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
  4. ↑ "Aylesbury parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  5. 1 2 "Meet your candidates: Conservative party for Aylesbury, Rob Butler". www.bucksherald.co.uk. 19 November 2019. Archived from the original on 9 June 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  6. ↑ Nessa MacErlean (16 September 2001). "When expertise is not enough". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  7. ↑ "About Rob Butler". Rob Butler MP. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  8. ↑ "Revealed: A fifth of new Tory MPs have worked as lobbyists". openDemocracy. Archived from the original on 17 August 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  9. ↑ "Former ITV and Camelot Board Director, Mark Gallagher, launches Pagefield - Pagefield". 10 May 2017. Archived from [pagefield.co.uk/news/former-itv-and-camelot-board-director-mark-gallagher-launches-pagefield/ the original] on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2020. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  10. ↑ "People - Pagefield". 15 November 2019. Archived from the original on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  11. ↑ Busby, Mattha (2 July 2020). "Tobacco firm funded attack on council quit-smoking services". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 20 August 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  12. ↑ "Pagefield - TobaccoTactics". tobaccotactics.org. Archived from the original on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  13. ↑ "Boris Johnson's Ex-Advisor Works for a Lobbying Firm that Does PR for the Saudi War in Yemen". www.vice.com. 28 February 2018. Archived from the original on 16 November 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  14. ↑ "Conservative Manifesto 2019 - Conservatives". www.conservatives.com. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  15. ↑ Richings, James. "MP criticises HS2 Ltd's 'behaviour' after plans for construction traffic are rejected". Bucks Free Press. Archived from the original on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  16. ↑ "Parliamentary career for Rob Butler - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament". UK Parliament. Archived from the original on 10 July 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  17. ↑ "Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme". Rob Butler MP. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  18. ↑ Heale, James [@JAHeale] (13 June 2022). "Some PPS changes for rising Tory stars: -Rob Butler to Liz Truss" (Tweet). Retrieved 14 June 2022 – via Twitter.
  19. ↑ @RobBAylesbury (7 July 2022). "This morning I have resigned as PPS to the Foreign Secretary. My letter below" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. ↑ "Resignation Honours 2023" (PDF). GOV.UK. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
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