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Helen Whately
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately (née Lightwood; born 23 June 1976) is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Faversham and Mid Kent since 2015 and Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions since November 2024. She was Shadow Secretary of State for Transport from July to November 2024 and Minister of State for Social Care from October 2022 to July 2024, as too previously from 2020 to 2021. She also served as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury from 2021 to 2022.
Whately was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party by Theresa May in 2019, and was retained in the post by new Prime Minister Boris Johnson. She served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Arts, Heritage and Tourism from September 2019 to February 2020. In the 2020 Cabinet reshuffle, Johnson moved her to the post of Minister of State for Social Care. Whately was the Social Care Minister during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. In the 2021 Cabinet reshuffle, Johnson moved her to the post of Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, serving under Chancellor Rishi Sunak. In July 2022, she resigned from office in protest at Johnson's leadership amid a Government crisis. She sat on the backbenches during Liz Truss's tenure as Prime Minister, before returning to her former role of Social Care Minister in October 2022 under Sunak until the Conservative's defeat in the 2024 general election. After being appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Transport in Sunak's caretaker shadow cabinet, she was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions by Kemi Badenoch after her election as Leader of the Conservative Party.
Helen Lightwood was born on 23 June 1976 in Norwich, and grew up near Redhill. Her father, Robin Lightwood FRCS was a surgeon and her mother, Andrea née Wood, a physician. She was educated at the independent girls school Woldingham School, before entering the sixth form at the private Westminster School in London. During her school years she undertook work experience in hospitals, with the intention of following her parents into a medical career, but Whately commented in her maiden speech as MP that it instead incentivised her to pursue a career in which she could improve healthcare as a whole.
After leaving school, she taught English in rural Nepal for a year. Lightwood studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and was a member of debating society the Oxford Union, but she did not have any interest in student politics, later saying that she felt that it "did not seem to be about getting stuff done".
After university, she worked at PwC for two years as a management consultant trainee, before working at AOL, where she was involved in setting up its internet film service. After this she worked as a media policy advisor for the then Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Conservative MP Hugo Swire. This experience inspired Whately to pursue a political career. In 2008, British society magazine Tatler selected Whately as one of ten young rising stars of the Conservative Party and tipped her as a future health secretary.
From 2007 to 2015, Whately worked as an engagement manager for the management consultancy firm McKinsey & Company in its healthcare division.
Whately was the Conservative candidate for Kingston and Surbiton at the 2010 general election, coming second with 36.5% of the vote behind the incumbent Liberal Democrat MP Ed Davey.
In February 2015 Whately was selected by the Conservative Party to contest Faversham and Mid Kent in an all-women shortlist. At the 2015 general election, Whately was elected to Parliament as MP for Faversham and Mid Kent with 54.4% of the vote and a majority of 16,652.
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Helen Whately
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately (née Lightwood; born 23 June 1976) is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Faversham and Mid Kent since 2015 and Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions since November 2024. She was Shadow Secretary of State for Transport from July to November 2024 and Minister of State for Social Care from October 2022 to July 2024, as too previously from 2020 to 2021. She also served as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury from 2021 to 2022.
Whately was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party by Theresa May in 2019, and was retained in the post by new Prime Minister Boris Johnson. She served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Arts, Heritage and Tourism from September 2019 to February 2020. In the 2020 Cabinet reshuffle, Johnson moved her to the post of Minister of State for Social Care. Whately was the Social Care Minister during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. In the 2021 Cabinet reshuffle, Johnson moved her to the post of Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, serving under Chancellor Rishi Sunak. In July 2022, she resigned from office in protest at Johnson's leadership amid a Government crisis. She sat on the backbenches during Liz Truss's tenure as Prime Minister, before returning to her former role of Social Care Minister in October 2022 under Sunak until the Conservative's defeat in the 2024 general election. After being appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Transport in Sunak's caretaker shadow cabinet, she was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions by Kemi Badenoch after her election as Leader of the Conservative Party.
Helen Lightwood was born on 23 June 1976 in Norwich, and grew up near Redhill. Her father, Robin Lightwood FRCS was a surgeon and her mother, Andrea née Wood, a physician. She was educated at the independent girls school Woldingham School, before entering the sixth form at the private Westminster School in London. During her school years she undertook work experience in hospitals, with the intention of following her parents into a medical career, but Whately commented in her maiden speech as MP that it instead incentivised her to pursue a career in which she could improve healthcare as a whole.
After leaving school, she taught English in rural Nepal for a year. Lightwood studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and was a member of debating society the Oxford Union, but she did not have any interest in student politics, later saying that she felt that it "did not seem to be about getting stuff done".
After university, she worked at PwC for two years as a management consultant trainee, before working at AOL, where she was involved in setting up its internet film service. After this she worked as a media policy advisor for the then Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Conservative MP Hugo Swire. This experience inspired Whately to pursue a political career. In 2008, British society magazine Tatler selected Whately as one of ten young rising stars of the Conservative Party and tipped her as a future health secretary.
From 2007 to 2015, Whately worked as an engagement manager for the management consultancy firm McKinsey & Company in its healthcare division.
Whately was the Conservative candidate for Kingston and Surbiton at the 2010 general election, coming second with 36.5% of the vote behind the incumbent Liberal Democrat MP Ed Davey.
In February 2015 Whately was selected by the Conservative Party to contest Faversham and Mid Kent in an all-women shortlist. At the 2015 general election, Whately was elected to Parliament as MP for Faversham and Mid Kent with 54.4% of the vote and a majority of 16,652.