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Neil O'Brien
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Neil O'Brien
Neil John O'Brien OBE (born 6 November 1978) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston, previously Harborough, since 2017. He has served as Shadow Minister for Policy Renewal and Development since July 2025. He was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Primary Care and Public Health from September 2022 to November 2023. He was previously a special adviser to Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne from 2012 to 2016 and Theresa May during the first year of her tenure as Prime Minister.
Neil O'Brien was born on 6 November 1978 in Huddersfield. He was educated at All Saints High School and Greenhead College, both in Huddersfield, before studying philosophy, politics and economics at Christ Church, Oxford. He graduated with a first-class degree. Before entering politics, O'Brien conducted outreach work with homeless people and was a chair of school governors.
Between 2000 and 2003, O'Brien worked for the 'No' campaign against Britain joining the Euro. He led the "Vote 2004" group which campaigned for a referendum on the EU's proposed constitution. Between 2005 and 2008, he was director of Open Europe, a Eurosceptic think tank. He was appointed director of the centre-right Policy Exchange in August 2008, succeeding Anthony Browne and Nick Boles in this role.
In 2009, O'Brien was ranked at number 14 in a Total Politics poll of the top 50 political influencers in Britain, named in The Daily Telegraph as one of the "Top 100 Most Influential people on the Right", described in the Sunday Times as one of the "New Political Elite" and listed in the Evening Standard as one of the "Power 1000 of London's New Influentials".
O'Brien served as a special adviser to George Osborne from November 2012 to July 2016, in relation to Osborne's role as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Subsequently, O'Brien was made a special adviser to Theresa May on the economy and industrial strategy upon her appointment as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
O'Brien was elected as MP for the safe Conservative seat of Harborough at the 2017 general election with a majority of 12,429 and 52.3% of the vote.
In May 2018, he founded the new think tank Onward, together with Will Tanner and Nick Faith. It is chaired by Daniel Finkelstein, the Conservative peer and columnist for The Times.
Between August 2018 and July 2019, O'Brien was Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to ministers at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. In August 2019, he was appointed as PPS to Justice Minister Robert Buckland.
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Neil O'Brien
Neil John O'Brien OBE (born 6 November 1978) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston, previously Harborough, since 2017. He has served as Shadow Minister for Policy Renewal and Development since July 2025. He was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Primary Care and Public Health from September 2022 to November 2023. He was previously a special adviser to Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne from 2012 to 2016 and Theresa May during the first year of her tenure as Prime Minister.
Neil O'Brien was born on 6 November 1978 in Huddersfield. He was educated at All Saints High School and Greenhead College, both in Huddersfield, before studying philosophy, politics and economics at Christ Church, Oxford. He graduated with a first-class degree. Before entering politics, O'Brien conducted outreach work with homeless people and was a chair of school governors.
Between 2000 and 2003, O'Brien worked for the 'No' campaign against Britain joining the Euro. He led the "Vote 2004" group which campaigned for a referendum on the EU's proposed constitution. Between 2005 and 2008, he was director of Open Europe, a Eurosceptic think tank. He was appointed director of the centre-right Policy Exchange in August 2008, succeeding Anthony Browne and Nick Boles in this role.
In 2009, O'Brien was ranked at number 14 in a Total Politics poll of the top 50 political influencers in Britain, named in The Daily Telegraph as one of the "Top 100 Most Influential people on the Right", described in the Sunday Times as one of the "New Political Elite" and listed in the Evening Standard as one of the "Power 1000 of London's New Influentials".
O'Brien served as a special adviser to George Osborne from November 2012 to July 2016, in relation to Osborne's role as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Subsequently, O'Brien was made a special adviser to Theresa May on the economy and industrial strategy upon her appointment as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
O'Brien was elected as MP for the safe Conservative seat of Harborough at the 2017 general election with a majority of 12,429 and 52.3% of the vote.
In May 2018, he founded the new think tank Onward, together with Will Tanner and Nick Faith. It is chaired by Daniel Finkelstein, the Conservative peer and columnist for The Times.
Between August 2018 and July 2019, O'Brien was Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to ministers at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. In August 2019, he was appointed as PPS to Justice Minister Robert Buckland.
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