43 Facts About Alex Chalk

Alexander John Gervase Chalk was born on 8 August 1976 and is a British politician and barrister.

Alex Chalk served as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice from April 2023 to July 2024.

Alex Chalk lost his seat to the Liberal Democrats in the 2024 general election.

Alexander Chalk was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire on 8 August 1976, to Gilbert John Chalk and Gillian Frances Audrey Blois.

Alex Chalk was privately educated, firstly at Windlesham House School, a prep school in Pulborough, West Sussex, and then at Winchester College, an independent boarding school in Winchester, Hampshire.

Alex Chalk then studied modern history at Magdalen College, Oxford.

Alex Chalk was called to the bar by Middle Temple on 11 October 2001.

Alex Chalk prosecuted three members of a so-called 'Muslim Patrol' who were jailed at the Old Bailey for assault, affray and public order offences.

Alex Chalk prosecuted a group of radical Sunni Muslims who were jailed for attacking a group of Shi'ite Muslims.

Alex Chalk has advised and defended corporate clients, and prosecuted for HM Revenue and Customs and the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.

Alex Chalk has provided counsel for the human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, an Iranian prisoner of conscience.

Alex Chalk was first elected as a Conservative councillor for Shepherds Bush Green ward on Hammersmith and Fulham Council in May 2006.

Alex Chalk went on to stand successfully in Addison ward in 2010, with Labour taking his former Shepherds Bush Green seat in the same election.

Alex Chalk was among several Conservative candidates from the 2015 general election under investigation for breaking local campaign spending limits.

From June 2015 to January 2019, Alex Chalk was a member of the Justice Select Committee, which scrutinises the government's decisions relating to the justice system.

Alex Chalk was the secretary of the APPG on Public Legal Education and the APPG for Highways and the vice chair of the APPG on Lyme Disease.

In December 2015, Alex Chalk voted for UK airstrikes against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Syria.

Alex Chalk supported remaining within the European Union in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Alex Chalk supported the government by voting to trigger Article 50, which formally began the process of Britain's exit from the European Union, along with a majority of cross-party MPs, as a way of respecting the referendum result.

In May 2017, Liberal Democrats candidate Martin Horwood said that Alex Chalk was being actively supported by members of pro-hunting organisations Vale of White Horse Hunt, North Cotswold Hunt and Vote-OK, and questioned whether Alex Chalk was concealing his position on fox hunting.

In May 2017, Alex Chalk voted against investigations into the Iraq War, differing from most of his Conservative colleagues.

In May 2018, prompted by his concerns about a rise in child and adolescent mental health problems in his constituency, Alex Chalk led a Parliamentary inquiry, together with the Children's Society and Young Minds charities, into the impact of social media and cyber bullying on young people's mental health.

In 2018, Alex Chalk was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Department of Education.

Alex Chalk was then appointed PPS to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care later in 2018, and then in May 2019 became PPS to the new Secretary of State for Defence Penny Mordaunt.

Alex Chalk voiced concerns relating to leaving the EU without a deal, but discouraged a People's Vote rally in Cheltenham to fight against a "No Deal Brexit".

Alex Chalk consistently argued that the only way to avoid No Deal and to respect the result of the referendum was to vote for a deal.

Alex Chalk advocated a "moderate, compromise deal" with cross-party colleagues, but since 2019 consistently voted in Parliament to support government legislation to leave the EU.

In February 2020, Alex Chalk was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice.

In June 2020, Alex Chalk took the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill through Parliament which spares divorcing couples from having to apportion blame for the breakdown of their marriage.

In March 2021, Alex Chalk was temporarily appointed as Prisons and Probation Minister whilst his predecessor, Lucy Frazer KC MP, was reappointed as Solicitor General when Suella Braverman MP was designated as a Minister on Leave.

In May 2021, it was reported by The Times that Alex Chalk had told prison officials that they "must stop calling inmates residents, clients or supervised individuals because it creates the wrong impression of criminals".

In June 2021, Alex Chalk announced that 1,000 new trainee probation officers had been recruited to bolster the work the Probation Service does.

Alex Chalk announced an overhaul to the unpaid work that offenders are ordered to do as part of community service.

In July 2021, Alex Chalk announced a new scheme to provide temporary, basic accommodation to prison leavers for twelve weeks in an attempt to cut crime by reducing the number of prison leavers ending up homeless so that they have the foundation to get a job and access treatment for addictions.

On 16 September 2021, Alex Chalk was appointed Her Majesty's Solicitor-General for England and Wales.

Alex Chalk has referred a significant number of cases to the Court of Appeal under the unduly lenient sentence scheme, securing enhanced sentences against more than 38 serious offenders in his first eight months in the role.

In January 2021, a man who had previously been given a suspended sentence having been asked to read improving books was sentenced to an immediate prison term after Alex Chalk personally presented the case on behalf of the Government at the Court of Appeal.

Alex Chalk was found to own a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook, a widely available book containing instructions for the manufacture of explosives and rudimentary weapons.

Alex Chalk resigned as Solicitor General on 5 July 2022, citing the Owen Paterson scandal, Partygate and the Chris Pincher scandal.

From October 2022 to April 2023, Alex Chalk was Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence.

On 21 April 2023, Alex Chalk was named to succeed Dominic Raab as Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor.

On 24 August 2023, Alex Chalk ordered an inquiry into the wrongful conviction of Andrew Malkinson, stating that he "suffered an atrocious miscarriage of justice and he deserves thorough and honest answers as to how and why it took so long to uncover".

Alex Chalk is married, with three children, and lives in the Charlton Park ward in Charlton Kings, Cheltenham.