1. Brendan Clarke-Smith served under Rishi Sunak as a deputy chairman of the Conservative Party from November 2023 to January 2024, under Liz Truss as Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office from September and October 2022, and under Boris Johnson as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister without Portfolio and Minister of State from February 2022 to July 2022, and as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families from July to September 2022.
Brendan Clarke-Smith grew up on Clifton Grove, next to the Clifton council estate in Nottingham.
Brendan Clarke-Smith went to secondary school in East Leake, and was the first member of his family to go to university, studying politics at Nottingham Trent University and later gaining a PGCE in religious education.
Brendan Clarke-Smith became a teacher at an international school in Romania.
Brendan Clarke-Smith first stood as a Conservative Party candidate in 2003 when he was elected as a councillor for the Clifton North ward of Nottingham City Council.
Brendan Clarke-Smith was re-elected to this position in 2007 and subsequently contested the neighbouring Clifton South Ward in 2011 but failed to be elected by a margin of 676 votes.
Brendan Clarke-Smith stood as one of the Conservative Party candidates for the European Parliament elections in 2014 and 2019 in the East Midlands region but was not elected.
Brendan Clarke-Smith campaigned to leave the EU in the 2016 EU referendum and was a member of the Vote Leave campaign.
Brendan Clarke-Smith was elected as the Conservative Party MP for Bassetlaw in the 2019 general election when the sitting MP John Mann stood down.
Brendan Clarke-Smith overturned a 4,852 Labour majority to a 14,013 Conservative majority, the biggest swing that election.
When elected, Brendan Clarke-Smith said his three main priorities were getting Brexit done, improving Bassetlaw Hospital and attracting more money for Retford and Worksop town centres.
In December 2019, Brendan Clarke-Smith became one of the members of the eurosceptic European Research Group.
In March 2020, Brendan Clarke-Smith was appointed to the International Development Committee in Parliament.
Brendan Clarke-Smith has received media attention for his views on food banks and public provision of free school meals for children from more economically deprived families.
Brendan Clarke-Smith has expressed concern over plans to close the mental health facilities at Bassetlaw Hospital and move provision to Mansfield, campaigned for the Robin Hood train line to be extended to Retford and was a signatory to the successful East Midlands bid to be one of ten Freeports.
On 6 June 2022, after a vote of no confidence in the leadership of Boris Johnson was called, Brendan Clarke-Smith announced that he would be supporting the Prime Minister, describing the vote as "one of the most ridiculous acts of self-harm I have witnessed in a long time".
Brendan Clarke-Smith briefly served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister without Portfolio and Minister of State from 11 February 2022 to 8 July 2022 and as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Education between 8 July and 7 September 2022.
In February 2023, Brendan Clarke-Smith was part of a delegation of UK Parliamentarians consisting of several MPs and members of the House of Lords who visited Northern Cyprus and met with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus government.
Brendan Clarke-Smith resigned on 16 January 2024 along with Lee Anderson in order to vote for an amendment on the Safety of Rwanda Bill.
Brendan Clarke-Smith lost the Bassetlaw seat to Labour in the 2024 United Kingdom general election.