43 Facts About Caroline Nokes

Caroline Fiona Ellen Nokes is a British Conservative Party politician.

Caroline Nokes was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Romsey and Southampton North in Hampshire in the 2010 general election.

Caroline Nokes served in Theresa May's government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Welfare Delivery at the Department for Work and Pensions from 2016 to 2017, Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office from 2017 to 2018, and as Minister of State for Immigration at the Home Office from January 2018 to July 2019.

Caroline Nokes was born at Lyndhurst Hospital in Lyndhurst, and raised in West Wellow, a village in Hampshire.

Caroline Nokes was a member of Test Valley Borough Council from 1999 until 2010, representing the Romsey Extra ward, and for some time was responsible for the leisure portfolio.

Caroline Nokes stood down as a councillor when she was elected to parliament in May 2010.

Caroline Nokes stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for the Southampton Itchen constituency at the 2001 general election, and for the Romsey constituency at the 2005 general election.

Caroline Nokes was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament for the new constituency of Romsey and Southampton North, defeating former Liberal Democrat MP Sandra Gidley by 4,165 votes.

Caroline Nokes made her maiden speech on 17 June 2010, on the subject of a high-skilled economy.

In July 2014, Caroline Nokes became a Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions, as an aide to the minister with responsibility for disabled people.

Caroline Nokes is a member of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme, spoke in 37 separate debates in the 12 months to March 2013, and has an above-average voting record.

Caroline Nokes has spoken in debates on planning policy, reforming the Child Support Agency Family Based Agreements, adoption, and the closure of the Ford motor manufacturing plant in her constituency.

Caroline Nokes has introduced legislation on dangerous dogs, and in January 2011, the Consumer Protection Bill.

Caroline Nokes has voted against requiring public bodies to take into account armed service personnel's records when setting healthcare, education and housing policy.

Caroline Nokes was until March 2015 a member of two parliamentary select committees, the Environmental Audit Select Committee, and the Education Select Committee.

Caroline Nokes is a member of a parliamentary group for equine welfare.

In October 2012, Caroline Nokes became an officer of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image, which campaigns to raise awareness of body image, eating disorders, nutrition and health issues within the advertising industry, the health and fitness sector, media, youth organisations and Government.

Caroline Nokes gave up the position on the APPG for Body Image in 2016.

Caroline Nokes sat on the Scrap Metal Dealers Bill Committee, and was a member of the Justice and Security Bill Committee.

Caroline Nokes sat on the Children and Families Bill Committee which scrutinises a bill designed to improve legislation affecting fostered and adopted children, children in care, children with Special Educational Needs, and the family justice system.

Caroline Nokes was a member of the Deregulation Bill Committee and the Modern Slavery Bill Committee, a subject in which she had previously expressed a constituency interest and on which she had questioned the government.

Caroline Nokes said her decision to go was because Amnesty International were no longer active in the country, and information about Equatorial Guinea was possibly outdated.

Caroline Nokes went on to call for the country's president to instigate proper democracy and permit press freedom.

In January 2018, Caroline Nokes was appointed Minister of State for Immigration at the Home Office, a Cabinet position.

Caroline Nokes was criticised by the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee after admitting she had not read the Good Friday Agreement.

Caroline Nokes was removed by new Prime Minister Boris Johnson on 25 July 2019; she found this out when the journalist John Stevens tweeted "Caroline Nokes sacked".

Caroline Nokes was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 EU membership referendum.

Caroline Nokes had the Conservative whip removed on 3 September 2019, after she voted against the party to extend the deadline for Britain to exit the European Union and prevent a no-deal Brexit, stating that her constituents in Romsey and Southampton North would be worse off under a no-deal Brexit.

Caroline Nokes was among 10 MPs who had the whip restored on 29 October 2019.

On 29 January 2020, Caroline Nokes was elected to the position of chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, succeeding Maria Miller.

In May 2021, alongside celebrities and other public figures, Caroline Nokes was a signatory to an open letter from Stylist magazine which called on the government to address what it described as an "epidemic of male violence" by funding an "ongoing, high-profile, expert-informed awareness campaign on men's violence against women and girls".

Caroline Nokes has stated she was "broadly supportive" of same-sex marriage, provided that religious organisations were not forced to act against their theology.

Caroline Nokes was a member of the Southern Area Planning Committee on Test Valley Borough Council for 10 years and was a critic of a number of developments in the Test Valley area, in particular where plans to develop were not subject to a proper environmental survey.

Caroline Nokes is a regular speaker on planning issues, advocate for greater planning controls to protect green field spaces, and to better manage planning in rural areas.

Caroline Nokes criticised the Government for "not delivering localism" and said the most important aspect of planning "is the voice of the local resident".

In March 2013, when Caroline Nokes announced she would sit on the committee responsible for scrutinising the bill, Fathers4Justice called upon her to resign.

Caroline Nokes said: "I remain committed to improvements to the family justice system, which the Children and Families Bill goes some way towards delivering, and it is a pity F4J chose not to engage constructively with the deliberations of the Bill Committee".

Caroline Nokes' office said in 2013 that the harassment of the MP by Fathers4Justice was non-stop.

Caroline Nokes herself was quoted in The Independent newspaper: "They ignored the warnings and carried on bullying, harassing and sending tweets indicating they were 'looking' for me at my home address at 10.30 at night".

In February 2014, Caroline Nokes criticised a House of Lords amendment to the Children and Families Bill which she said "watered down" the commitment to shared parenting, and spoke against the amendment in the House of Commons, arguing that shared parenting arrangements were in the best interests of children.

On 15 November 2021, Caroline Nokes accused Stanley Johnson, the father of then prime minister Boris Johnson, of inappropriately touching her at the Conservative Party conference in Blackpool in 2003.

Caroline Nokes married Marc Nokes in 1995 and the couple had a daughter.

In 2010 it was reported that Caroline Nokes had been having an affair with a Conservative councillor.