35 Facts About Caroline Nokes

Caroline Fiona Ellen Nokes is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Romsey and Southampton North since 2010.

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 on 26 June 1972 at Lyndhurst Hospital in Lyndhurst, and raised in West Wellow, a village in Hampshire.

Caroline Nokes's father is Roy Perry, a former Conservative Member of the European Parliament for the Wight and Hampshire South constituency.

Caroline Nokes was educated at The Romsey School, La Sagesse Convent in Romsey and then Peter Symonds' College, Winchester, before reading politics at the University of Sussex from 1991 to 1994.

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 was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament for the new constituency of Romsey and Southampton North, defeating Liberal Democrat MP Sandra Gidley who had previously represented the Romsey constituency.

In January 2011, Caroline Nokes introduced her first piece of legislation, the Consumer Protection Bill.

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 was from 2010 to 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.

From 2012 to 2016 Caroline Nokes was an officer of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image.

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.

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.

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.

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 supporting a campaign by Stylist magazine aimed at "ending male violence against women and girls".

In September 2023, during the Laurence Fox GB News scandal, Caroline Nokes called for GB News to be closed down in view of the misogynistic comments that had been broadcast.

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".

Caroline Nokes was elected Second Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means 23 July 2024.

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

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.