1. James Cleverly previously served as Education Secretary from July to September 2022, Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party alongside Ben Elliot from 2019 to 2020, and in other junior ministerial positions.
48 Facts About James Cleverly
1. 2.
James Cleverly went on to study hospitality management studies at the Ealing College of Higher Education, before he pursued a military career after he was commissioned into the Army Reserve in 1991.
3.
James Cleverly was elected to the London Assembly for Bexley and Bromley in the 2008 election for the Conservative party, and served as the party's leader in the assembly from 2011 to 2012.
4.
James Cleverly was elected to the House of Commons for Braintree in 2015 general election, and later stood down from the London Assembly in the 2016 election.
5.
James Cleverly advocated a vote for Brexit in the 2016 EU membership referendum and was reelected to parliament in the 2017 general election.
6.
James Cleverly was promoted to the Cabinet as minister without portfolio in the First Johnson ministry, serving as co-chairman of the Conservative Party alongside Ben Elliot from 2019 to 2020.
7.
James Cleverly was demoted from the Cabinet in the 2020 cabinet reshuffle; serving as Minister of State for Middle East, North Africa and North America from February 2020 to February 2022 and as Minister of State for Europe and North America from February to July 2022.
8.
James Cleverly returned to the backbenches upon the election of Kemi Badenoch as leader.
9.
James Cleverly was born on 4 September 1969 in Lewisham Hospital, Lewisham to James Philip and Evelyn Suna Cleverly.
10.
James Cleverly was privately educated at Riverston School and Colfe's School in Lee.
11.
James Cleverly pursued hospitality management studies at Ealing College of Higher Education graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1991.
12.
James Cleverly became online commercial manager for Caspian Publishing in 2006.
13.
James Cleverly was promoted to lieutenant on 6 October 1993, to captain on 26 May 1998, and to major on 1 November 2003.
14.
Until 2005, James Cleverly was Battery Commander of 266 Battery Royal Artillery.
15.
James Cleverly was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 1 March 2015.
16.
James Cleverly is serving with 100 Regiment, Royal Artillery, working as a Staff Officer in 1st Division.
17.
In March 2007, James Cleverly was selected as the Conservative Party candidate for the Bexley and Bromley constituency of the London Assembly.
18.
In January 2009, James Cleverly was appointed as the Mayor of London's youth ambassador, a newly created role which was seen as being a replacement post for the deputy mayor for young people, a post left vacant after the resignation of Ray Lewis.
19.
In February 2010, James Cleverly was appointed as the chairman of the London Waste and Recycling Board, replacing Boris Johnson who had stood down.
20.
In November 2010, James Cleverly was re-selected to be the Conservative candidate for Bexley and Bromley at the 2012 London Assembly election, going on to win the seat with 88,482 votes and a majority of 47,768.
21.
James Cleverly's selection came after the initial selection process was quietly suspended by Conservative Campaign Headquarters, after the local party chose someone not on the approved candidates list and was told to "think again".
22.
In November 2015, James Cleverly was criticised for pushing through the closure of 10 fire stations in London after the death of an elderly man in Camden following delays in the arrival of fire crews.
23.
In March 2016, James Cleverly was asked to step down as patron of Advocacy for All, a charity supporting disadvantaged people in South East England.
24.
James Cleverly advocated voting for Brexit in the 2016 EU membership referendum.
25.
In October 2018, James Cleverly defended Conservative London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey over potentially Islamophobic and anti-Hindu comments made in a pamphlet and suggested that black boys were drifting into crime as a result of learning more about faiths other than "their own Christian culture".
26.
On 29 May 2019, James Cleverly announced he was standing to replace Theresa May in the 2019 Conservative leadership election, before withdrawing from the race on 4 June 2019.
27.
James Cleverly became Minister of State for Middle East, North Africa and North America in December 2021, before being appointed Minister of State for Europe and North America in February 2022.
28.
In March 2021, James Cleverly described the situation in Yemen as one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
29.
James Cleverly was promoted to the position Foreign Secretary by incoming Prime Minister Liz Truss on 6 September 2022.
30.
James Cleverly stated that "Iran cannot be allowed to violate UN resolutions".
31.
James Cleverly endorsed former Prime Minister Boris Johnson ahead of the October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election.
32.
Labour called his advice "shockingly tone-deaf", due to the fact that gay activity is illegal in Qatar and that James Cleverly had known that if gay people expressed their homosexuality openly in Qatar they would be arrested.
33.
Sunak's spokesperson distanced themselves from James Cleverly's comments, saying that fans should not have to "compromise who they are", as well as that "Qatar's policies are not those of the UK Government and not ones we would endorse".
34.
In January 2023, James Cleverly again met Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, in Washington, DC, to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine, recent events in Iran following the anti-regime protests occurring there among other issues, as well as to reaffirm the UK's special relationship with the United States.
35.
James Cleverly was criticised by some Conservative MPs, including Liz Truss, for refusing to reclassify China as a "threat" in response to the Chinese Government's aggressive foreign policy and its human rights abuses of the Uyghur Muslim community.
36.
On 19 July 2023, James Cleverly made a public statement following his being mooted as a possible successor to the departing Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace.
37.
James Cleverly asked Prime Minister Sunak to leave him in his current position, because he said he really likes the job.
38.
James Cleverly stated that if he was removed from his post, "you will see nail marks on the parquet floor in my office".
39.
James Cleverly rejected calls for a ceasefire but supported "humanitarian pauses" to provide aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip.
40.
In Sunak's cabinet reshuffle on 13 November 2023, James Cleverly was appointed Home Secretary, succeeding Suella Braverman.
41.
On 22 November 2023, James Cleverly was accused by Labour MP Alex Cunningham of calling Cunningham's Stockton North constituency a "shithole" in response to a question in the House of Commons; James Cleverly denied the allegation, but apologised for using "unparliamentary language", which he said had instead been used to describe Cunningham himself.
42.
However, James Cleverly was eliminated in the final round of MP voting with 37 votes.
43.
The Independent has alleged that Robert Jenrick's campaign launched a whipping operation in order to poach James Cleverly's supporters, convincing those who disliked Kemi Badenoch to support Jenrick in order to keep her out of the final round.
44.
The day before the result was announced, James Cleverly revealed that he would not take a frontbench role in either Badenoch or Jenrick's Shadow Cabinet, instead choosing to return to the backbenches.
45.
James Cleverly married Susannah Sparks in 2000, after meeting at the University of West London nine years earlier.
46.
James Cleverly has been a fan of the miniature wargame Warhammer 40,000; in 2022 he had a private YouTube channel dedicated to painting the game's miniatures.
47.
James Cleverly was awarded the Efficiency Decoration for 12 years' commissioned service in the Territorial Army in January 2012, as well as the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012, the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal in 2022 and the King Charles III Coronation Medal in 2023.
48.
James Cleverly was sworn of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom on 8 October 2019 at Buckingham Palace as part of his appointment as Minister without portfolio and Conservative Party Chairman in the Johnson ministry.