26 Facts About James Heappey

James Stephen Heappey was born on 30 January 1981 and is a British politician serving as Minister of State for the Armed Forces since 2022.

James Heappey was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces from 2020 to 2022, before being promoted to Minister of State by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in July 2022.

In September 2022, Heappey was appointed to the larger portfolio of Armed Forces and Veterans' Minister and was given the right to attend Cabinet by new Prime Minister Liz Truss.

James Heappey was born on 30 January 1981 and spent his early years in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, before moving to Nailsea, Somerset.

James Heappey was privately educated at Queen Elizabeth's Hospital in Bristol and graduated in political science from the University of Birmingham.

James Heappey was promoted to captain on 7 February 2007.

James Heappey served as an officer in the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment and then The Rifles, the county regiment for Somerset, in Kabul in 2005, Northern Ireland in 2006, Basra in 2007 and Sangin in Helmand Province in 2009.

James Heappey served in Kenya, and in 2011 he was posted to the Ministry of Defence in London, where he worked as executive officer on the General Staff.

James Heappey retired from the British Army on 2 November 2012 with the rank of major.

James Heappey was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Wells in the 2015 general election, having been selected as the Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate two years earlier.

In October 2015, James Heappey succeeded Nick de Bois as the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for the UK Events Industry.

James Heappey serves as Vice Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Rural Business, a group which seeks to secure policy outcomes that promote the sustainable growth of the rural economy.

From July 2015 to October 2016, James Heappey served on the House of Commons' Energy and Climate Change Select Committee.

James Heappey backed the Government's decision to give the go-ahead for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, in particular citing the benefits for the local economy of Somerset.

James Heappey has called for greater exploitation of the resources and expertise available in the marine energy sector.

James Heappey expressed disappointment in January 2016 when, despite his lobbying efforts, the Conservative Government approved the construction of a 40-mile stretch of power lines to link the Hinkley Point C power-station and Avonmouth.

In May 2016, it was reported that James Heappey was one of a number of Conservative MPs being investigated by police in the United Kingdom general election, 2015 party spending investigation, for allegedly spending more than the legal limit on constituency election campaign expenses.

James Heappey was re-elected at the 2017 general election and served as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to former Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling.

James Heappey chaired the Parliamentary Renewable and Sustainable Energy Group and is a Vice President of the Association for Decentralised Energy.

James Heappey later voted in favour of the Government's timetable to trigger Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union before the end of March 2017.

James Heappey endorsed Boris Johnson to be leader of the Conservative Party during the 2019 leadership election, and served as his Parliamentary Private Secretary in a job share with Alex Burghart from August to December 2019.

In December 2019, James Heappey left the Prime Minister's Office and became Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence Procurement, a junior ministerial appointment at the Ministry of Defence.

In July 2022, James Heappey was promoted to Minister of State by Johnson.

In September 2022, following Truss's election, James Heappey was re-appointed as a Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence as the Minister for the Armed Forces and Veterans; he was given the right to attend Truss's Cabinet as part of his role.

James Heappey was re-appointed Minister of State for the Armed Forces by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on 26 October 2022 but lost the role of Veterans Minister and the right to attend Cabinet to Johnny Mercer.

James Heappey asked pupils how they would vote in the proposed second Scottish independence referendum, and a Scottish girl said she would support independence.