Sir Robert James Buckland was born on 22 September 1968 and is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Wales from July to October 2022.
49 Facts About Robert Buckland
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Robert Buckland previously served as Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor from 2019 to 2021.
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Robert Buckland was appointed Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor by Boris Johnson in July 2019, serving until the cabinet reshuffle in September 2021.
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Robert Buckland was born on 22 September 1968 in Llanelli, Wales.
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Robert Buckland was educated at Old Road County Primary School and then at St Michael's School, Llanelli.
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Robert Buckland studied at Hatfield College, University of Durham, where he became Secretary of the Junior Common Room and President of the Durham Union Society in Michaelmas term 1989.
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Robert Buckland graduated in Law in 1990, and the following year was called to the bar at the Inner Temple.
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Robert Buckland practised as a barrister in Wales from 1992 to 2010, specialising in criminal law in the Crown Court at Swansea, Cardiff, Merthyr and Newport.
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Robert Buckland was appointed as a recorder in 2009, sitting as a part-time judge in the Crown Court.
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Robert Buckland was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2014 on becoming Solicitor General and was elected as a Master of the Bench of Inner Temple.
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Robert Buckland stood as the Conservative Party candidate for Elli ward on Dyfed County Council in May 1993, winning the seat from Labour with a majority of just 3 votes.
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In 1994, Robert Buckland stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative Party candidate for the safe Labour European Parliament seat of South Wales West.
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Robert Buckland went on to stand unsuccessfully for the Conservative Party as their candidate for Preseli Pembrokeshire at the 1997 general election.
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Robert Buckland was on the Conservative Party list of candidates for Wales at the 1999 European elections, but was again unsuccessful.
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In 2005, Robert Buckland was selected as the Conservative Party's prospective Parliamentary candidate for South Swindon, replacing the constituency's former MP Simon Coombs.
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At the 2005 general election, Robert Buckland lost to Labour candidate Anne Snelgrove, who polled 17,534 votes to his 16,181, a narrow majority of 1,353 votes.
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Robert Buckland obtained 19,687 votes, compared to 16,143 votes for Snelgrove.
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In 2010, Robert Buckland was elected to the Justice Select Committee.
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Robert Buckland chaired the All Party Group on Autism from 2011 to 2014 and was an officer of the all-party group on Speech, Language and Communication.
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On 4 December 2012, Robert Buckland was elected Joint Secretary of the influential 1922 Backbench Committee.
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Robert Buckland was Chair of the Conservative Human Rights Commission from 2011 to 2014.
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Robert Buckland sat on the Standards Committee and the Privileges Committee from 2012 to 2014.
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Robert Buckland served on the Joint Committee on Human Rights from 2013 to 2014 and the Joint Committee on Privacy and Superinjunctions which was convened from 2011 to 2012.
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On 15 July 2014, Robert Buckland was appointed Solicitor General for England and Wales, replacing Oliver Heald as part of a wide-ranging Government reshuffle.
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Robert Buckland had headed up an investigation in 2008 into a racially motivated attack at a school at which he was a governor.
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In February 2015, it was reported that Robert Buckland was one of a number of individuals investing in the Invicta Film Partnership, which HM Revenue and Customs had alleged to be a tax avoidance scheme.
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Robert Buckland responded that he had not attempted to avoid tax and his investments were a matter of public record.
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Robert Buckland argued his financial adviser had looked into the companies and found them to be completely beyond reproach.
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In May 2019, Robert Buckland was appointed as Minister of State for Prisons and Probation at the Ministry of Justice in succession to Rory Stewart who had been appointed as Secretary of State for International Development.
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Robert Buckland was replaced as Solicitor General for England and Wales by Lucy Frazer.
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On 24 July 2019, Robert Buckland was appointed Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor by incoming Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
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Robert Buckland was sworn in as a Member of the Privy Council the next day.
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Robert Buckland was the second Lord Chancellor from Llanelli, after Lord Elwyn-Jones.
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Robert Buckland said that he had considerable relevant experience and expressed an intention to "help drive through a massive programme of change".
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In January 2020 Robert Buckland announced he wished to open a new prison in Wales, despite the recent withdrawal of plans for a 1,600 prisoner "category C super-prison" in Port Talbot.
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In September 2020 Robert Buckland stated on The Andrew Marr Show that he would resign only if the UK Internal Market Bill broke the law "in a way I find unacceptable".
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Robert Buckland defended plans to potentially override the EU withdrawal agreement as an emergency Brexit "insurance policy".
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Robert Buckland said he hoped powers being sought by ministers in the Internal Market Bill would never be needed, as a solution could be found with the EU.
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Robert Buckland oversaw a UK prison management response to the COVID-19 pandemic which increased the time prisoners spent in their cells, but achieved what were seen as low infection rates.
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On 15 September 2021, Robert Buckland was dismissed as Justice Secretary after Johnson reshuffled his cabinet.
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Robert Buckland was reinstated into Johnson's cabinet on 7 July 2022 when he succeeded Simon Hart as Secretary of State for Wales.
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At the 2022 Conservative Party Conference, Robert Buckland stated his view that benefits should be uprated in line with inflation amid a public debate on the matter, along with fellow cabinet ministers Penny Mordaunt and Chloe Smith.
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On 25 October 2022, Robert Buckland stood down from the Government upon Rishi Sunak's appointment as Prime Minister.
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In 2011, Robert Buckland was awarded the "Politician of the Year Award" by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists for his campaigning work on speech, language and communication issues.
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In January 2013, Robert Buckland was awarded the "Grassroot Diplomat Initiative Award" under the Social Driving category for his extensive work on advocating awareness at Parliament for children with special educational needs, including those with autism both locally and nationally.
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Robert Buckland was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2022 Political Honours and was invested by His Majesty King Charles III in November 2022.
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Robert Buckland is married to Sian, whom he met at university.
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Robert Buckland's interests include music, wine, political history and watching rugby and cricket.
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Robert Buckland has a cat, named "Mrs Landingham" after a character on The West Wing.