1. Simon Baynes served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice and Tackling Illegal Migration from July to September 2022.
20 Facts About Simon Baynes
1. 2.
Simon Baynes grew up in Montgomeryshire, where his father ran the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel.
3.
Simon Baynes was privately educated at both Belhaven Hill Preparatory School and Shrewsbury School, before studying at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a BA in History.
4.
Simon Baynes has been a trustee of Concertina - Music for the Elderly, which he formed in 1998 with his wife.
5.
From 2005 to 2012, Simon Baynes was Chairman of North Powys Youth Music.
6.
Simon Baynes has been Chairman of the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust and the Holroyd Community Theatre.
7.
Simon Baynes was the founder and Chairman of the Montgomeryshire Literary Festival.
8.
Simon Baynes stood as the Welsh Conservative candidate in Montgomeryshire in 2005, finishing second behind incumbent Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik.
9.
Simon Baynes unsuccessfully sought the Conservative nomination for the seat of South Staffordshire in 2010, losing out to future cabinet minister Gavin Williamson.
10.
Simon Baynes then contested Dwyfor Meirionnydd at the 2010 general election, and the same seat in the 2011 National Assembly for Wales Election, both times without success.
11.
Simon Baynes was a Conservative member of Powys County Council from 2008 to 2012, and joint leader of the Conservative group.
12.
Simon Baynes served as the mayor of the eponymous Montgomeryshire town of Llanfyllin from 2018 to 2020.
13.
Simon Baynes has contested elections in Clwyd South on three occasions.
14.
Simon Baynes first contested Clwyd South in the 2016 Welsh Assembly election.
15.
Simon Baynes was elected to Parliament for Clwyd South at the 2019 general election, to serve in the 58th Parliament.
16.
Simon Baynes defeated the incumbent Labour MP Susan Elan Jones.
17.
On 2 March 2020, Simon Baynes became a member of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee.
18.
Simon Baynes endorsed Priti Patel in the July 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, but she did not end up standing.
19.
Clwyd South was abolished at the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, therefore Simon Baynes was selected to fight the neighbouring Liberal Democrat held English seat of North Shropshire for the Conservatives in the 2024 general election.
20.
Simon Baynes married his wife Margaret, an architect, in 1992.