1. Victoria Mary Atkins was born on 22 March 1976 and is a British politician who served in various ministerial positions under Prime Ministers Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak between 2017 and 2024, lastly as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from November 2023 to July 2024.
Victoria Atkins resigned as Prisons Minister during the July 2022 government crisis, and called on Johnson to resign.
Victoria Atkins was born on 22 March 1976 in London, the daughter of Sir Robert Atkins, a former Conservative MP and MEP, and Lady Atkins, a Conservative councillor and mayor.
Victoria Atkins was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of three.
Victoria Atkins was privately educated at Arnold School, a co-educational school in Blackpool in Lancashire, and studied law at the University of Cambridge where she was an undergraduate student at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
Victoria Atkins worked as a barrister in the field of fraud in London.
In 2010, Victoria Atkins was shortlisted for the safe seat of Salisbury, eventually losing out to John Glen, who was elected MP for the seat.
Victoria Atkins was selected over three others in July 2014 as the Conservative candidate for Louth and Horncastle, at a meeting of around 200 local party members in Spilsby.
Victoria Atkins supported the UK remaining within the EU before the 2016 EU membership referendum, but consistently voted in favour of a referendum being held.
In June 2017, Victoria Atkins was appointed as a junior minister.
In June 2019, Victoria Atkins vetoed the appointment of Niamh Eastwood, the director of Release, to the independent advisory NGO Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.
Victoria Atkins did so as Eastwood had previously been critical of the Home Office's drug policy on social media, including criticising a letter by Atkins in which she opposed the introduction of drug consumption rooms.
In September 2021, following the withdrawal of foreign defence forces from Afghanistan and takeover by the Taliban, Victoria Atkins became Minister of State for Prisons and Probation at the Ministry of Justice and the Minister for Afghan Resettlement.
Victoria Atkins oversaw "Operation Pitting", the government's Afghan resettlement programme.
On 6 July 2022, during the July 2022 United Kingdom government crisis, Victoria Atkins resigned as justice minister, citing concerns with party leadership.
Victoria Atkins was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council on 15 November 2023 at Buckingham Palace following her appointment, entitling her to the honorific prefix "The Right Honourable" for life.
Victoria Atkins's spokesperson defended her actions, saying Reed had failed to answer her questions.
In November 2024, Victoria Atkins criticized the construction of overground pylons in her constituency, arguing instead that they should be built underground.
Victoria Atkins is married to Paul Kenward, the managing director of British Sugar.