- Nick Gibb
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Nick Gibb MP Minister of State for Schools Incumbent Assumed office
13 May 2010Prime Minister David Cameron Preceded by Vernon Coaker Member of Parliament
for Bognor Regis and LittlehamptonIncumbent Assumed office
1 May 1997Preceded by Constituency created Majority 13,063 (27.9%) Personal details Born 3 September 1960
Amersham, Buckinghamshire, EnglandNationality English Political party Conservative Alma mater Durham University Nicolas John "Nick" Gibb (born 3 September 1960) is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton. Gibb was appointed Minister of State for Schools in the newly formed Department for Education on 13 May 2010.
Contents
Early life
Nick Gibb was born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire and was educated at Bedford Modern School, Maidstone Grammar School, Roundhay School, Leeds, and Thornes House School, Wakefield. He then attended the College of St Hild and St Bede at the University of Durham where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in law in 1981.[1]
In 1982, Gibb joined NatWest as a trainee accountant, before working on Kibbutz Merom Golam in 1983. In 1984 he joined KPMG as a chartered accountant until his election to parliament.[1]
Political career
Gibb worked as an election agent to Cecil Parkinson at the 1987 General Election, and becoming the secretary of the Bethnal Green and Stepney Conservative Association in 1988, becoming its chairman the following year.
Gibb contested Stoke-on-Trent Central at the 1992 General Election but was defeated into second place some 13,420 votes behind the sitting Labour MP Mark Fisher. In 1994, Gibb was selected to contest the 1994 Rotherham by-election, caused by the death of James Boyce, held on 5 May 1994. He finished in third place, 12,263 votes behind the winner Denis MacShane.
Gibb was selected to stand as the Conservative candidate for the newly created West Sussex seat of Bognor Regis and Littlehampton at the 1997 General Election. Gibb won the seat with a majority of 7,321 and has remained the MP there since.[2] He made his maiden speech on 4 July 1997,[3] in which he spoke of the visit of King George V in 1929 to Bognor Regis to take in the sea air, hence the suffix of Regis on the town's name. He recalled also the town of Felpham which was the home of poet William Blake.
Opposition
Shortly after his election, Gibb joined the opposition frontbench of William Hague when he was appointed as the spokesman on trade and industry in 1997, before joining the social security select committee later in the year. The following year, in 1998 he rejoined the frontbench as a spokesman on the treasury, moving back to trade and industry in 1999.
He was briefly a spokesman on environment, transport and the regions following the 2001 General Election but resigned under the leadership of Iain Duncan Smith, reportedly because he was unhappy at his new role.[4] Michael Howard brought him back to the frontbench following the Conservative Party's defeat in the 2005 General Election as a spokesman for Education and Young People. Shortly afterwards, the newly elected Conservative Party Leader, David Cameron, promoted Nick Gibb from within the education team to shadow Minister for Schools.[2]
Government
In the wake of the 2010 general election and the formation of a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, Gibb was appointed Minister of State for Schools in the new Department for Education.[5]
Views and controversy
Gibb is a longstanding advocate of synthetic phonics as a method of teaching children to read,[6] and is also a supporter of the motor neurone disease cause, currently being vice-chair of the All Party Motor Neurone Disease Group in parliament.[2]
Just days after being appointed as Minister for Schools in 2010, Gibb was criticised after leaked information suggested he had told officials at the Department of Education that he "would rather have a physics graduate from Oxbridge without a PGCE teaching in a school than a physics graduate from one of the rubbish universities with a PGCE".[7]
Personal life
He is the brother of Robbie Gibb, a former spin doctor who is now editor of the BBC's political programmes, The Daily Politics and Politics Show.
Publications
- Forgotten Closed Shop: Case for Voluntary Membership of Student Unions by Nicholas Gibb and David Neil-Smith, 1985, Cleveland Press ISBN 0-948194-01-4
- Simplifying Taxes by Nick Gibb, 1987
- Duty to Repeal by Nick Gibb, 1989, Adam Smith Institute ISBN 1-870109-71-6
- Bucking the Market by Nick Gibb, 1990
- Maintaining Momentum by Nick Gibb, 1992
References
- ^ a b "Nick Gibb Biography". Conservative Party. http://www.conservatives.com/People/Members_of_Parliament/Gibb_Nick.aspx. Retrieved 3 June 2009.
- ^ a b c "Nick Gibb". UK Parliament Biographies. http://biographies.parliament.uk/parliament/default.asp?id=25544. Retrieved 3 June 2009.
- ^ "Hansard: 4 July 1997". Hansard. 4 July 1997. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199798/cmhansrd/vo970704/debtext/70704-09.htm#70704-09_spnew1. Retrieved 3 June 2009.
- ^ Glover, Julian (18 October 2001). "Tory frontbench resignations". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2001/oct/18/conservatives.uk. Retrieved 3 June 2009.
- ^ "Nick Gibb MP". Department for Education. http://www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/departmentalinformation/ministerialteam/gibb. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
- ^ "Teaching of reading to be revised". BBC News. 20 March 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4818516.stm. Retrieved 3 July 2009.
- ^ Williams, Rachel (17 May 2010). "New minister Nick Gibb upsets teachers – already". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2010/may/17/nick-gibb-upsets-teachers. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
External links
- Nick Gibb MP official Conservative Party profile
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
- Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
- Voting record at PublicWhip.org
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
- Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
- BBC News – Nick Gibb MP BBC profile
- Gibb presents a video on the 2011 exam results, hosted by YouTube on the Department for Education's official channel
Parliament of the United Kingdom New constituency Member of Parliament for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton
1997 – presentIncumbent Political offices Preceded by
Vernon CoakerMinister of State for Schools
2010–presentIncumbent Categories:- 1960 births
- Living people
- Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies
- Conservative Party (UK) MPs
- Alumni of Durham University
- UK MPs 1997–2001
- UK MPs 2001–2005
- UK MPs 2005–2010
- UK MPs 2010–
- Old Maidstonians
- People from Amersham
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