Sam Gyimah

Gyimah was born on 10 August 1976 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire.{{cite journal |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.251345|title=Gyimah, Samuel Phillip, (born 10 Aug. 1976), MP (C) East Surrey, since 2010; Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice, since 2016|journal=Who's Who|year=2010}} His father Samuel was a GP, and his mother Comfort Mainoo was a midwife. When he was six years old, his parents split up and his mother returned to her native Ghana with Gyimah and his younger brother and sister while his father remained in the UK. For the next ten years, Gyimah attended Achimota School in Accra, Ghana. Gyimah returned to the UK to sit GCSEs and A-levels at Freman College, a state school in Buntingford, Hertfordshire.{{cite news |last=Cassidy |first=Sarah |date=8 September 2014 |title=Sam Gyimah interview: Life-changing events often occur in early days of learning |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/sam-gyimah-interview-life-changing-events-often-occur-in-early-days-of-learning-9719518.html |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=23 October 2016}} He then went on to Somerville College at the University of Oxford, where he read Politics, philosophy and economics, and was elected President of the Oxford Union in 1997.

On graduation, Gyimah joined Goldman Sachs as an investment banker, leaving the company in 2003 to set up Clearstone Training and Recruitment Limited with fellow future Conservative MP Chris Philp. Gyimah was voted CBI Entrepreneur of the Future 2005.{{cite news |last1=Cassidy |first1=Sarah |title=Sam Gyimah interview: Life-changing events often occur in early days of learning |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/sam-gyimah-interview-life-changing-events-often-occur-in-early-days-of-learning-9719518.html |access-date=13 September 2019 |work=The Independent |date=9 September 2014 |ref=SGCBI}} Clearstone and its subsidiaries went into administration in 2007, owing nearly £4 million.{{cite web|url=https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/QubPxYIZXTY9qQIEqUcDsoDHOys/appointments|title=Samuel Phillip GYIMAH – Personal Appointments (free information from Companies House)|website=beta.companieshouse.gov.uk}} In September 2005 Gyimah edited a report by the Bow Group, a Conservative think tank, entitled From the Ashes: the future of the Conservative Party.{{cite web |url=http://www.bowgroup.org/harrierattachments/BG+Annual+Report+06.doc+FINAL.doc |title=Bow Group Annual Report and Accounts, 2005–06 |work=Bow Group |year=2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061005114931/http://www.bowgroup.org/harrierattachments/BG+Annual+Report+06.doc+FINAL.doc |archive-date=5 October 2006 |access-date=20 July 2016}} He was subsequently elected chairman of the Bow Group from 2006 to 2007.{{cite web |url=http://www.bowgroup.org/harriercollectionitems/XBowSpringSingles.pdf |title=X Bow Spring Singles |work=Bow Group |year=2010 |access-date=7 May 2010 |archive-date=28 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200328212511/http://www.bowgroup.org/harriercollectionitems/XBowSpringSingles.pdf |url-status=dead }} Gyimah stood unsuccessfully for election in Kilburn ward in the 2006 Camden Council election.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/vote2006/locals/html/ag.stm |title=Election 2006: Camden council |work=BBC News |date=5 May 2006 |access-date=20 July 2016}} In December 2009, Gyimah placed third in the Gosport primary election to succeed Peter Viggers, losing to Caroline Dinenage.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8394458.stm |title=Dinenage to succeed duck house MP as Tory candidate |work=BBC News |access-date=1 August 2017}}

Following his name being added to the Conservatives' A-List, he was selected as the prospective parliamentary candidate for East Surrey and elected at the 2010 general election, making his maiden speech on 29 July 2010.{{cite web |url= https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm100628/debtext/100628-0014.htm#10062819000075 |title=House of Commons Hansard; Col 628 |date=28 June 2010 |work=Hansard |publisher=UK Parliament |access-date=7 July 2010 |location=London}} Gyimah became a member of the International Development Select Committee, and stated an interest in harnessing the private sector towards achieving international development goals.{{cite web |url=http://www.conservatives.com/People/Members_of_Parliament/Gyimah__Samuel |title=Sam Gyimah |work=conservatives.com |access-date=20 July 2016}} He also began to take an active part in debates on education and employment and in some local campaigns to protect the green belt in Surrey.

In 2011, Gyimah produced a report with the think-tank NESTA, "Beyond the Banks: the case for a British Industry and Enterprise Bond",{{cite web |url=http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/beyond-banks-case-british-industry-and-enterprise-bond |title=Beyond the Banks: the case for a British Industry and Enterprise Bond |first1=Stian |last1=Westlake |first2=Sam |last2=Gyimah |first3=Marco |last3=Zappalorto |work=Nesta |date=24 November 2011 |access-date=20 July 2016}} in support of non-bank alternatives for businesses seeking finance. He was the first member of parliament to call for credit-easing as a means of accelerating Britain's economic recovery.{{cite news |url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/business-and-investments/blog/7286703/why-osborne-is-right.thtml |title=Why Osborne is right |first=Sam |last=Gyimah |date=4 October 2011 |newspaper=The Spectator |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106174123/http://www.spectator.co.uk/business-and-investments/blog/7286703/why-osborne-is-right.thtml |archive-date=6 January 2012 |access-date=20 July 2016}}

Gyimah was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Prime Minister at the 2012 reshuffle, then became a Government Whip in October 2013, supporting the Prime Minister during the Cameron–Clegg coalition. He supported the United Kingdom remaining in the European Union in the EU referendum of 2016.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-35616946 |title=EU vote: Where the cabinet and other MPs stand |work=BBC News |date=22 June 2016 |access-date=21 October 2016}}

Gyimah was Childcare and Education Minister during the progress of the 2015–2016 Childcare Bill, designed to deliver 30 hours per week of funded childcare for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds. The Childcare Bill also required local authorities to publish information about local childcare availability for parents and caregivers. The bill became law as the Childcare Act on 16 March 2016.{{cite web |title=Childcare Act 2016 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2016/5/contents |website=legislation.gov.uk |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=14 September 2019}}

On 20 November 2015, Gyimah contributed to the filibustering of the opposition-proposed Compulsory Emergency First Aid Education (State-Funded Secondary Schools) Bill to make the teaching of first aid in secondary schools compulsory. He spoke until the end of the debate, despite requests from the deputy speaker. Gyimah was quoted as being concerned to not overload the National Curriculum.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-mps-block-bill-to-give-first-aid-training-to-children-by-talking-until-time-runs-out-a6742251.html|title=Tory MPs block bill to give first aid training to children by talking non-stop until debate ends|newspaper=The Independent|date=20 November 2015|last=Stone|first=Jon}}

On 4 July 2016, as Childcare and Education Minister, Gyimah launched Millie's Mark, a voluntary quality mark described as "the new gold standard" for nursery providers that trained all their staff in pediatric first aid.{{cite web |title=Millie's Mark officially launched by Childcare Minister |url=https://www.milliesmark.com/news/millies-mark-officially-launched-by-childcare-minister |website=milliesmark.com |access-date=14 September 2019}}{{cite web |title=Speech: Sam Gyimah: vision for early years workforce and Millie's Mark |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/sam-gyimah-vision-for-early-years-workforce-and-millies-mark |website=www.gov.uk |date=4 July 2016 |publisher=Department of Education and Sam Gyimah MP |access-date=14 September 2019}}

On 21 October 2016, Gyimah filibustered the Sexual Offences (Pardons) bill (nicknamed the "Turing Bill" after Alan Turing), a private member's bill presented by the Scottish National Party MP John Nicolson that sought to pardon all men convicted of abolished offences under the sodomy laws, on the grounds that granting automatic pardons to all men convicted of historic 'gay sex crimes' would mean that some men who had raped and/or had sex with young men under the age of 16 would be pardoned.{{cite news|last1=Pike|first1=Steph|title=Blue with a hint of pink: the Tories and the Turing Bill|url=http://www.counterfire.org/articles/opinion/18576-blue-with-a-hint-of-pink-the-tories-and-the-turing-bill|access-date=23 November 2016|work=Counterfire|date=24 October 2016}} Supporters of the bill disputed this, as they proposed conditions for a pardon which included the act being consensual and that it would not be contrary to present-day British law.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37707030 |title='Turing Bill' fails to progress in Parliament |work=BBC News |date=21 October 2016 |access-date=21 October 2016}}{{cite news|last1=Mason|first1=Rowena|title=Conservative minister obstructs progression of gay pardon law|url=https://www.theguardian.com/law/2016/oct/21/chris-bryant-commons-plea-gay-pardon-law|access-date=21 October 2016|work=The Guardian|date=21 October 2016}} He instead supported an amendment proposed by the government to existing legislation, in which only dead men convicted of such offences were automatically pardoned, while those who were living would have to apply to the Home Office through a "disregard" process{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/turing-bill-law-pardon-gay-rights-filibuster-snp-john-nicolson-conservative-justice-minister-sam-a7374591.html|title=Turing Bill filibustered by Tory minister amid row over how to pardon people convicted under scrapped anti-gay laws|newspaper=The Independent|date=21 October 2016|last=Worley|first=Will}}{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/alan-turing-law-government-pardon-rachel-barnes-historic-crimes-a7370621.html|title='Alan Turing law' unveiled by government will posthumously pardon thousands of gay men convicted of historic offences|newspaper=The Independent|date=19 October 2016|last=Cowburn|first=Ashley}} whereby the Secretary of State must be satisfied that the conduct is no longer criminal. The "Turing Bill" became law on 31 January 2017.{{cite web |title=Thousands officially pardoned under 'Turing's Law' |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/thousands-officially-pardoned-under-turings-law |website=www.gov.uk |publisher=Ministry of Justice and Sam Gyimah MP |access-date=13 September 2019}}

Other than the aforementioned Turing Law, Gyimah has consistently voted in favour of LGBT equality, including the right of same-sex couples to marry in all of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland.{{cite web | url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/24789/sam_gyimah/east_surrey/votes |title = Voting record – Sam Gyimah, former MP, East Surrey}}

As Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, Gyimah toured university campuses around the country for question-and-answer-sessions with students, staff and the public.{{cite news |last1=Billen |first1=Andrew |title=Sam Gyimah – not your average Tory politician |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/sam-gyimah-not-your-average-tory-politician-skthtckml |access-date=13 September 2019 |work=The Times |date=24 March 2018}} He called on Higher Education leaders to prioritize student mental health, and spoke of his own financial struggles as an undergraduate.{{cite news |last1=Busby |first1=Eleanor |title=News > Education > Education News Prioritising student mental health is 'non-negotiable', minister tells university bosses |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/student-mental-health-universities-minister-sam-gyimah-freshers-week-wellbeing-suicides-a8539146.html |access-date=13 September 2019 |work=The Independent |date=16 September 2018}} Gyimah has warned that "there's a culture of censorship in some of our universities" and that threats to freedom of speech were not "some right-wing conspiracy theory that had been made up". Some of the examples he has mentioned included a professor at King's College London who was allegedly reported for hate speech after teaching a history class, and a university's safe-space policy that took twenty minutes to read. In both cases, the universities in question reported that these things did not happen, and the Department for Education clarified later that Gyimah had merely relayed students' anecdotes.{{cite news|last1=McQuillan|first1=Martin|title=Gyimah's freedom of speech claims under scrutiny again|url=https://www.researchresearch.com/news/article/?articleId=1375991|access-date=30 June 2018|work=*Research Professional|date=29 June 2018}}

On 30 November 2018, Gyimah became the seventh government minister to resign over Theresa May's Brexit deal, which he called naive, saying: "Britain will end up worse off, transformed from rule makers into rule takers. It is a democratic deficit and a loss of sovereignty". He called May's withdrawal agreement "a deal in name only" with many unresolved issues that would leave the UK at the mercy of the European Union with no leverage for many years to come.

He said the UK's weakness in the negotiations over the Galileo satellite navigation project was the final straw and he intended to vote against May's deal in the House of Commons on 11 December 2018, and suggested the public should have the right to a final say on the withdrawal agreement in another referendum with the Article 50 process extended.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/11/30/tory-minister-sam-gyimah-resigns-protest-theresa-mays-withdrawal/|title=Tory minister Sam Gyimah resigns in protest at Theresa May's withdrawal deal|first=Camilla|last=Tominey|date=30 November 2018|work=The Daily Telegraph}} Gyimah resigned as a minister because he wanted to be free to endorse a second referendum on Brexit.[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/dec/15/senior-tories-cabinet-urge-free-vote-second-referendum Senior Tories urge free vote on second referendum] The Observer. 15 December 2018 In early 2019, he co-founded the group Right to Vote.{{cite letter |first=Phillip |last=Lee |recipient=Theresa May |subject=Letter to the Prime Minister from Dr Phillip Lee MP |date=19 March 2019 |url=https://cdn.righttovote.co.uk/assets/righttovote-PMletter19thMarch.pdf |format=pdf |access-date=4 April 2019}}

On 2 June 2019, Gyimah announced his intention to stand as a candidate for the Conservative Party leadership election. He was the only leadership candidate advocating a second referendum.{{cite news |last=McGuinness |first=Alan |date=2 June 2019 |title=Sam Gyimah makes second referendum promise as he joins race to succeed Theresa May |url=https://news.sky.com/story/sam-gyimah-makes-second-referendum-promise-as-he-joins-race-to-succeed-theresa-may-11733491 |work=Sky News |access-date=2 June 2019 }} He withdrew on 10 June, the day that candidatures were to be formalised.

{{Main|2019 suspension of rebel Conservative MPs}}

File:Lib Dem party conference in Bournemouth 2019 23.jpg at the 2019 Lib Dem autumn conference|alt=]]

On 3 September 2019, Gyimah joined twenty other rebel Conservative MPs to vote against the Conservative government of Boris Johnson.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/sep/03/commons-showdown-looms-in-battle-over-no-deal-brexit-live?page=with:block-5d6ed2f58f0845a5dab7cc88#block-5d6ed2f58f0845a5dab7cc88|title=MPs back move to allow bill to block no-deal Brexit by majority of 27|last=Sparrow|first=Andrew|date=3 September 2019|work=The Guardian}} The rebel MPs voted with the Opposition against a Conservative motion which subsequently failed. Effectively, they helped block Johnson's "no deal" Brexit plan from proceeding on 31 October.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/09/04/parliament-whip-removed/|title=Boris Johnson to strip 21 Tory MPs of the Tory whip in parliamentary bloodbath|last=Mikhailova|first=Anna|date=4 September 2019|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=4 September 2019}} Subsequently, all 21 were advised that they had lost the Conservative whip,{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-49578000|title=What is removing the whip, filibustering and other Brexit jargon?|website=BBC Newsbeat|date=4 September 2019|access-date=4 September 2019}} expelling them as Conservative MPs, requiring them to sit as independents.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/14/sam-gyimah-joins-lib-dems|title=Sam Gyimah: 'I am an outcast in the Tory party'|website=The Guardian|date=14 September 2019 |access-date=14 September 2019}}{{cite web|url=https://www.parliament.uk/about/mps-and-lords/principal/whips/|title=Whips|website=Parliament.uk|access-date=4 September 2019}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/03/boris-johnson-suffers-commons-defeat-as-tories-turn-against-him|title=Boris Johnson to seek election after rebel Tories deliver Commons defeat|date=3 September 2019|work=The Guardian|access-date=4 September 2019}} Before the vote Gyimah had described Johnson's position as: "For MPs like myself, Downing Street has framed the choice as: speak your mind or keep your job."{{cite news |title=Boris Johnson's threats were catalyst for our votes, say Tory rebels |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/03/hammond-clashes-with-johnson-in-run-up-to-commons-showdown |access-date=13 September 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=3 September 2019}} If they decided to run for re-election in a future election, the Party would block their selection as Conservative candidates.

On 14 September, he joined the Liberal Democrats{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49703214|title=Former Conservative MP Sam Gyimah joins Lib Dems|date=14 September 2019|work=BBC News|access-date=14 September 2019|publisher=BBC}} and was appointed their Shadow Secretary for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy the following month.{{cite web|url=https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/politics/public-affairs/opinion/dods-people/107528/new-appointments-week-uk-politics-civil|title=New Appointments this week in UK politics, civil service and public affairs|author=Imogen Spencer-Dale|date=28 October 2019|website=Politics Home|access-date=21 November 2019}} In December at the 2019 general election, he stood for the Liberal Democrats in Kensington,{{cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/former-tory-minister-sam-gyimah-i-can-take-kensington-for-the-lib-dems-a4273231.html|title=Former Tory minister Sam Gyimah: I can take Kensington for the Lib Dems|last=Gyimah|first=Sam|date=29 October 2019}} finishing third with 21% of the vote.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/politics/constituencies/E14000768|title=Kensington parliamentary constituency – Election 2019|work=BBC News|access-date=15 December 2019}}

In August 2020, Gyimah joined the board of Oxford University Innovation, a technology transfer and consultancy company created to manage the research and development of University spin-offs.{{cite web|date=17 August 2020|title=Easton, Gyimah and Kukula join OUI board|url=https://innovation.ox.ac.uk/news/easton-gyimah-kukula-join-oui-board/|access-date=30 September 2020|website=Oxford University Innovation}}

In September 2020, he presented a programme about the future of higher education in Britain on BBC Radio 4.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000m5ms|title =Universities in Crisis|date=1 September 2020|publisher =BBC Radio 4}}

In October 2020, Sam Gyimah re-joined Goldman Sachs where he started his career, as a non-executive director of Goldman Sachs International and Goldman Sachs International Bank.

In 2012, Gyimah married Nicky Black, with whom he has a son and a daughter. They knew each other at Oxford, where she was also an Oxford Union president, before they reconnected after university. She is a Hong Kong-raised New Zealander.{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/sam-gyimah-not-your-average-tory-politician-skthtckml|title=Sam Gyimah – not your average Tory politician|last=Billen|first=Andrew|work=The Times|date=24 March 2018}}{{subscription required}} Black previously worked for mining company De Beers, as well as a former director for social and economic development at the International Council on Mining and Metals.{{cite web|url=https://www.icmm.com/en-gb/about-us/our-organisation/our-people/nicky-black|title=Nicky Black|publisher=International Council on Mining and Metals|access-date=16 November 2019}}

Gyimah has been a volunteer and fundraiser for Crisis, the Down's Syndrome Association and St. Catherine's Hospice in Surrey. He has served as school governor of an inner London school, on the board of a housing association and on the development board of Somerville College. He is a Vice-President of the Young Epilepsy charity (formerly the National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy) in Lingfield, Surrey.

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• {{UK MP links | parliament = mr-sam-gyimah/3980 | hansard = | guardian = 12774/sam-gyimah | publicwhip = Sam_Gyimah | theywork = sam_gyimah | record = Sam-Gyimah/East-Surrey/1289 | bbc = 53938.stm | journalisted = }}

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{{s-bef|before=Peter Ainsworth}}

{{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament
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Category:1976 births

Category:Living people

Category:Alumni of Achimota School

Category:Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford

Category:Black British MPs

Category:Black British politicians

Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies

Category:English bankers

Category:English people of Ghanaian descent

Category:Free Enterprise Group

Category:Goldman Sachs people

Category:Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom

Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) MPs for English constituencies

Category:Ministers for universities of the United Kingdom

Category:Parliamentary private secretaries to the prime minister

Category:People from Beaconsfield

Category:Presidents of the Oxford Union

Category:UK MPs 2010–2015

Category:UK MPs 2015–2017

Category:UK MPs 2017–2019