Anna Soubry

Anna Mary Soubry (born 7 December 1956) is a British barrister, journalist and former politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Broxtowe from 2010 to 2019.

Soubry attended the Henry Hartland Grammar School from 1968 to 1970, in which year it became the Hartland Comprehensive; she remained at the school until 1975, in which year she joined the Conservative Party.

She was involved in student politics in the 1970s, becoming the only Conservative member of the National Union of Students' executive committee.

She graduated with a degree in Law from the University of Birmingham in 1979.

She also presented, reported and featured on Granada Television's This Morning in the late 1980s, and returned to Liverpool's Albert Dock in October 2013 for the This Morning 25th-anniversary party.

Soubry left the Conservatives in 1981, alongside seven other former student leaders, who said at a press conference that the party remained "class based" and that the Social Democratic Party (SDP) was now the natural home of young people who "wish to see a prosperously united country".

Soubry was a journalist from 1981 until 1995.

She reported on and presented several regional and networked TV programmes, including Central Television's Central Weekend, Grampian Television's North Tonight in the North of Scotland and the East Midlands regional news programme, Central News East.

After working as a journalist and presenter in regional and network television, she was called to the bar in 1995 and began to practise as a criminal barrister.

Soubry was called to the bar in 1995, and is a member of the Criminal Bar Association.

Soubry unsuccessfully contested Gedling as a Conservative at the 2005 general election but, after being added to the Conservative A-List, was elected to represent Broxtowe at the subsequent general election in 2010.

She was the Conservative Party candidate for the Gedling constituency in Nottinghamshire at the 2005 general election.

During the campaign she said she was "ashamed" of living in Nottingham because it had a bad reputation for crime.

She stated she was not ashamed of the people of Nottingham, but was ashamed of what had happened to the city.

Soubry was chosen as an "A-List candidate", and in 2006 was selected as Conservative candidate for the nearby Broxtowe constituency.

During a debate in front of sixth formers in 2006, she said an honest debate was needed to stop people taking Class A drugs, and that she supported the legalisation of cannabis.

Soubry was elected to Parliament at the 2010 general election.

She was considered "one of the most formidable communicators of the new intake" by Nicholas Watt of The Guardian, but not a Thatcherite.

In June 2010, Soubry was elected as a Conservative member of the Justice Select Committee.

Soubry sponsored a private member's bill in June 2010 to provide anonymity to a person who has been arrested but not charged.

The second reading took place in February 2011.

Soubry withdrew the bill after its second reading, when Justice Minister Crispin Blunt promised the Attorney General would examine the area of concern.

She was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health from 2012 to 2013 and Minister for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans from 2013 to 2015.

Soubry was a strong supporter of same-sex marriage in 2013 and voted in favour of it at every opportunity.

She was appointed Minister of State for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise following the 2015 general election, also attending meetings of the Cabinet, but she returned to the backbenches in July 2016.

Having been a strong supporter of the United Kingdom remaining in the European Union during the 2016 referendum campaign, Soubry was a vocal critic of Brexit and the Conservative Party's facilitation of the policy.

In February 2016, Soubry spoke in favour of fracking.

In November 2016, Soubry joined the Scottish Affairs Committee.

At the 2017 general election Soubry retained her seat with a reduced majority on a record turnout of 75%, despite receiving the highest percentage share and number of votes for a Conservative Party candidate in Broxtowe since the 1992 election.

It was reported at the time that Soubry had joined the SDP, along with the others in the group, but in 2018 she denied having done so.

Known for her support of pro-European policies, she was originally elected as a Conservative but left the party to join Change UK in 2019.

Born in Lincoln, Soubry was raised in Nottinghamshire and read law at the University of Birmingham.

She was the sole Conservative Party member of the National Union of Students' executive committee while at university but left the Conservatives after graduating and endorsed the Social Democratic Party, although she did not join the new party.

She resigned from the Conservatives in February 2019, citing her party's shift to the right and support of Brexit.

She and others joined The Independent Group, later Change UK, and she was appointed its leader in June 2019.

She lost her seat to Darren Henry of the Conservative Party in the 2019 general election and Change UK disbanded shortly afterwards.

Soubry was born at Lincoln County Hospital in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, where her mother Frances Soubry (née Coward) worked.

Her father was David Soubry, a Nottinghamshire garage owner.

She was brought up in Dunham-on-Trent and Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire.

In the 2019 general election, standing for the Independent Group for Change, Soubry polled 4,668 votes (8%) and finished 3rd thereby losing her seat to the Conservative Party candidate, Darren Henry, who polled 26,602 votes.