James Cleverly

James Spencer Cleverly (born 4 September 1969) is a British politician and Army Reserve officer who has served as Home Secretary since November 2023.

James Spencer Cleverly was born on 4 September 1969 in Lewisham, London, to James Philip and Evelyn Suna Cleverly.

His father is British and worked as a surveyor and his mother worked as a midwife and is from Sierra Leone.

He was privately educated at Riverston School and Colfe's School, both in Lee, London.

Cleverly's initial training at Sandhurst was curtailed by a leg injury sustained in 1989.

He pursued hospitality management studies at Ealing College of Higher Education (now University of West London) graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1991.

On 6 October 1991, he was commissioned into the Army Reserve, as a second lieutenant (acting).

In January 1993, his commission was confirmed and he was appointed substantive second lieutenant.

Cleverly was promoted to lieutenant on 6 October 1993, to captain on 26 May 1998, and to major on 1 November 2003.

After graduation, Cleverly worked for publishing company Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeverijen, and joined Informa as international sales manager in 2002.

In 2004, he joined Crimson Publishing as an advertising manager.

Until 2005, he was Battery Commander of 266 (Para) Battery Royal Artillery (Volunteers).

He became online commercial manager for Caspian Publishing in 2006.

The following year, he co-founded web publishing company Point and Fire.

In March 2007, Cleverly was selected as the Conservative Party candidate for the Bexley and Bromley constituency of the London Assembly.

The London Assembly election was held on 1 May with the count and declaration on 2 May, where he received 105,162 votes (52.6% of the vote) and a majority of 75,237.

In January 2009, Cleverly was appointed as the Mayor of London's youth ambassador, a newly created role which was seen as being a replacement post for the deputy mayor for young people, a post left vacant after the resignation of Ray Lewis.

The creation of the role caused some controversy as it was not filled by a mayoral appointment but by a member of the Assembly whose formal role was to scrutinise the Mayor.

The decision was defended because of the precedent set by the appointment of Kit Malthouse as Deputy Mayor for Policing.

In February 2010, Cleverly was appointed as the chairman of the London Waste and Recycling Board, replacing Boris Johnson who had stood down.

In August 2010, Cleverly posted a tweet saying: "We may be coalition partners but it doesn't stop me thinking Simon Hughes is a dick," in response to a suggestion by Hughes, the Liberal Democrat deputy leader, that backbench MPs should be able to veto Coalition policies.

He later apologised.

In November 2010, Cleverly was re-selected to be the Conservative candidate for Bexley and Bromley at the 2012 London Assembly election, going on to win the seat with 88,482 votes (once again 52.6% of the votes) and a majority of 47,768.

After the defeat of Brian Coleman at the election, Cleverly was appointed to the chair of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority.

A member of the Conservative Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Braintree in Essex since 2015.

He previously served as Foreign Secretary from 2022 to 2023, Secretary of State for Education from July to September 2022, Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party alongside Ben Elliot from 2019 to 2020, and in other junior ministerial positions.

Cleverly was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 1 March 2015.

He currently serves with National Reserve Headquarters, Royal Artillery, working as a Staff Officer in 1st (UK) Armoured Division.

In January 2015, Cleverly was selected to be the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Braintree, after the sitting Conservative MP Brooks Newmark stood down following controversy over sending sexually suggestive messages to an undercover reporter.

His selection came after the initial selection process was quietly suspended by Conservative Campaign Headquarters, after the local party chose someone not on the approved candidates list and was told to "think again".

At the 2015 general election, Cleverly was elected to Parliament as MP for Braintree, winning 53.8% of the vote and a majority of 17,610.

In November 2015, Cleverly was criticised for pushing through the closure of 10 fire stations in London after the death of an elderly man in Camden following delays in the arrival of fire crews.

Cleverly advocated a vote for Brexit in the 2016 EU membership referendum.

Following the election, Cleverly did not defend his seat at the 2016 London Assembly election.

In the second May ministry, he served as Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2018 to 2019 and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union from April to July 2019.

When Boris Johnson was appointed prime minister in July 2019, Cleverly was promoted to the Cabinet as minister without portfolio, serving as Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party alongside Ben Elliot from 2019 to 2020.

Cleverly was demoted from the Cabinet in the 2020 ministerial reshuffle and served as a junior Foreign Office minister from February 2020 until the July 2022 government crisis, when he was appointed to succeed Michelle Donelan as Secretary of State for Education.

In September 2022, he was appointed foreign secretary by then–Prime Minister Liz Truss, making him the first British foreign secretary of African heritage.

Retained as foreign secretary when Rishi Sunak became prime minister in October 2022, Cleverly was then appointed home secretary in the November 2023 cabinet reshuffle.

As Home Secretary, Cleverly has committed to maintaining the Rwanda asylum plan and has introduced a plan to substantially reduce legal migration to the UK by raising the threshold for family visas.