Tim Loughton

Sussex Chief Constable Martin Richards apologised to the committee, claiming he was unaware the Parliamentary Papers Act 1840 gave full legal protection to all parliamentary papers and blamed conflicting legal advice.

Former deputy Chief Constable of Sussex Police Robin Merrett claimed he "could understand" the constituent being "alarmed" at receiving the copy of Hansard and "fully supported" the police actions.

Timothy Paul Loughton, (born 30 May 1962) is a British politician and former banker who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Worthing and Shoreham since the 1997 general election.

Timothy Loughton was born on 30 May 1962 in Eastbourne, East Sussex.

From 1973 to 1980, he was educated at Priory School, a state comprehensive school in Lewes, East Sussex.

From 1980 to 1983, he studied classical civilisation at the University of Warwick.

He was the secretary of the University of Warwick Conservative Association.

He graduated with a first class honours Bachelor of Arts (BA Hons) degree in 1983.

He then attended Clare College, Cambridge, where he studied Mesopotamian archaeology between 1983 and 1984.

Loughton subsequently had a career in the City of London as a fund manager from 1984 for Fleming Private Asset Management, becoming a director from 1992 to 2000.

Loughton unsuccessfully contested Sheffield Brightside for the Conservative Party at the 1992 general election, finishing in second with 16.8% behind the incumbent Labour MP David Blunkett.

Loughton was elected as MP for East Worthing and Shoreham at the 1997 general election, winning with 40.5% of the vote and a majority of 5,098.

From 2000 to 2001, Loughton was Shadow Minister for Environment and from 2003 to 2010 he was Shadow Minister of Health and Children, during the Conservative Party's time as the shadow cabinet in opposition to the Labour Party.

At the 2001 general election, Loughton was re-elected as MP for East Worthing and Shoreham with an increased vote share of 43.2% and an increased majority of 6,139.

He was again re-elected at the 2005 general election with an increased vote share of 43.9% and an increased majority of 8,183.

A member of the Conservative Party, he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families from 2010 to 2012 and has twice served as the Acting Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee in 2016 and 2021, following the respective resignations of Keith Vaz and Yvette Cooper.

Loughton has been a keen supporter of Leave Means Leave, a pro-Brexit group.

In 2010, Loughton appeared in the Channel 4 documentary series, Tower Block of Commons.

Loughton was again re-elected at the 2010 general election with an increased vote share of 48.5% and an increased majority of 11,105.

After the election, Loughton was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families, a position commonly known as 'children's minister'.

In February 2012, Loughton was part of a ministerial working group on how the law should be changed regarding how to amend the Children Act 1989.

According to The Guardian in 3 February 2012, the working group aimed to include in the new Children's Act one "presumption of shared parenting" for children's fathers and mothers after cases of divorce or spousal break up.

In May 2012, he said marriage was a religious institution that should remain between one man and one woman.

Loughton voted against the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill.

Loughton was dismissed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families in the government reshuffle of September 2012.

In January 2013, Loughton was involved in a political dispute involving his earlier work as a minister in the Department for Education (DofE) when he compared the role of Education Secretary Michael Gove to "Young Mr Grace" from the British sitcom Are You Being Served?, suggesting there was little interaction between ministers and staff in the department.

The next day Loughton was described in an anonymous briefing from the DofE to The Spectator as a "lazy, incompetent narcissist obsessed only with self-promotion".

The following month Loughton tabled "hostile" parliamentary questions to the Department of Education on the subject of complaints by staff, which The Independent described as "a significant escalation of hostilities" between Loughton and some of his old colleagues.

In March 2013, it was reported that Loughton had been investigated by Sussex Police under the Malicious Communications Act following a complaint lodged by a constituent over Loughton's reply to their email.

After several months, Loughton was advised by the Sussex Police that they would not be filing any charges.

Loughton subsequently gave his account of the affair in a parliamentary privilege protected House of Commons speech and criticised the police response.

Loughton then mailed a Hansard copy of the speech to the constituent, an action he believed was covered by parliamentary privilege.

The constituent lodged another complaint about being sent the parliamentary papers, and Loughton was issued with a Police Information Notice (PIN) by Sussex Police.

Loughton then arranged an emergency parliamentary debate, during which he accused the police of violating parliamentary privilege by issuing the PIN.

A motion for the Standards and Privileges Committee to investigate his claims was granted.

In September 2013, Loughton apologised to former children's minister Sarah Teather after he was recorded at an event saying the Department of Education as a result of Teather was a "family free zone" and that Teather "did not believe in family" as "she certainly didn't produce one of her own".

The comments made by Loughton were described as "disgusting" by Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat minister for Women and Equalities.

At a hearing of the Standards and Privileges committee in January 2014, Loughton said that by issuing the PIN the police had "exacerbated the situation out of all control".

In March 2014, the Standards and Privileges Committee found Sussex Police in contempt of Parliament, forcing Sussex Police to issue an apology.

At the 2015 general election, Loughton was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 49.5% and an increased majority of 14,949.