A quick guide to new housing and planning minister Gavin Barwell
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Version 0 of 1. On 17 July, Gavin Barwell was appointed as minister of state for housing and planning and minister for London at the Department for Communities and Local Government. He has been Conservative MP for Croydon Central since May 2010. Barwell holds housing and planning – and also London When Barwell’s predecessor Brandon Lewis was appointed to look after the housing and planning portfolios in July 2014, it was the first time in five years these had been joined, and the first time within the coalition. Before that, these closely linked areas were split between two different ministers. With planning difficulties frequently blamed for slow housebuilding rates, people within the housing sector will hope that having a single person in charge will lead to better policy and an increase in development. The last minister for London was Tessa Jowell, who left office in 2010 and was not replaced under David Cameron. Barwell’s interests, according to his official parliamentary listing, include education, policing and criminal justice. Not housing, planning or London. He is a minister of state, not an under-secretary of state Like his predecessor, Lewis, Barwell will be a minister, rather than an under-secretary of state, and will work closely with the new secretary of state for communities and local government, Sajid Javid. Before Lewis, the housing and planning portfolios were held by under-secretaries of state (Kris Hopkins and Nick Boles respectively). He is the fifth housing minister – all men – since 2010 Housing has not been a long-held tenure since 2010. Barwell follows Brandon Lewis (two years), Kris Hopkins (10 months), Mark Prisk (one year, one month) and Grant Shapps (two years, four months). All five have been men. He is a career politician and proud of it. After leaving university, Barwell worked for a year and a half in the Conservative research department. He was then appointed as special adviser to John Gummer, then environment secretary, (whose son, Ben Gummer, is the new minister for the Cabinet Office) and went on to be chief operating officer at Tory HQ before entering the Commons in 2010. He was parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to the then education secretary Michael Gove from 2012 to 2013 and PPS to the Greg Clark, then minister for decentralisation and planning policy, from 2011 to 2012. Last year, Barwell told Total Politics: “It does mean I know virtually every other member of the Conservative parliamentary party. Having been a special advisor I know how the government machine works, so I’m probably better equipped than some maybe to know my way around the system and to get a good deal for my constituents.” He has one of the most marginal seats in the country – and has written a book about it Barwell won his Croydon central constituency in the May 2015 general election by just 165 votes. This March, he launched his book, How to Win a Marginal Seat, with “unparalleled insight” into what it’s like to be an MP defending an ultra-marginal seat and advice on issues such as how to cope with the very real possibility that you might be out of a job tomorrow, and what it is like to find yourself splashed across the front page of a national newspaper. In May, it was revealed that police were investigating a complaint about Barwell’s election expenses. He faced an attack in his constituency office in June On 3 June, Barwell called the police when a man became aggressive in the MP’s constituency office in Shirley. A 24-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated harassment and possession of a bladed weapon. He has a high presence on social media Barwell is an avid tweeter, but has tried, he said last year, to become less argumentative on the platform and instead portray himself “in the best positive light”. That may have been wise, given that in 2013, a tweet by Barwell about a Labour press release that appeared to be linked to a dating website misfired badly. He is Croydon born and bred Barwell’s website says he has lived in Croydon virtually his whole life, growing up in Shirley and going to Trinity School on a full scholarship. He was the first person in his family to go to university, studying natural sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge. He served as a Croydon councillor from 1998 to 2010. Sign up for your free Guardian Housing network newsletter with news and analysis sent direct to you every Friday. Follow us: @GuardianHousing. |