Ministerial biographies – August 2024

With more new faces in the Government than we have seen for decades, below we set out a comprehensive who’s who for the Justice, Treasury and Transport departments. Though we are still awaiting full portfolios for all of the Ministers we now know the responsibilities for most. As well as setting out Ministerial portfolios we have provided some background into the new Government individuals who will be making important decisions impacting the insurance industry over the coming years. 

Ministry of Justice

Rt Hon Shabana Mahmood KC MP

Departmental Portfolio:

• Oversight of all portfolios, policy, and Ministry of Justice strategy
• Oversight of cross-cutting emergency issues, responses supported by other ministers according to portfolio
• Oversight of international business and future relations with the EU
• MoJ support for the Union.
• Resourcing of the department
• Functions of the Lord Chancellor
• Judicial policy including pay, pensions and diversity (these and other operational decisions affecting the judiciary are reserved to the Lord Chancellor)
• Corporate services

Career

• A barrister by training, Mahmood specialised in professional indemnity law after being called to the bar in 2003.
• Elected in 2010, Mahmood was one of the UK’s first female Muslim MPs and joined Ed Miliband’s front bench as Minister for Prisons. By the time of the 2015 election, she was Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury.
• Mahmood co-chaired the campaign to elect Yvette Cooper as leader of the Labour Party and subsequently refused to serve on Jeremy Corbyn’s frontbench.
• She became Keir Starmer’s first National Campaign Coordinator in 2020 and became Shadow Secretary of State and Shadow Lord Chancellor in 2023.
• She was re-elected in 2024 with a greatly reduced majority due to an independent candidate standing on the issue of Gaza in her constituency.

Contact: ps.lordchancellor@justice.gov.uk

Lord James Timpson OBE

Departmental Portfolio

• Prison capacity and related policy
• Prison operations, policy, reform, and industrial relations
• His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service administration
• Probation demand
• Probation policy and operations, industrial relations, and transparency
• Prisoner Escort Contracts
• Reducing Reoffending
• Release on Temporary Licence (ROTL) schemes
• Electronic Monitoring (EM)
• Foreign National Offenders
• Home Detention Curfew (HDC)
• Offender Cohorts
• Female Offenders
• Offender health and drugs
• Parole based victim engagement.
• Parole policy
• Counter Terrorism
• Sustainability
• Cross-cutting Digital, Data and transformation

Career

• A newcomer to politics, Timpson was the CEO of Timpson Group from 2002 until his appointment.
• Throughout his business career he has made a point of hiring ex-offenders, aiming to have 10% of Timpson’s workforce individuals with prison experience.
• Timpson became the Chair of the Prison Reform Trust in 2016 and founded the prison estate’s Employment Advisory Board network.
• One of the surprise appointments to Keir Starmer’s top team, he was granted a life peerage and will sit in the House of Lords.

Contact: ps.jamestimpson@justice.gov.uk

Heidi Alexander MP

Departmental Portfolio 

• Criminal Courts and Criminal Court recovery
• Court Reform (including artificial intelligence, modernisation, and digital reform)
• His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service administration
• Legal Aid
• Legal Aid Agency administration
• Legal Services
• Criminal Cases Review Commission administration
• Civil Justice
• Modern Justice System: Legal Support; Dispute Resolution
• Tribunals Policy (incl. fees)
• Irregular Migration
• Probate
• Miscarriages of Justice
• Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation
• Office for the Public Guardian administration
• Mental Capacity
• Secondary Legislation
• Press/ Communications
• MoJ Mission lead for Kickstart economic growth

Career

• Involved in the Labour Party from a young age, Alexander worked in Cherie Blair’s No. 10 Office in 1998.
• She became a councillor on Lewisham London Borough Council from 2004 to 2010 during which time she was Deputy Mayor of Lewisham and the Cabinet Member for Regeneration.
• Alexander was elected to Parliament in 2010 for Lewisham East, eventually becoming the Shadow Health Secretary in 2016. She became the first Shadow Cabinet member to resign in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s sacking of Hilary Benn.
• In 2018, Alexander left Parliament to become Deputy Mayor of London for Transport. She left this role in 2022 and was re-elected to Parliament in her new constituency of Swindon South in 2024.

Contact: ps.heidialexander@justice.gov.uk

Alex Davies-Jones MP

Departmental Portfolio

• Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)
• Criminal Law (incl. Child Sexual Abuse)
• Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority
• Rape and Serious Sexual Offences
• Victims and Witnesses inc. Victims’ Commissioner
• Hillsborough
• Coroners and Death Management
• Commons Family Minister
• Cross-cutting corporate portfolio (incl. Ministerial Disability Champion Meetings, Diversity & Inclusion, Covid-19 Inquiry, Public Appointments, Senior Civil Service HR)
• MoJ Mission lead for Take back our streets

Career

• Prior to her election in 2019, Davies-Jones was a councillor and regional communications director for non-profit organisation Dwr Cymru Welsh Water.
• She was appointed Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland and Shadow Minister for Tech and Digital Economy in 2021, before becoming Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding in 2023.
• She was appointed to the MoJ as a Junior Minister upon Labour’s election in 2024.

Contact: alex.daviesjones.mp@parliament.uk

Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede

Departmental Portfolio

• Family Justice and Marriage and Divorce
• All Lords Business (except PPP)
• Private International Law
• International Criminal Justice
• Constitution
• Crown Dependencies
• Devolution and the Union
• EU Retained Law policy
• Human Rights
• International
• Judicial Review
• Overseas Territories

Career

• Initially a hereditary peer, Lord Ponsonby inherited his father’s title in 1990 and was removed from the upper chamber in 1999 upon the reduction of the number of hereditary peers.
• He was reappointed in 2000 as a life peer and joined the Shadow Frontbench in 2020 as the Lord’s Opposition Spokesperson for Justice. Ponsonby’s brief expanded in 2021 to include Home Affairs.
• He has spoken in the House of Lords on the need to tackle fraudulent whiplash claims in order to bring down car insurance premiums. 

Contact: ps.frederickponsonby@justice.gov.uk

Sir Nic Dakin MP

Departmental Portfolio

• Sentencing
• Youth Justice
• Youth Hubs
• Commons Prisons, Probation and Parole
• Transparency
• MoJ Mission lead for Breakdown barriers to opportunity

Career

• Initially trained as an accountant, Sir Nic became a teacher after studying his PGCE at King’s College London. He spent some time teaching abroad, and then became Principal at John Leggott College in Scunthorpe.
• Between 1997 and 2003 he was a councillor, and from 2005 to 2007 he was Deputy Chair of Yorkshire Forward.
• First elected in 2010 for Scunthorpe, Sir Nic lost his seat in the 2019 General Election but won it back in 2024 on a 15.3% swing.
• During his time in Parliament he has served under all Labour leaders, notably as the Shadow Schools Minister under Jeremy Corbyn, a role he resigned from in protest at the leadership. He has also served on the Education Select Committee and as the Chair of the APPG on Education, Skills, and Employment.

Contact: ps.nicdakin @justice.gov.uk

Department for Transport

Rt Hon Louise Haigh MP

Departmental Portfolio

• Overarching responsibility for the departmental portfolio and oversight of the ministerial team.
• Delivering the transport priorities of the government: making transport cheaper, greener, and more reliable.
• Ensuring the transport network is safe and accessible.
• Corporate functions such as oversight of departmental finance and public appointments.

Career

• Haigh began her career working in youth services before becoming the co-ordinator of the APPG on international corporate responsibility.
• She worked for Aviva as a public policy manager, working on corporate governance and responsible investment policy before her election in 2015.
• Upon election, Haigh was almost immediately promoted to the Shadow Cabinet, becoming Shadow Minister for the Civil Service and Digital Reform.
• Keir Starmer appointed her Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary in 2020, before being re-shuffled to become Shadow Transport Secretary in 2021.

Contact: louise.haigh@dft.gov.uk OR TransportSecretary@dft.gov.uk

Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill CBE

Departmental Portfolio

• Rail transformation and reform
• Rail markets
• Rail infrastructure
• High Speed 2 (HS2)
• International rail
• Rail freight
• Rail accessibility
• Rail decarbonisation
• The British Transport Police

Career

• Lord Hendy has spent his career in the transport sector, beginning as a London Transport graduate trainee before rising to become Managing Director of CentreWest London Buses.
• He was appointed by Ken Livingstone as managing director of Surface Transport for Transport for London in 2001 before taking up the role of Commissioner of Transport for London. Hendy held this role continuously under Livingstone and then Boris Johnson, chairing the 2012 Olympic Games Transport Board before leaving in 2015.
• Hendy was the Chair of Network Rail between 2015 and 2024 when he joined Starmer’s ministerial team. He was appointed to the House of Lords in 2022.

Contact: Lord.Hendy_MOS@dft.gov.uk

Simon Lightwood MP

Departmental Portfolio

• Local transport (buses, taxis, private hire vehicles, light rail)
• Local transport decarbonisation
• Local transport accessibility, and cross-cutting transport accessibility
• Tackling violence against women and girls on the transport network
• Active travel
• E-scooters
• Modal shift
• Regions and devolution
• The department’s relationship with London, including Transport for London
• Transport connectivity across the union
• Integrated transport strategy

Career

• Lightwood began his career in 2005 as a case worker for Mary Creagh, the former MP for Wakefield, after graduating with a degree in theatre from Bretton Hall. He was in this role until 2019 when he became the head of communications for Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust.
• Lightwood was elected in a 2022 by-election, and, soon afterwards at the 2022 Labour Party Conference, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Local Transport.
• He remained in this role when Labour was elected to government.
• Keoghs met Lightwood in May to discuss the issue of e-scooters.

Contact: Simon.Lightwood_MP@dft.gov.uk

Lillian Greenwood MP 

Departmental Portfolio

• Strategic roads, including: 

   - National Highways 

   - Road Investment Strategy (RIS)

   -  infrastructure planning and delivery 

• Road safety
• Local roads and roads maintenance
• Motoring agencies (DVLA, DVSA, VCA)
• Haulage and future of freight  
• Kent traffic 
• EES and borders
• Road vehicle decarbonisation
• Environment strategy
• Automated vehicles
• International vehicle standards
• Traffic and technology 
• Roads accessibility

Career

• Before her election in 2010, Greenwood worked for trade union Unison for 17 years. After joining Parliament she was elected to the Transport Select Committee, a role which she held until being appointed Assistant Whip and Shadow Rail Minister under Ed Miliband in 2011.
• Greenwood subsequently rose to become Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Transport Secretary but resigned in protest at his leadership and returned to the backbenches in 2016.
• During her time on the backbenches, she was Chair of the Transport and Finance Select Committees.
• Starmer returned her to the Shadow Frontbench in 2021 as the Deputy Chief Whip. She became an Shadow Minister in the Culture Department in 2023, and was appointed to her current position when Labour entered Government.

Contact: Lilian.Greenwood_MP@dft.gov.uk

Mike Kane MP

Departmental Portfolio

• Aviation
• Aviation decarbonisation, including Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)
• Maritime
• Maritime decarbonisation and autonomy
• Maritime and aviation accessibility
• The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA)
• The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)
• Security 
• Civil contingencies
• International transport policy

Career

• Kane was a councillor in Manchester between 1991 and 2008, also working as teacher in a primary school. He subsequently went on to become the Office Manager and Parliamentary Assistant of his local Labour MPs.
• In 2013, Kane became the acting chief executive of Movement for Change, an organisation set up to train and run political campaigns.
• He was elected in a 2014 by-election and served in several Shadow Frontbench roles under Jeremy Corbyn, before being appointed to shadow his current role under Keir Starmer.

Contact: Mike.Kane_MP@dft.gov.uk 

HM Treasury

Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP

Departmental Portfolio

• Fiscal policy (including the presenting of the annual Budget)
• Monetary policy, setting inflation targets
• Ministerial arrangements (in her role as Second Lord of the Treasury)
• Overall responsibility for the Treasury’s response to COVID-19

Career

• Reeves began her career at the Bank of England before moving to the retail arm of HBOS based in Leeds.
• She was first elected in 2010, supporting Ed Miliband for the leadership and being appointed Shadow Pensions Minister in the same year.
• Reeves rose to become Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 2011 and Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary in 2013. She left the front bench when Jeremy Corbyn became party leader, and subsequently chaired the Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy Committee.
• Starmer’s closest ally, Reeves was appointed Shadow Duchy of Lancaster, and then Shadow Chancellor in 2021. She has repeatedly emphasised fiscal responsibility and has been referred to as the “Iron Chancellor”.

Contact: action.chancellors@hmtreasury.gov.uk

Rt Hon Darren Jones MP

Departmental Portfolio

• Spending reviews and strategic planning
• In-year spending control
• Public sector pay and pensions
• Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) and welfare reform
• Efficiency and value for money in public service
• Procurement
• Capital investment
• Infrastructure spending
• Housing and planning
• Spending issues related to trade
• Transport policy, including HS2, Crossrail 2, Roads, Network Rail, Oxford/Cambridge corridor
• Treasury interest in devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
• Women in the economy
• Skills, labour market policy and childcare policy, including tax free childcare
• Tax credits policy
• Housing and planning
• Legislative strategy
• State pensions/ pensioner benefits
• Freeports – with support from EST on customs aspects

Career

• Jones was trained as a solicitor at the University of the West of England and University of Law, specialising in technology. He became an in-house counsel for BT, also serving on the board of UK Legal Futures, advising politicians and civil servants on legal questions raised by Brexit.
• He was first elected in 2017; Jones was an effective Chair of the Business and Trade Select Committee (succeeding Rachel Reeves) between 2020 and 2023.
• Starmer appointed him Shadow Chief Secretary of the Treasury in 2023, and he joined Government in the same position in July 2024. Keoghs met with Jones in January.

Contact: action.cst@hmtreasury.gov.uk

Tulip Siddiq MP

Departmental Portfolio

•  Financial services policy, reform and regulation including:

  -  Financial conduct, including relationship with the FCA

  -  Financial stability, including relationship with the PRA

  -  Competitiveness and growth of the financial services sector

  -  Financial inclusion

  -  Islamic finance, Fintech, and Crypto assets, including Central Bank Digital Currency

  -  International financial services (excluding input to DIT FTAs) including regulatory cooperation, the Swiss Mutual Recognition Agreement, EU issues

  -  Sponsorship of UKGI and State-owned financial assets, including NatWest shareholding

  -  Cash and Payments including Royal Mint

• Financial services tax, including bank levy, bank corporation tax surcharge, Insurance Premium Tax
• Personal savings tax and pensions tax policy
• Foreign exchange reserves and debt management policy (including green gilt), National Savings and Investment, Debt Management Office
• Parliamentary deputy on economy issues
• Supporting the Chancellor with her overall responsibility for appointments

Career

• First elected in 2015, Siddiq worked as a political consultant for various firms and as a Labour Councillor before joining Parliament.
• She joined the Shadow Frontbench soon after her election as a Shadow Education Minister for Childcare and Early Years, before resigning in 2017, not wanting to vote for the triggering of the Brexit process.
• Keir Starmer appointed her to shadow the Economic Secretary to the Treasury brief until she took the role in 2024 following Labour’s victory. She also became the City Minister.
• Separately, her aunt is the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

Contact: EST.Action@hmtreasury.gov.uk

Lord Livermore

Departmental Portfolio

• Growth
• Productivity
• Investment
• Industrial Strategy
• Energy, Climate and Net Zero transition
• Innovation and Digital

Career

• Livermore began his career working for Gordon Brown during the 1997 election campaign, subsequently becoming a special adviser in the Treasury under Brown’s chancellorship.
• He was Labour’s Director of Attack and Rebuttal in the 2001 General Election and Brown’s campaign strategist in 2005. When Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, Livermore became Downing Street’s Director of Strategy before leaving to join Saatchi and Saatchi in 2008.
• He spent several years advising on strategy in the private sector before heading up Labour 2015 election campaign. Following the party’s loss he was elevated to the House of Lords.
• During his time in the Lords, Livermore has served on the Economic Affairs Select Committee and as an opposition whip. Livermore was a member of the General Election Strategy for the 2024 election before being appointed to his current role in government.

Contact: action.fst@hmtreasury.gov.uk

James Murray MP

Departmental Portfolio

• The UK tax system including:

  -  Direct, indirect, business, property, and personal taxation

  -  European and other international tax issues

  -  Customs and VAT at the border

  -  The Finance Bill and the National Insurance Bill

• Departmental Minister for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Valuation Office Agency, and the Government’s Actuary’s Department
• Tax administration policy
• Input to Investment Zones and Freeports focussing on tax and customs elements
• Overall responsibility for retained EU Law and Brexit opportunities

Career

• Murray was a councillor in Islington for 10 years before becoming Sadiq Khan’s Deputy Mayor of London for Housing and Residential Development in 2016.
• He remained in this role until October 2019 when he was elected to Parliament, becoming an Opposition Whip in Starmer’s first team.
• In October 2020, he was promoted to the role of Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury but became the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury instead, in Keir Starmer’s Government.

Contact: action.xst@hmtreasury.gov.uk

Emma Reynolds MP

Departmental Portfolio

 Emma’s HMT portfolio has yet to be released, but here’s is what we know of her DWP role responsibilities:

• Private pensions
• State Pension
• Pensioner benefits
• Social Fund
• Net Zero
• Arm’s-length bodies: Money and Pensions Service, National Employment Savings Trust, The Pensions Ombudsman, Pension Protection Fund and The Pensions Regulator

Career

• A lobbyist in Brussels, Reynolds was a political adviser to then President of the Party of European Socialists Robin Cook from 2001 to 2004. She subsequently advised the then Government Chief Whip Geoff Hoon before returning to public affairs until her first election in 2010.
• Reynolds became a junior shadow minister for foreign affairs under Ed Miliband’s leadership and later, she was appointed as the Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in 2014, a position she held until the 2015 General Election.
• After the 2015 General Election, she was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Housing and later as the Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, resigning this position when Jeremy Corbyn was elected.
• She lost her seat in 2019 to the Conservatives returning to public affairs until standing in her new constituency in 2024.

Contact: emma.reynolds.mp@parliament.uk

For more information, please contact:

Samantha Ramen - Partner 

Email: sramen@keoghs.co.uk

Natalie Larnder - Head of Market Affairs 

Email: nlarnder@keoghs.co.uk