London (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Jake Berry is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the former solicitor who served as the Chairman of the Conservative Party. Moreover, he has been a Minister without Portfolio from 6th September to 25th October 2022. If this isn’t enough he has previously served as Minister of State for the Northern Powerhouse and Local Growth. It was easy for him to maintain this position from 2017 to 2019.
He remained active during the Governments of Theresa May and Boris Johnson. Jake has been an active Member of Parliament (MP) for Rossendale and Darwen in Lancashire. Moreover, he serving in this position since the 2010 general election. As he defeated the Labor Party MP Janet Anderson by 4,493 votes, he gained immense support.
Early life & Bio
Jake Berry was born on 29 December 1978 in Liverpool. He got his early education from Liverpool College. While after that he started studying Law at Sheffield University. If this isn’t enough he trained to become a solicitor in Chester and earned a good amount of money. He started working for some legal organizations and specialized in planning law.
Parliamentary Career
Jake was elected in the General elections in 2010 as MP for both Rossendale and Darwen. He could easily beat incumbent MP, Janet Anderson. Interestingly he was holding on to this seat for 18 years. However, due to his popularity, Jake got 3,616 votes. It is around an 8.9% swing to the conservatives. In 2010, he got appointed as a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Grant Shapps.
This helped him gain the position of Minister for Housing and Local Government. These positions were meant to be for the Department of Communities and Local Government. All these achievements started from Shapps and were followed by the Cabinet Office in 2012.
In April 2013, Prime Minister David Cameron asked Jake to join the Number 10 Policy Unit. This unit was headed by Jo Johnson. However, his role in this position included advising the Prime Minister. He had to think about various strategies that could lead to regional growth and local Government. During this time Berry sponsored the Local Government Act 2015.
It allows the councils to hold religious prayers before starting an important meeting. In the general elections of 2015, Jake returned as an MP for Rossendale and Darwen. This time he got big support in the form of 5,654 votes. Starting from July 2015 to 2017, Jake served on the Parliamentary Finance Committee.
Junior Minister
Jake got the position of Junior Minister after the 2017 elections. Prime Minister Theresa May elected him as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State. He had to serve for the Northern Powerhouse and Local Growth. While this position helped him become the third Northern Powerhouse minister in just two years. In March 2018, he gave a different view about the campaigners. They were forced on changing the aerospace firm BAE system. However, he thought it will not be easy to withdraw as a sponsor. As he was working for the flagship arts festival in North East England he wanted to maintain the quality. He described this festival as “subsidy-addicted artists” and “snowflakes”.
When Boris Johnson became the Prime Minister, Jake got a promotion by becoming the Minister of State. He needed to attend all the cabinet meetings. A few years later he was appointed to the Privy Council. However, he resigned from the Government in 20202. The reason was obvious as he refused to move to the ministerial office at the Foreign and Commonwealth. With the cabinet reshuffle, many important decisions were taken.
Chairman of the Conservative Party
In 2022, the new Prime minister arrived to make changes. She appointed Jake Berry to her Government and later joined the Cabinet as Minister without Portfolio. He was later appointed to the party role of Chairman of the Conservative party. While speaking to sky news he was happy to have such a prestigious position.
Read More: What the new week in UK Parliament looks like with the new cabinet
Net Worth & Personal Life
Jake Berry got married to Charlotte Alexa in 2009. They lived in Rossendale and London. However, they both parted ways in 2016. After a few years, he got married to Alice Robinson. She was working as the parliamentary office manager for Boris Johnson. The couple is blessed with three children. On 14th October Jake was knighted which became a big honor for him. If we talk about the total net worth it is estimated to be at $5 million. He is one of the most prominent politicians.