Home Secretary
I served as Secretary of State for the Home Department between September 2022 to November 2023, appointed by both Prime Ministers Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. My priorities were stopping the small boats crossing the Channel, common sense policing and keeping the British people safe. I was the most senior woman in the UK Government.
Attorney General
Between 2020 and 2022, I was the Attorney General (the government’s most senior Law Officer, attending Cabinet), under Boris Johnson. As Attorney General, I successfully challenged the ‘Colston Statue’ case in which the Court of Appeal agreed with me that human rights cannot be a defence to serious damage caused in course of protests. I also oversaw improvements at the Crown Prosecution Service and Serious Fraud Office. I was the first Minister after Boris Johnson to visit Ukraine in June 2022 to lead global efforts to support the War Crimes prosecutions by the Ukrainians against Russians suspected of murder, rape and other horrific crimes against civilians.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union
In Theresa May’s government in 2018, I served as a Junior Minister in the Department for Exiting the European Union. During this time, I was responsible for the Withdrawal Agreement Bill. I resigned from this position in 2018 when it became clear that the Withdrawal Agreement would keep Northern Ireland inside the Customs Union and annex Northern Ireland to the European Union. I voted against the Withdrawal Agreement 3 times, making me one of the ‘28 Spartans’.
Prior to my ministerial career, I was a PPS to the Treasury and sat on the Education Select Committee.