James Cleverly

Sir James Spencer Cleverly (born 4 September 1969) is a British politician and Army Reserve officer who has served as Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government since July 2025. He previously served as Home Secretary from November 2023 to July 2024 and as Foreign Secretary from 2022 to 2023. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Braintree since 2015. He previously served as Education Secretary from July to September 2022, Chairman of the Conservative Party alongside Ben Elliot from 2019 to 2020, and in other junior ministerial positions.

Born in Lewisham, Cleverly attended Riverston School and Colfe's School. He went on to study hospitality management studies at the Ealing College of Higher Education, before he pursued a military career after he was commissioned into the Army Reserve in 1991. Cleverly was elected to the London Assembly for Bexley and Bromley in the 2008 election for the Conservative Party, and served as the party's leader in the assembly from 2011 to 2012. He was elected to the House of Commons for Braintree at the 2015 general election, and later stood down from the London Assembly at the 2016 election. He advocated a vote for Brexit in the 2016 EU membership referendum, and was reelected to parliament in the 2017 general election.