Robert Buckland

Born and bred in Llanelli, Wales, Robert Buckland, read Law at the University of Durham, during which time he also served as president of the Union Society. Upon graduation, Buckland began practicing as a solicitor specialising in criminal law and subsequently becoming a part-time judge in the Crown Court. In 2014, he became solicitor general and master of the bench at Inner Temple. He began his political career in 1993, when he defeated a Labour candidate by just three votes to become a councillor on Dyfed County Council Elli Ward, where he was, in his own words, the first Conservative “in living memory” to be elected to the council. Prior to entering parliament, Buckland stood for election to the European Parliament on a number of occasions. Following the resignation of the Conservative candidate and former MP for South Swindon Simon Coombs, Buckland contested South Swindon in 2005 but was defeated by Labour’s Anne Snelgrove. After this narrow defeat, Buckland contested the seat again in 2010 and was successfully elected. Upon his election to parliament, Buckland joined the justice committee and was part of a campaign that called for prisoners’ phones to be destroyed or sold to raise money for victims’ charities. In 2014, Buckland was appointed as solicitor general, a post he held for five years before his appointment in May 2019 as prisons minister. Following Boris Johnson’s victory in the 2019 Conservative party leadership election, Buckland was appointed to his current role as Lord chancellor and secretary of state for justice.