Philip Dunne

Phillip Dunne comes from a long lineage of politicians and attended Eton College and Oxford, where he was part of the Bullingdon Club. He worked on his family farm and in banking before becoming a councillor in 2001. He went on to be Conservative leader on Shropshire council from 2003 to 2005. In the Commons, Dunne has sat on several committees including work and pensions, public accounts and the treasury committees. In government, Dunne served as an assistant government whip during the coalition government, before becoming parliamentary under-secretary and later minister at the MoD. In July 2016, Dunne was made health minister, a position he held until 2018. Dunne supported Remain in the 2016 referendum but backed both Theresa May’s and Boris Johnson’s withdrawal agreements. He was appointed to the Privy Council in the 2019 New Year Honors List. That same year, he was criticised for accusing his Labour rival of “talking through his turban”. During the 2019 Conservative leadership election he managed Jeremy Hunt’s campaign. In 2020, he became chairman of the Environmental Audit Committee, proposing a private member’s bill to fine water companies for depositing sewage in rivers.