Today (Wednesday 11th September 2024 )
The Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation (CAWF) is delighted to announce that Mark Francois MP has become a Patron.
Mark was born in Islington in 1965 and moved to Basildon in Essex with his parents in 1971. He now lives in his constituency in Rayleigh.
He attended Bristol University and King’s College, London, where he read history and war studies respectively. He served as an infantry officer in the Territorial Army, including with the local Royal Anglian Regiment, in the 1980s.
Prior to becoming an MP, Mark worked in banking and as a self-employed consultant. His political career began in local government, when he was elected to Basildon District Council in 1991. He served as the Vice-Chairman of the Housing Committee from 1992 to 1995.
Mark was first elected to Parliament as the MP for Rayleigh (now Rayleigh and Wickford) in June 2001. From 2002 to 2004, he served in the Opposition Whips’ office with departmental responsibility for home affairs, health and education. From 2004 to 2005 he was Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury and became Shadow Paymaster General in 2005. In 2007, he was appointed the Shadow Minister for Europe and became a member of the Shadow Cabinet in 2009.
In 2010, he was appointed the Vice Chamberlain of Her Majesty’s Household: a senior position in the Government Whips’ Office. He was also appointed to the Privy Council.
In September 2012, he was appointed Minister of State for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans at the Ministry of Defence and then promoted to Minister of State for the Armed Forces in October 2013. Mark was appointed Minister of State for Communities and Resilience and Minister for Portsmouth in May 2015, a role which he held until July 2016.
Following the appointment of the Rt Hon Theresa May MP as Prime Minister, Mark was tasked by the Prime Minister to carry out a study regarding the Recruitment of regulars and reserves into the Armed Forces which was published in 2017 and also a follow up report relating to Retention, which was published in 2020.
In the previous Parliament, Mark served on both the House of Commons Defence Committee (HCDC) and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). In 2023, Mark chaired a Sub-Committee of the HCDC examining the UK’s Defence Procurement System, which produced a report in September entitled: “It is broke – and it’s time to fix it”. Following his re-election to Parliament in July 2024, Mark was appointed as a Patron of the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation (CAWF), a cause close to the heart of his great friend, the late Sir David Amess MP. Mark hosted the Crate Escape parliamentary reception in 2023 to end pig farrowing crates and was a Speaker at the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation’s 2022 World Animal Day Tribute to the late Sir David Amess MP.
Mark is married to Olivia, an NHS Radiographer. In his spare time, Mark enjoys reading, hill walking and history (particularly military history). Mark also published “Spartan Victory: The Inside Story of the Battle for Brexit” in December 2021.
Lorraine Platt, Co-Founder of Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation, commented: “Having had the privilege of knowing and working closely with Mark already, we are thrilled to officially welcome him as a Patron of CAWF. We are confident that his continued support will greatly enhance our efforts on key campaigns, and we look forward to collaborating even more closely with him to advance animal welfare across the UK.”
