About Mike

Mike was elected Dudley South’s Member of Parliament at the last General Election in May 2015. 

"Mike has organised nine Jobs Fairs to help local people to find work, Eight Older peoples Information Fairs and eight Apprenticeship & Skills Fairs to help young people to understand the range of careers available - and the alternatives to university - and jointly held a Disability Confident event with the Department of Work & Pensions to encourage local businesses to employ people with physical and learning disabilities." 

Since being elected, Mike’s top priority has been supporting job creation, improving skills locally and attracting investment to our area. He has organised nine Jobs Fairs to help local people to find work, Eight Older peoples Information Fairs and eight Apprenticeship & Skills Fairs to help young people to understand the range of careers available - and the alternatives to university - and jointly held a Disability Confident event with the Department of Work & Pensions to encourage local businesses to employ people with physical and learning disabilities. 

In 2017, Mike was extremely fortunate to survive after becoming seriously ill with sepsis. Although he was placed into a medically induced coma on life support and given just a ten per cent chance of surviving, Mike's life was saved thanks to the excellent care and treatment provided by doctors and nurses at Russells Hall Hospital. Mike has used his experience to help raise awareness of sepsis – a condition that kills 44,000 people in Britain each year – working with the UK Sepsis Trust and raising the issue at Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons. 

Mike was unusual as he introduced his own law in the his first year as a Member of Parliament. He was the first local MP to table a successful Private Members Bill since 1980. His Riot Compensation Act means that all police forces including Staffordshire Constabulary and West Midlands Police will no longer face unlimited costs if there are ever serious riots in the future, whilst protecting local residents and small businesses who suffer losses. The previous law was so old that it did not even allow for motor vehicles – cars will now be covered! 

BIOGRAPHY 

Mike and his family moved to Dudley Borough shortly after he was born and Dudley has been home ever since Mike is the son of a retired West Midlands Police Constable and, at the time that he was born, his mother ran a local authority children's home in Birmingham. 

A local man, Mike went to local state school's lives in Dudley Borough with his wife and their two young children. Mike's wife is a primary school teacher who has recently returned to the classroom. 

After training as a barrister, Mike worked for seven years in the European Parliament, focussing on European internal market policy – which persuaded him that Britain would be better off out of the European Union. He later worked for a small sustainable energy firm near Dorridge and was a Dudley councillor. 

Before being elected to Parliament, Mike served for five years as a governor at a special school in Dudley and as a voluntary director at a Trust that ran two special schools. Mike continues to take a particular interest in special needs education and learning difficulties. Mike also served as a (voluntary) member of the West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust. 

IN PARLIAMENT 

Mike was first elected as Dudley South's Member of Parliament in May 2015. 

Since then, Mike has been one of the most active MPs. The independent TheyWorkForYou website says that he has made 770 speeches, interventions, and questions in the House of Commons – one of the highest figures for a Member of Parliament. 

As well as taking his own Act of Parliament through the House of Commons, Mike has also co-sponsored other Bills, including proposals to give bereavement leave to grieving parents, to put defibrillators into schools and to introduce an “opt-out” system for organ donations. The proposal for bereavement leave for parents was taken up and was brought in as Primary Legislation, it received Royal Assent in 2020. 

During his time in Parliament Mike has served on several All-Party Parliamentary Groups, these include chairing the group on road passenger transport and chairing the Beer and Brewing Group for over five years as well as being an officer on groups covering learning disabilities, the West Midlands economy, local economic growth, urban transport, education governance, global education for all, the furniture industry. 

Mike served on the House of Commons EU Scrutiny Committee, looking at new proposals for laws, budgets and trade agreements coming out of Brussels – a key role as we prepared for Brexit- before becoming a Parliamentary Private Secretary (an unpaid role) at the Department for International Trade, he has served as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, as she has worked to deliver on the Government's commitment to recruit 20,000 extra police officers, tighten our borders, and improve our national security and latterly as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to Dominic Raab as the Deputy Prime Minister. In October 2022 Mike was appointed to Government , currently serving as a Lord Commissioners of the His Majesties Treasury.