Member of Parliament
Sir James Cleverly
Conservative MP for Braintree
Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
At a glanceSir James Cleverly is a Conservative MP for Braintree, and has represented the seat for 11 years, 2 months. They currently serve as Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. They have cast 376 votes in Commons divisions (65% attendance), tabled 1,722 written questions and registered 12 financial interests.
Attendance is votes cast as a share of the 575 Commons divisions since the 2024 election; Sir James Cleverly did not vote in 199. A rebellion is a vote against the way most of their own party voted; free votes, where no party line applies, are left out.
Party-loyalty figures are our own analysis of the official voting records (recorded votes only; they do not describe the formal whip). How we work this out.
Biography
He currently undertakes the role of Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Current roles
- Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Opposition post · Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government since 22 Jul 2025
- Braintree Representation · Elected 1 time since 4 Jul 2024
- Conservative Party since 7 May 2015
Voting record
Voting alignment
Votes most like
-
Bradley Thomas
Conservative
100.0% · 365 of 365 shared votes
-
Damian Hinds
Conservative
100.0% · 361 of 361 shared votes
-
Edward Argar
Conservative
100.0% · 360 of 360 shared votes
-
Rebecca Harris
Conservative
100.0% · 358 of 358 shared votes
-
Greg Smith
Conservative
100.0% · 354 of 354 shared votes
Votes least like
-
Emily Thornberry
Labour
0.0% · 0 of 202 shared votes
-
Ed Miliband
Labour
0.0% · 0 of 102 shared votes
-
Bambos Charalambous
Labour
0.3% · 1 of 299 shared votes
-
Torsten Bell
Labour
0.4% · 1 of 264 shared votes
-
Gareth Thomas
Labour (Co-op)
0.4% · 1 of 228 shared votes
Alignment figures are our own analysis of the official voting records (recorded votes only; they do not describe the formal whip). How we work this out.
Register of financial interests
From the official Register; shown as registered.
Employment and earnings2
- Senior Adviser - BOKA Capital Ltd (registered 7 Jan 2026)
- Speaking engagements - JLA Speakers Ltd (registered 18 Jun 2025)
Employment and earnings - Ad hoc payments6
- Payment received on 19 December 2025 - £5,950.00 (registered 5 Jan 2026)
- Payment received on 05 December 2025 - £6,800.00 (registered 10 Dec 2025)
- Payment received on 08 August 2025 - £12,750.00 (registered 13 Oct 2025)
- Payment received on 03 October 2025 - £11,900.00 (registered 10 Oct 2025)
- Payment received on 03 October 2025 - £5,950.00 (registered 10 Oct 2025)
- Payment received on 17 July 2025 - £8,500.00 (registered 24 Jul 2025)
Employment and earnings - Ongoing paid employment1
- Agreement starting 02 January 2026 - £52,000.00 (registered 7 Jan 2026)
Visits outside the UK1
- International visit to United States between 29 January 2026 and 22 February 2026 (registered 5 Mar 2026)
Miscellaneous2
- Non-executive Board Member of the Parliamentary Knowledge Schemes. This is an unpaid role. (registered 23 Sep 2025)
- Officer in the Reserve Forces. I have received no payments since my election. (registered 4 Jun 2016)
Written questions
Political Parties: Finance
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Rycroft Review response: letter to parliamentary parties, of 7 July 2026, whether the residency requirement for former overseas electors to no longer be sub
Answer · 17 Jul 2026
Overseas electors and other individuals who return to the UK from abroad, will need to be continuously resident in the UK for at least a full calendar year before they can donate above the cap. For example, for an individual who returned in 2026, the indi...
Affordable Housing: Greater London
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the answer of 24 April 2026 to Question 124786 on Affordable Housing: Greater London, whether there have been cases where (a) Homes England and (b) GLA schemes
Answer · 24 Jul 2026
My Department is aware of occasions where affordable housing schemes have been unable to proceed and where, as a result, Homes England has made use of clauses set out in the relevant grant agreement to reclaim grant that has already been paid and reinvest...
Housing: Multiple Occupation
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what planning policy and guidance he has issued in relation to planning applications to convert a single dwelling into a House of Multiple Occupation.
Answer · 24 Jul 2026
The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) (Amendment) (England) Order 2010 introduced a new Use Class, Class C4 (houses in multiple occupation). This covers use of a dwellinghouse by not more than six residents as a house in multiple occupation within t...
Bakerloo Line: Housing
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 17 June 2026 to Question 8092 on Bakerloo line: Housing, whether his Department has had discussions with the Mayor of London on the proposed Bakerloo li
Answer · 21 Jul 2026
The government continues to engage with the Greater London Authority on a range of transport and infrastructure matters.The Bakerloo Line Extension has featured in wider discussions between the government and the Greater London Authority on the Mayor’s in...
Proportional Representation
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions and correspondence his Department has had with the Mayor of Greater Manchester on proportional representation.
Answer · 17 Jul 2026
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has not held any formal discussions or exchanged official correspondence with the Mayor of Greater Manchester on proportional representation.
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Labour Housing Group
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 19 June 2026, to Question 9006, on MHCLG: Labour Housing Group, whether the Minister of State for Housing and Planning has discussed official department
Answer · 22 Jul 2026
At the events in question, I gave a general overview of the government’s approach to housing and planning. No other departmental business was discussed.
Candidates
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the answer of 13 March 2026, to Question 117888, on Candidates, whether his Department is retaining the requirement that the office address must be within the l
Answer · 17 Jul 2026
The government is not changing location requirements for office addresses. Through the Representation of the People Bill, election agents will still need to provide a home address, but they will also be able to provide a correspondence address for publica...
Empty Property
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what (a) information his Department has and (b) what research his Department has commissioned on the amount of retail, hospitality and leisure hereditaments or business space whi
Answer · 20 Jul 2026
The Department does not collect such data and has not commissioned research to quantify vacancies nationally. It sometimes purchases commercial property market data, including vacancy information, from external providers to support internal policy develop...
Speeches in the chamber
16 Jul 2026 Local Government Reorganisation
I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement. This is blatant—blatant. These changes, like so many of the Secretary of State’s decisions, have been driven by party politics. He tried to cancel local elections, and h…
13 Jul 2026 Local Government Reorganisation
I said “the Secretary of State”.
13 Jul 2026 Local Government Reorganisation
We have all watched this film before. The Secretary of State, who once again scurries away to avoid scrutiny, tried to cancel local elections. He was caught putting his thumb on the scales and forced into an embarrassing climbdown that cos…
13 Jul 2026 Local Government Reorganisation
(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government if he will make a statement on local government reorganisation.
8 Jul 2026 Engagements
The Deputy Prime Minister talks in glowing terms about what he claims to be doing, but what we are actually seeing this Government doing is stripping money from where it is needed and squandering it on the welfare bill, which has ballooned…
8 Jul 2026 Engagements
It is the dangerous criminals that the Deputy Prime Minister is letting out early. So he refuses to apologise to victims, and he refuses to guarantee that sexual offenders and rapists will not be released early. Another thing that the coun…
8 Jul 2026 Engagements
I think the Deputy Prime Minister will look back on this exchange and be shocked by how it is coming across: no apology to the victims; and no guarantee that paedophiles and rapists will not be released early. We all know that releasing da…
8 Jul 2026 Engagements
The right hon. Gentleman talks about 10,000 early releases over 14 years of Conservative government. The Labour Government have released 50,000 in two years. He knows it is wrong—he is a good man. He must know that it is wrong to release 5…
8 Jul 2026 Engagements
The right hon. Gentleman makes a joke about the use of figures. Let me give him a figure: 50,000 prisoners released early in just two years on his watch. I am genuinely shocked that, when given the opportunity to apologise to the victims, …
8 Jul 2026 Engagements
I echo the right hon. Gentleman’s tribute to Sir George Howarth and pass on my party’s condolences to his friends, family and loved ones. I also echo his support and encouragement for the England football team in their forthcoming match ag…
29 Jun 2026 Asylum Accommodation
The Minister keeps bragging about closing asylum hotel accommodation from the peak of 400. Can it be put on record that I closed 180 of those asylum hotels in six months and the Labour Government closed only another 30 in two years? I woul…
15 Jun 2026 Topical Questions
Travellers built an unauthorised development in Willows Green in my constituency over a bank holiday weekend. I wrote to the Secretary of State about this, and his reply amounted to little more than a hand-wringing word salad. If he is ser…
15 Jun 2026 Topical Questions
May I echo the words of the Secretary of State, nine years on from the terrible fire at Grenfell? It is incredibly important that we learn the lessons from that tragedy and ensure that people are protected in their home. Labour says tha…
21 Apr 2026 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
To central Government!
21 Apr 2026 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
I completely disagree with the hon. Gentleman’s assessment. Had his party in the other place voted to keep the protections in, we would not be having this discussion at this Dispatch Box now. His party failed to do its work in the other pl…
21 Apr 2026 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
I will, because I have a thing to say about the hon. Gentleman’s party.
21 Apr 2026 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
No. Let us talk about local consent. Lords amendment 98 addresses one of the central concerns with the Bill and would ensure that changes to local governance cannot simply be imposed from the centre. That matters, because devolution must b…
21 Apr 2026 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My right hon. Friend is absolutely right: this fundamentally betrays a lack of ambition from the Government. The Minister for Housing and Planning will know Kidbrooke in south-east London, which is a fantastic example of redeveloping prev…
21 Apr 2026 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
I will begin by recognising the work that has taken place in both Houses to try to improve this legislation, which is in many ways such a curate’s egg. It has faults and flaws that their lordships in the other place have worked towards imp…
21 Apr 2026 Peter Mandelson: Government Appointment
Sir Olly Robbins.
Source: contributions on parliament.uk.
Full parliamentary career
Government posts
- Home Secretary · Home Office 13 Nov 2023 – 5 Jul 2024
- Foreign Secretary · Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office 6 Sep 2022 – 13 Nov 2023
- Secretary of State for Education · Department for Education 7 Jul 2022 – 6 Sep 2022
- Minister of State (Minister for Europe) · Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office 8 Feb 2022 – 7 Jul 2022
- Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) · Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office 2 Sep 2020 – 8 Feb 2022
- Minister of State (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (Joint with the Department for International Development) · Foreign and Commonwealth Office 13 Feb 2020 – 2 Sep 2020
- Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office) · Cabinet Office 24 Jul 2019 – 13 Feb 2020
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Exiting the European Union) · Department for Exiting the European Union 4 Apr 2019 – 24 Jul 2019
Opposition posts
- Shadow Home Secretary · Home Office 8 Jul 2024 – 5 Nov 2024
Other posts
- Co-Chair, Conservative Party 24 Jul 2019 – 13 Feb 2020
- Deputy Chair, Conservative Party 8 Jan 2018 – 4 Apr 2019
Committee memberships
- Education Committee 30 Jun 2025 – 1 Dec 2025
- Consolidation, &c., Bills (Joint Committee) 6 Nov 2017 – 6 Nov 2019
- International Trade Committee 31 Oct 2016 – 3 May 2017
- Consolidation, &c., Bills (Joint Committee) 9 Nov 2015 – 3 May 2017
Previous seats
- Braintree · Elected 3 times 7 May 2015 – 30 May 2024
Expenses
Contact & offices
020 7219 8593
Parliamentary office
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about Sir James Cleverly, answered from official Parliament data.
Who is Sir James Cleverly?
Sir James Cleverly is a Member of Parliament representing Braintree in the House of Commons. See Sir James Cleverly's official Parliament profile.
Which party does Sir James Cleverly represent?
Sir James Cleverly sits as Conservative. See Sir James Cleverly's official Parliament profile.
Which constituency does Sir James Cleverly represent?
Sir James Cleverly is the Member of Parliament for Braintree. See Sir James Cleverly's official Parliament profile.
How long has Sir James Cleverly been an MP?
Sir James Cleverly has served in the House of Commons for 11 years, 2 months. See Sir James Cleverly's official Parliament profile.
What registered interests are listed for Sir James Cleverly?
Sir James Cleverly has 12 entries in the Register of Members' Financial Interests. See Sir James Cleverly's official Parliament profile.
Source: this MP's official Parliament profile. Last updated 26 Jul 2026.