Greg Hands replaces Nadhim Zahawi, who was fired following his tax affairs scandal
(Picture: UK Government)MP Greg Hands has been appointed the new Conservative party chairman in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Cabinet reshuffle.
He replaces Nadhim Zahawi, who was fired following his tax affairs scandal. An inquiry found he had failed to disclose that HMRC was investigating his tax affairs while he was Chancellor.
Mr Hands has held several ministerial positions since becoming an MP in 2005.
Who is Greg Hands?
Mr Hands, 57, was born in New York to British parents and lived there until he was seven years old.
He studied modern history at the University of Cambridge, where he joined the Tory party.
He was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in 1998 and was leader of the Conservative council group from 1999 until 2003.
Mr Hands was then elected the Conservative MP for Hammersmith and Fulham in 2005, and for Chelsea and Fulham in 2010.
He worked on trading floors for eight years in London and New York, trading and marketing fixed-income derivatives.
Mr Hands is married with two children and lives in Fulham.
What were his previous Government roles?
Mr Hands has been an MP since 2005 and a Government minister since 2011.
He served as Treasury Whip from 2011 until 2013 and was then Government Deputy Chief Whip and Treasurer of Her Majesty’s Household from 2013 until 2015.
Mr Hands then joined the Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury under the then-Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne.
From 2016 to 2018, he was Minister of State in the Department for International Trade, and then from 2020 until 2021, he was Minister of State for Trade Policy in the Department for International Trade (DIT).
Mr Hands was previously a Minister of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy between September 2021 and September 2022. He was appointed Minister of State at the Department for International Trade in October 2022.
He is now the Tory party chairman.
Did Greg Hands support Brexit?
Mr Hands did not support Brexit and led the Remain campaign in Chelsea and Fulham before the 2015 referendum.
But following the UK’s decision to leave the EU, he said in 2019 that he had “been determined to respect the result of the Referendum and work to seek an exit deal with the European Union”.
He was the co-chairman of the independent Alternative Arrangements Commission, working on proposals to replace the Northern Ireland Backstop.
Mr Hands voted for the Withdrawal Agreement and said that “if a majority of MPs had voted the same way, then the UK would have left the EU with a deal on March 29, 2019”.
Who else received a new job in Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle?
As part of his Cabinet reshuffle, the prime pinister dismantled the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Department to create a new dedicated energy department.
As a result, International Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch was appointed the new Business and Trade Secretary. She replaces Grant Shapps, who will head up the new Energy Security Department.
The Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport was broken up, with the digital unit being merged with the science department.
Michelle Donelan, who is set to go on maternity leave later this year, was moved to be Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary, while Lucy Frazer takes over as Secretary of State for a slimmed-down Culture, Media, and Sport department.
