Penrose unsuccessfully contested the seat of Ealing Southall in the 1997 general election, before unsuccessfully contesting the seat of Weston-super-Mare in 2001. He was elected in the same seat in the 2005 general election, defeating the Liberal DemocratBrian Cotter and he retained his seat in the 2010 general election, 2015 general election and 2017 general election. He served on the Work and Pensions Committee from July 2005 to January 2009, and in 2006 was appointed joint chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Further Education and Lifelong Learning. In 2006 he was also appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Oliver Letwin MP and in 2009 was promoted to Shadow Minister for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. After his re-election in 2010 and the formation of the coalition government, Penrose served as the Minister for Tourism and Heritage from 2010 to 2012, covering the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympic and Paralympic Games. During his tenure, he wrote and implemented the Government's Tourism Strategy; began a process to turn English Heritage's properties, such as Stonehenge, Dover Castle, Tintagel and many others, into a second National Trust; removed licences on live entertainment; sold the Tote bookmaker; protected the Lloyd's of London building with a 'Grade 1' listing amongst other activity. Penrose returned to the backbenches in 2012. He wrote a paper on how to give people a better deal on their utilities. Less than a year later the Prime Minister invited Penrose back to a Government role with a new position as Assistant Whip, before he was promoted in February 2014 as one of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. In May 2015 he became Parliamentary Secretary, a role he held until July 2016. He was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum. Since the result was announced, Penrose supported the official position of his party as an advocate of leaving the European Union. Penrose sits on the advisory board of think tank "1828", which "calls for the NHS to be replaced by an insurance system and for Public Health England to be scrapped."
Outside Parliament
Penrose is a Patron of the South West branch of domestic violence charity the ManKind Initiative. He is also President of Weston-super-Mare's YMCA, President of The Abbeyfield Weston-super-Mare Society, President of the League of Friends of Weston General Hospital, a governor of Weston College, a trustee of North SomersetCitizens Advice Bureau, and President of Weston-super-Mare and District Constitutional Club.
Personal life
Penrose met the Hon. Dido Harding, only daughter of Lord Harding, while both worked at McKinsey. The couple married in October 1995, and have two daughters. Penrose splits his time between his home in the Weston-super-Mare constituency and a flat in London. Harding is the Chair of NHS Improvement, former Chief Executive of TalkTalk Group, and owned the 1998 Cheltenham Gold Cup winning horse, Cool Dawn. In 2016, Penrose, who lives in Winscombe, North Somerset, caused some local controversy over the design of a proposed personal swimming pool complex at his home. Winscombe and Sandford Parish Council formally objected to the 'ugly and massive' design on the grounds it would harm local views. The Daily Telegraph reported that this was noteworthy as Penrose had argued in 2013, in a previous ministerial role, for greater protection of historic views, suggesting some of the finest urban views in the country should be listed like buildings. Ultimately, the district council approved the planning application and accepted the argument that an originally planned grass roof was not possible.
