Stephen Parkinson, Baron Parkinson of Whitley Bay


Stephen Parkinson, Baron Parkinson of Whitley Bay is a Life peer, who was previously a special adviser to Theresa May as Home Secretary and Prime Minister, a think tank researcher, and a lobbyist.

Education

Parkinson was born in North Shields, and attended Park House School in Newbury, Berkshire, before going on to read History at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, from 2001 to 2004, where he graduated with a BA. During his time at Cambridge, Parkinson was Chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association in the 2003 Lent term, and President of the Cambridge Union in Lent 2004. Parkinson subsequently wrote a history of the Cambridge Union, Arena of Ambition, published in 2009.

Conservative politics - in opposition (2004–10)

Upon graduation in 2004, Parkinson went to work on the Home Affairs desk at the Conservative Research Department, including during the 2005 general election. Later that year, he moved to the department's Political Section, where he was engaged in opposition research on other parties, briefing Shadow Ministers ahead of media appearances, and was part of David Cameron's briefing team as Leader of the Opposition ahead of Prime Minister’s Questions.
In 2006, Parkinson left the Conservative Research Department, to take up a post as Director of Research at the Conservative think-tank, the Centre for Policy Studies. He remained there until late 2007, when he returned to Conservative Central Office, this time to work on the party's target seats campaign. He continued working at Central Office until the 2010 general election.

Lobbying career (2010-2)

After the 2010 election, with the Conservative Party back in government, Parkinson left Central Office to become a lobbyist with the lobbying firm Quiller Consultants, remaining with them for two years.

2011 AV referendum campaign

During his time at Quiller, Parkinson also played a key role in the victorious NOtoAV campaign in the 2011 United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum, serving as the Conservative Party's National Organiser in the cross-party campaign.

Special Adviser - in government (2012-present)

Home Office Special Adviser

In 2012 he became Special Adviser to Theresa May when she was Home Secretary. Parkinson continued in this role until the autumn of 2015.

2016 EU referendum campaign

In October 2015, Parkinson left his role as Special Adviser at the Home Office to become National Organiser of the ground operation for the successful Vote Leave campaign in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum.

Downing Street Special Adviser

In the aftermath of the June 2016 EU referendum campaign, Theresa May became Prime Minister the following month, whereupon Parkinson rejoined her as a Special Adviser based in Downing Street, with the job title of Political Secretary to the Prime Minister.

Parliamentary candidacies and selections (2010-2017)

First parliamentary candidature, 2010

At the 2010 general election, Parkinson stood as the Conservative candidate for Newcastle upon Tyne North, having been selected the previous year. He came third, polling 7,966 votes, although he managed to increase the Conservative vote by a third.

Attempts to stand in 2015, and temporary removal from the candidates' list

Parkinson had declared his interest in standing for a winnable constituency at the 2015 general election, and had been tipped for the shortlist in safe seats such as Richmond, Yorkshire; but in December 2014, he and another of May's Special Advisers, Nick Timothy, became involved in a candidate selection row. Both were removed from the Conservative Party's list of approved candidates by Party Chairman Grant Shapps, reportedly on the instructions of David Cameron's growing alarm at having such key allies of a leadership rival such as Theresa May in the House of Commons, and Parkinson and Timothy were given the pretext that neither had campaigned in the Rochester and Strood by-election. Both Parkinson and Timothy protested that as Special Advisers, they were bound by the Civil Service Code of Conduct which specifically forbids senior civil servants from engaging in political campaigning. The Conservative Party subsequently apologised to both Parkinson and Timothy, but by that time, it was too late for either to apply for a seat.

Selection contest for Saffron Walden, 2017

On 28 April 2017, with Prime Minister Theresa May having called a snap general election ten days earlier, it was reported that Parkinson had been shortlisted for the "safe seat" of Saffron Walden, after the retirement of veteran MP Sir Alan Haselhurst was announced.
Analysing the shortlist, former MP and ConservativeHome Executive Editor Paul Goodman noted that, "Nor to date have SpAds been shoehorned into constituencies against weak opposition", but that, "The case of Saffron Walden is perhaps more suggestive. Stephen Parkinson, the Prime Minister’s Political Secretary and the former head of the ground campaign at Vote Leave, is up against Katherine Bennett, who hasn’t fought a Parliamentary election previously, and Kemi Badenoch, a member of the London Assembly who was beaten in the first round in Hampstead and Kilburn." It was subsequently reported in the Daily Telegraph that Saffron Walden was one of four seats where Conservative activists had complained of a "selection stitch-up" over a Special Adviser being shortlisted alongside little-known rivals on the shortlist. The Telegraph cited these instances of how, "The party’s leadership has been accused of using a rule change because of the snap election to 'foist its own friends onto local parties'." Total Politics similarly asserted that "Theresa May now risks charges of election cronyism" after the shortlisting of so many Special Advisers, including Parkinson and Burghart, alongside James Wild selected in Norfolk North, Meg Powell-Chandler selected in Birmingham Northfield, and Parkinson's university contemporary Will Gallagher selected in City of Chester.
In the event, after a last-minute change in the final line-up on the shortlist of three, with Katherine Bennett being replaced by Laura Farris, the Saffron Walden Conservative Association selected Kemi Badenoch for the seat rather than Farris or Parkinson, with Badenoch winning on the first ballot.
Parkinson did not present himself for election to the House of Commons at the following election in 2019, having been elevated to the House of Lords just prior to the dissolution of Parliament.

House of Lords (2019 to present)

He was nominated for a life peerage in Theresa May's resignation honours and created Baron Parkinson of Whitley Bay, of Beyton in the County of Suffolk on 8 October 2019. He was introduced into the House of Lords as a Conservative peer later that month. Aged just 36, he was briefly the Baby of the House, as the youngest peer in the House of Lords, for one day - until the ennoblement the following day of his fellow Special Adviser to Theresa May, JoJo Penn. As Penn is two years younger than Parkinson, she has succeeded him as the "Baby of the House", although Parkinson remains the second-youngest peer, and the youngest male peer.
Three weeks after being ennobled, he joined the Gambling Industry Committee. In his maiden speech in the Lords in January 2020, he opened by saying that he wished, "to remind your Lordships of the large number of people who are concerned about the rapidly growing population and the contribution that net migration makes to that", before stressing "the sensible tradition of steering clear of contentious topics in one’s maiden speech" as a caveat ahead of his then attacking the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

Controversies

In March 2017, Channel 4 News reported that, according to a cache of leaked documents and emails, Parkinson was one of the Conservative Party's senior campaigns figures at the heart of the party election spending investigation relating to alleged over-spending during the 2015 general election campaign.
In March 2018, whistleblower Shahmir Sanni stated that Parkinson had directed the activities of pro-Brexit pressure group BeLeave, in breach of electoral financing laws, through him in his position as a BeLeave volunteer. In response, Parkinson issued a Downing Street press release, marked ‘official’, which revealed he had been in a relationship with Sanni during the referendum and arguing he had only offered ‘advice and encouragement’ in the context of their relationship rather than direction. Sanni said in subsequent media appearances that he had to organise security for his family who live in Pakistan because of the criminal status of homosexuality within the country, and accused Parkinson of "outing him" against his will.
Theresa May refused to remove Parkinson, stating that "My political secretary does a very good job as my political secretary" in response to a question from Angela Eagle.

Writings

Book