Andrea Leadsom's Biography

Andrea Leadsom was born on 13 May 1963 in Buckinghamshire.

She was educated at Tonbridge Girls' Grammar School and then gained a degree in political science at Warwick University.

Her long career in finance included stints at Barclays head office, where she became Deputy Financial Institutions Director; and Invesco Perpetual where she was Head of Corporate Governance.

From 2003 to 2007 she was a Councillor on South Oxfordshire District Council.

In 2005 she contested but lost as the Conservative Party candidate for the Knowsley South constituency.

In May 2010, Andrea Leadsom was elected MP for South Northamptonshire.

In April 2014, she was appointed Economic Secretary to the Treasury, with responsibility for Financial Services.

Andrea Leadsom was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change in May 2015.

In 2016 she was at the forefront of the successful Leave campaign in the European Union Referendum.

On 30 June 2016, she announced that she was standing in the Conservative Party leadership contest, called after the resignation of the Prime Minister David Cameron.

Andrea Leadsom did well in the ballots amongst Conservative MPs and a result of her coming second in the final ballot, she managed to get into a head-to-head battle with Theresa May in a vote amongst the Conservative Party membership.

However, on 11 July 2016, Andrea Leadsom pulled out of the Conservative leadership contest, leaving Theresa May as the only candidate.

A few days later, Mrs May appointed Andrea Leadsom to the post of Environment Secretary.

However, following the general election in June 2017, she was moved to the post of Leader of the House of Commons.

On 22 May 2019, she resigned from the Cabinet saying that she no longer believed that the government's approach would deliver on the Brexit Referendum result.

In June 2019, following Theresa May's resignation, Andrea Leadsom once more became a candidate to be the leader of the Conservative Party.

She was eliminated in the first round after gaining only 11 votes.

On 24 July 2019, the new Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed Andrea Leadsom Business Secretary.

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