Gareth Davies (English politician)

Gareth Mark Davies (born 31 March 1984) is a British politician who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Grantham and Bourne. He was previously the MP for Grantham and Stamford from the 2019 general election until the seat's abolition in 2024.

A member of the Conservative Party, he served as the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury from April 2023 to July 2024.

Early life
Davies was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, as the eldest of two sons. His mother and father were a state primary school teacher and a small business owner respectively.

He attended state comprehensive schools in Leeds and Hull. Davies later completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Nottingham, graduating in 2006. He then completed a Master's of Public Administration at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 2016, focusing on economics, trade, and foreign affairs. During his time at Harvard, he travelled to North Korea on a study visit.

Business career
Davies began working in the investment industry in 2006 as a graduate trainee at Threadneedle Investments, an asset management firm. Threadneedle later became Columbia Threadneedle Investments. He worked there for 14 years, rising to global senior level roles. He travelled for his work across the United States, Europe, China, and the Asia-Pacific region, advising global pension funds, private banks, and sovereign wealth funds.

While at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, he helped create the firm’s first charitable foundation, which supports small British charities focused on social mobility.

In 2018, Davies was named as a 'rising star' in European finance by Financial News.

Political career
Davies worked for the Conservative Party on a voluntary basis before entering Parliament. At the 2010 general election he stood as the Conservative candidate for Doncaster Central, finishing second with 24.8% of the vote. At the snap 2017 general election he stood as the Conservative candidate in Leeds Central, finishing second with 20.5% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP Hilary Benn.

Ahead of the 2019 general election, he was selected as the prospective Conservative candidate for Grantham and Stamford. It is a safe Conservative seat, having elected a member of the party since 1997. At the 2019 general election, Davies was elected as MP with 65.7% of the vote and a majority of 26,003, achieving a swing of 5.4% and the largest majority in the seat's history. He made his maiden speech in Parliament in March 2020.

Davies served on the House of Commons Finance Select Committee between 2020 and 2023 and the Treasury Select Committee between 2021 and 2022. Following one session of the Treasury Select Committee in May 2022, Davies garnered media attention when Andrew Bailey, the Governor of the Bank of England, admitted to him that he felt "helpless" in the face of rising inflation.

In 2021, Davies introduced a Private Member’s Bill to the Commons, which was entitled the Paternity (Leave and Pay) Bill. The bill was based on a policy report Davies wrote for the Centre for Social Justice. It aimed to extend the eligibility of paternity leave and pay to include more fathers, as well as to provide for more flexibility in the timing of and notice period for paternity leave. However, the bill never progressed beyond its second reading.

Davies was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) at the Department of Health and Social Care. He was later appointed PPS to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, in November 2022.

Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury
Davies was appointed as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in April 2023, following a mini-reshuffle. His responsibilities included UK economic growth, productivity, and investment, which also covered UK infrastructure, the digital economy, economic regulation and foreign direct investment.

Opposition
In the 2024 United Kingdom general election, he was elected in the newly named constituency of Grantham and Bourne with a much reduced majority.

Political views
Davies is considered to be on the right of the British parliamentary party and is a member of the 92 Group of Conservative MPs, an invitation-only group associated with furthering Thatcherism.

Davies has described himself in an interview with the Financial Times as "a businessman in politics" and has used his time in Parliament to push for more policies that mobilise private capital.

Davies successfully lobbied the Government to issue its first ever sovereign green bond, which the Chancellor announced in 2020. This policy saw the Government issue over £10 billion of dedicated debt to "specifically fund capital investment in infrastructure that will help stimulate the British economy."

In October 2020, Davies authored a report for Onward on the case for a British development bank. The Government later announced the launch of the UK Infrastructure Bank in 2021.

In March 2022, Davies wrote a report titled 'Investing for Prosperity' for the Centre for Policy Studies. In the report, he called for the reform of British International Investment (BII) to unlock new sources of capital and harness new financial instruments. In November 2023, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron published an FCDO white paper which included a commitment to implement a number of reforms to BII championed by Davies.

Davies has been a staunch opponent of the 4.2 mile (6.76km) Mallard Pass Solar Farm, which straddles Lincolnshire and Rutland, and aims to provide renewable energy to 92,000 homes.

Davies has written several opinion pieces for the Daily Telegraph, CityAm, Financial Times, and The Times and has regularly appeared as a commentator on national and international television and radio.

Personal life
Davies is married to Laura Davies and lives in his constituency of Grantham and Bourne.