Simon Clarke Appointed as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Liz Truss has appointed Simon Clarke as Simon Clarke Appointed as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. His duties will include:

• Strategic oversight of the Department’s business
• Cross-cutting responsibility for Levelling Up.

Clarke’s Background

Mr Simon Clarke is the Conservative MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, and has been an MP continuously since 8 June 2017.

He was previously Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury from 27 July 2019 to 13 February 2020.

Simon Clarke was previously appointed Minister of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 13 February 2020.

He was appointed previously appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 15 September 2021 to 6 September 2022.

Education and Work

He was privately educated at Red House School in Norton, before going on to study History at University College, Oxford, where he studied History. At university, he was chairman of the Oxford University Conservative Association in Trinity Term, 2006.

After leaving university he moved to London and trained as a solicitor with Slaughter and May before going to work in 2010 for the Surrey-based Conservative MP Dominic Raab, and then the Yorkshire-based Conservative MP Graham Stuart

Fun Fact

He is 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m) tall. This makes him Britain’s second-tallest MP and earned him the nickname ‘Stilts’ at school.