Amanda Solloway

Solloway was born Amanda Jane Edghill in Nottingham. She has a younger sister and brother.

She was educated at Bramcote Hills Grammar School at Bramcote, Broxtowe, Nottinghamshire,[1] which became comprehensive in 1978, and is now is part of Bramcote Hills Sport and Community College.

She started working at 16 behind the counter of an off-licence, worked as a management trainee at Sainsbury's supermarket and stayed for 13 years, then worked in a regional training role at Help the Aged, moved to Baird Clothing to become head of training 1998 and founded her own consultancy in 2008.[2] This consultancy is in liquidation.[3]

Solloway was first elected at the 2015 general election for the Derby North constituency, with a majority of 41 votes, unseating the incumbent Labour MP Chris Williamson, who had been the MP for the seat since 2010. She became a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Minister of State for the Department of International Development.[4]

She was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.[5]

Solloway has been a campaigner on mental health and homelessness issues in Derby North and in Parliament.[6] She was one of three parliamentary champions for HS2, the high-speed rail network which is intended to be built between London and the North.[7]

Solloway lost her seat at the 2017 general election to Williamson,[8] on a night where Labour made gains across the United Kingdom. She continued to be active in Derby North, including in the 2018 Derby City Council election and 2019 Derby City Council election, where the Conservatives made gains in wards in the Derby North constituency.

She regained Derby North for the Conservatives in the 2019 general election with a majority of 2,540, with Williamson (standing as an independent) in sixth place.[9]

On 14 February 2020, Solloway was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Science, Research and Innovation at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy during the first cabinet reshuffle of the second Johnson ministry.[10]

On 17 September 2021, Solloway was appointed a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury (Government Whip) during the second cabinet reshuffle of the second Johnson ministry.[11]

Solloway spent 15 years in retail management with J Sainsbury supermarket, a further 15 years within HR in the charity sector (Help the Aged and Save the Children), and in the private sector (Baird Clothing Group) supporting manufacturing, warehousing and retail.[12][13] From 2017 to 2021 Solloway was the sole director and sole shareholder of Amanda Solloway Limited, a management consultancy company (Companies House register number 10881195), which entered voluntary liquidation in December 2020. The share capital paid to the (sole) shareholder on 26th May 2021 was £60,202.[14]

Solloway lives in Derbyshire and was patron of the Friends Of The Baby Unit at Royal Derby Hospital.[15] She ran the London marathon, in 2016 and 2017, and, in doing so, raised money for that hospital's baby unit.[16] She is married to Robert Solloway, who in 2018 was banned from runnning any company for 11 years. He was director of a debt management company, trading as Compass Debt Counsellors, which paid creditors only £17.4million despite receiving from its clients £36.9million. Between incorporation in 2002 and voluntary liquidation in 2016, the company paid expenses to its directors of £3.3million.[17]

• Official website
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou