Gillian Keegan

Keegan was born in Leigh, Lancashire[3] to an office manager father and a mother who did secretarial work.[4] She went to primary school in Yorkshire.[3] She grew up in Knowsley, Merseyside and went to St Augustine of Canterbury Secondary School in Huyton. She was the only pupil to get 10 O-Levels at her school.[4] She has a bachelor's degree in Business Studies from Liverpool John Moores University and a Master of Science in Strategy and Leadership (Sloan Fellowship) from London Business School in 2011.[5]

Keegan started her career aged 16 as an apprentice at a car factory in Kirkby and went on to have a business career working at Delco Electronics (part of the General Motors Group), NatWest Bank (senior buyer), MasterCard International (commercial director), Amadeus IT Group (group vice president of Multinational Customer Group based in Madrid) and Travelport (chief marketing officer)[6] for over 27 years.

Keegan has said that it was her experiences of trade unionism and the Militant-controlled Liverpool City Council while working in Kirkby in the 1980s that convinced her to support the Conservative Party. However, she did not become active in politics until 2014.[7] In 2015, she was advised in her ambitions to become an MP by Justine Greening, whom she met by chance at a London Business School (LBS) reunion; according to her, this demonstrated the power of the LBS network.[8] She unsuccessfully contested the constituency of St Helens South and Whiston in the 2015 general election. In 2015 she became director of Women2Win—an organisation founded by Theresa May and Anne Jenkin, Baroness Jenkin of Kennington in 2005 to help elect more women Conservative MPs to Parliament.[9] She had left that position by September 2017.[10]

Keegan was elected as a councillor for the Rogate ward on Chichester District Council in 2014.[11] She was appointed cabinet member for commercial services in May 2015.[12] She stood down as a councillor in February 2018 and in the election that followed in April 2018, the seat was taken by the Liberal Democrat candidate Kate O'Kelly.[13] Keegan went on to beat O'Kelly by 21,490 votes in the 2019 general election.

Keegan was selected as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Chichester in May 2017,[9] and was elected to the House of Commons in the 2017 general election.[14] She is the constituency's first female MP.[11] In September 2017, she was appointed to the Public Accounts Committee.[15] She was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to HM Treasury in September 2018.[16] In January 2019, she became PPS to the Secretary of State for Defence.[17]

In February 2019, Keegan was appointed as MP Apprenticeship Ambassador by Anne Milton, with responsibility to support apprenticeship schemes and promote them both within Parliament and to businesses within the UK, working alongside the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network consisting of various advocates of apprenticeship schemes.[18][19]

Keegan became PPS to the Home Secretary in May 2019.[20] Keegan endorsed Rory Stewart during the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election.[21] She became PPS to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in September 2019. In February 2020, she was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Apprenticeships and Skills, a junior ministerial role at the Department for Education,[22] and was the first former apprentice to hold the office.[23]

In August 2020, Keegan was criticised for being on holiday during the GCSE and A-Level grading controversy. She defended herself by stating that she was not the minister responsible for A-Level and GCSE qualifications. She said that although she had been the duty minister for the first two weeks of summer recess, she had obtained special permission to take her government computer with her to continue working during this period.[24] She was also criticised for posting numerous holiday pictures on Instagram during this period.[25]

In October 2020 Keegan voted against extending free school meals during holidays.[26]

During the September 2021 reshuffle, Keegan was appointed Minister of State for Care and Mental Health.[27][28]

According to the register of MPs' interests, Keegan has been in receipt of free membership of Chichester Yacht Club, free theatre tickets with dinner worth £536, and free tickets for Goodwood Racecourse with hospitality worth £1200.[29]

In February 2022 Keegan was criticsed for continuing a face to face meeting with bereaved parents despite testing positive for COVID-19.[30]

According to IPSA Keegan claims expenses for a full time Chief of Staff, Senior Parliamentary Assistant, Parliamentary Assistant and a Senior Communications Advisor, as well as a fixed term full time member of staff for whom no job title is provided. The cost of these posts for 2020-21 was £205,000.[31]

Keegan lives in Petworth in West Sussex with her husband, Michael, and has two stepsons. Michael was the CEO of Fujitsu UK and Ireland from April 2014 to June 2015, having joined the company in 2006, and then head of the EMEIA technology business, before leaving the company in 2018.[32] Keegan's father-in-law, Denis Keegan, was Conservative MP for Nottingham South.[33]

Fujitsu developed Horizon, the flawed Post Office IT system that led to subpostmasters being falsely accused of fraud.[34] Keegan's husband led Fujitsu’s Technology Products Group for the UK & Ireland from 2010 to 2014 prior to becoming CEO, and had previously held a senior IT leadership role at the Royal Mail Group/Post Office Ltd.[35]

In May 2021 Baroness Hayter asked in the House of Lords if Michael Keegan, who is now employed as a crown representative in the cabinet office, would be involved in the renewal of Fujitsu's Post Office Contract:

"Secondly, there is the major issue of the lack of accountability of those who were deeply implicated in the lies and lack of openness that led to the prosecutions and the delay in dealing with the results. Michael Keegan was Fujitsu’s chief executive when the company was telling the Post Office that Horizon was fine and when its staff were even appearing in court as prosecution witnesses against the sub-postmasters. He does not appear to have suffered any penalty and indeed is now a Crown representative at the Cabinet Office, where he oversees the Government’s relationships with suppliers. Given that Fujitsu continues to work with the Post Office, a £42 million extension to the Horizon contract having been agreed with the Post Office last month, can the Minister assure the House that Mr Keegan would have had no role in any such decision?"[36]

In April 2022 the Post Office contract with Fujitsu was renewed. [37]

Keegan and her husband own a family home in France and two properties in Spain as well as a flat in London.[38]

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