Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay

Stephen Parkinson was born in North Shields, Tyne & Wear. Growing up on Tyneside, as well as in Surrey, Suffolk, and Hampshire, he was educated at state comprehensives and at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he read history and was elected President of the Cambridge Union.

Beginning his career in the Conservative Research Department, he has worked for a think-tank, for two successful referendum campaigns, and as special adviser, then Political Secretary, to Theresa May at the Home Office and at 10 Downing Street. He stood for Parliament in Newcastle-upon-Tyne North in 2010 and joined the House of Lords in 2019, serving as a Lord-in-Waiting (Government Whip) from February 2020, and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Arts) at DCMS from September 2021.