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Jonathan Gullis

Jonathan Gullis
Official portrait, 2020
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for School Standards
In office
8 September 2022 – 28 October 2022
Prime MinisterLiz Truss
Rishi Sunak
Preceded byWill Quince
Succeeded byNick Gibb
Member of Parliament
for Stoke-on-Trent North
In office
12 December 2019 – 30 May 2024
Preceded byRuth Smeeth
Succeeded byDavid Williams
Personal details
Born
Jonathan Edward Gullis

(1990-01-09) 9 January 1990 (age 34)
Salisbury, England
Political partyConservative
Children2
Alma materOxford Brookes University
Institute of Education

Jonathan Edward Gullis (born 9 January 1990) is a British politician and former teacher who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-on-Trent North from 2019 to 2024.[1][2][3] He was previously appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for School Standards by Liz Truss in September 2022 but was dismissed shortly after Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister in October 2022.

In March 2024, Gullis was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, replacing Luke Hall who had been appointed Minister of State for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education.[4]

Early life and career

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Jonathan Gullis was born on 9 January 1990 in Salisbury. He attended Princethorpe College, an independent school near Rugby.[5] He studied International Relations with Law at Oxford Brookes University and obtained a PGCE in secondary citizenship at the Institute of Education (now part of UCL).[6]

Gullis worked in schools from 2012 to 2019 and compared his teaching experiences to boxing.[6] He worked in schools including Blackfen School for Girls (2012–2015), Ashlawn School (2015–2016), Greenwood Academy (2016–2018), and Fairfax Academy (2018–2019).[6] Gullis described his classroom personality as "a mixture of Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg", and said that he "liked to play the character of an English gent".[6] Gullis says that he was "nicknamed Grumpy Gullis – because I never smiled".[6] Upon being elected to Parliament Gullis left work at Fairfax Academy, and he described the pupils he was responsible for as head of year as "probably happy to see me go".[6]

Gullis was elected as a Conservative councillor in the Shipston ward of Stratford-upon-Avon in May 2011, until he resigned in October 2012 after starting a teaching job in London.[7] Gullis came in for criticism, as he had resigned three hours too late for a by-election to coincide with the area's 2012 PCC election on 15 November, an error which cost in excess of £5,000 when the by-election was held two weeks later. Gullis, annoyed at his treatment by the local Conservative party, urged locals to vote for the Labour candidate, Jeff Kenner.[8]

Parliamentary career

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He stood in Washington and Sunderland West at the 2017 general election, but lost to incumbent Labour MP Sharon Hodgson.[9]

Gullis was elected as the MP for Stoke-on-Trent North at the 2019 general election, unseating Labour's Ruth Smeeth and becoming the first Conservative to represent the constituency.[2] At the time of his election, Gullis was employed as a school teacher and head of year at Fairfax Academy in Sutton Coldfield, and served as the school's trade union representative.[10][11] Gullis joined the European Research Group shortly after entering Parliament.[12]

On 30 April 2020, Gullis was criticised by Piers Morgan after he complained of the media's 'sick obsession' with the number of deaths during the coronavirus pandemic. Gullis was responding to a tweet by radio presenter James O'Brien. Gullis described comparisons with the number of deaths in other countries as 'lazy' in a now deleted tweet. He later apologised for his 'poor choice of words'.[13] He later closed his Twitter account,[14] but reopened it in November 2023.[15]

In October 2020, after voting against a Labour Party Opposition Day Motion to extend free school meals until Easter 2021, Gullis said that he would not address a "baying mob" in response to rumours of a protest during his visit to a church foodbank. He also cited COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings.[16]

In October 2020, Gullis stated on his Facebook page that research by the National Maritime Museum into the Royal Navy's links to slavery was "leftwing ideological nonsense".[17]

In November 2020, following an interim report on the connections between colonialism and properties now in the care of the National Trust, including links with historic slavery, Gullis was among the signatories of a letter to The Telegraph from the "Common Sense Group" of Conservative MPs. The letter accused the National Trust of being "coloured by cultural Marxist dogma, colloquially known as the 'woke' agenda".[18]

On 23 February 2021, Gullis was prevented by the Deputy Speaker from taking part in a debate in the House of Commons from home for being inappropriately dressed. Gullis changed into a suit, and was then allowed to participate.[19]

In May 2021, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards ordered Gullis to return £253.78 and apologise after breaking parliamentary rules by using "pre-paid House-provided stationery in a way that was contrary to the published rules which put the member in breach of the requirements of paragraph 16 of the code of conduct for members." Guillis confirmed this, returned the money, and apologised.[20][21][22]

In October 2021, Gullis suggested at a fringe meeting during the Conservative Party conference that people using the term "white privilege" should be reported to the Home Office as extremists.[23][24][25]

Gullis has praised schemes for getting disabled people into work. He said there were significant "mental health benefits and physical health benefits" when people with Down syndrome are in work – and that it also saved the state money. He cited a video he saw about an American man with Down syndrome who had worked at McDonald's "for 30 years and had a happy life".[26]

Gullis has described Black Lives Matter as "a Marxist organisation that wants to abolish the nuclear family and defund the police".[27]

In January 2022, Gullis defended his decision not to wear a face covering in the Commons chamber, stating that masks were not mandatory in the Commons. According to the Stoke Sentinel, Gullis was "bellowing with his mouth wide open and appearing to rock backwards and forwards" in the Commons during Prime Minister's Questions, following a statement from the Leader of the SNP group, Ian Blackford, that implied over a million people had been plunged into poverty as a result of Conservative party policy.[28][29] After Gullis' behaviour in the Commons went viral, the Speaker of the House Lindsay Hoyle was interviewed by The Times where he said he wanted members to stop "screaming and shouting" in the chamber.[30]

In May 2022, regarding Home Office deportation flights, Gullis said that his constituents were "flabbergasted that the woke, wet and wobbly lot opposite are on the side of their lefty woke warriors, who are making sure these rapists and paedophiles remain in this United Kingdom, rather than standing up for the British people and their safety."[31]

He resigned as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on 5 July 2022 in the aftermath of the Chris Pincher scandal and called on Boris Johnson to resign as Prime Minister.[32][33]

Gullis endorsed Liz Truss in the July-September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election.[34] In September 2022, Gullis was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for School Standards by Truss after her appointment as Prime Minister.[35] At his first and only appearance at the Despatch Box on 24 October 2022, he was rebuked by the Speaker for not adopting a sufficiently ministerial tone.[36]

Following Truss's resignation in October 2022, Gullis initially announced his support for Boris Johnson's leadership bid. Johnson, however, withdrew from the race.[37]

On 28 October 2022, he was dismissed from his position by Truss's successor, Rishi Sunak. Gullis announced his intention to support the Government from the backbenches.[38]

In December 2022, on BBC Radio 4's The World at One programme, Gullis defended the government's plan to offshore the processing of asylum seekers to Rwanda. In response to a letter from senior Church of England bishops which criticised the plan, Gullis said: "I don't think unelected bishops in the House of Lords should be preaching about politics."[39]

In April 2023, Gullis started a podcast with former Special Adviser James Starkie called Inside Whitehall. The pair designed the podcast to demystify UK politics. [40]

On 26 March 2024, Gullis and Angela Richardson were made deputy party chairs of the Conservative Party.[41]

In April 2024 Gullis accepted a £10,000 donation from JCB; the newspaper Byline Times links this payment to Gullis's silence on JCB closing a facility entailing 200 job losses in his constituency, and contrasts it with his activity on the announcement of a facility closure by Johnson Tiles.[42]

In the 2024 general election, Gullis lost his Stoke-on-Trent North seat to Labour candidate David Williams.[43]

Personal life

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In March 2020, as part of a mental health awareness campaign run by the Stoke Sentinel, Gullis said that he has suffered with depression, self-harm and suicidal thoughts during periods of his life.[44]

In June 2020, in a parliamentary debate on divorce law reform, Gullis said that he has gone through a divorce and supported the "no fault" divorce proposal.[45]

Gullis has one daughter and one son with his partner, Nkita.[46][47][48] Gullis is deaf in one ear.[49]

References

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  1. ^ Brunskill, Ian (19 March 2020). The Times guide to the House of Commons 2019 : the definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General Election. HarperCollins Publishers Limited. p. 343. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC 1129682574.
  2. ^ a b "Election 2019: Stoke on Trent North". BBC. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  3. ^ Corrigan, Phil (13 December 2019). "New MP pledges to 'work his bum off' after winning big in Stoke-on-Trent North". stokesentinel. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  4. ^ "Ministers Robert Halfon and James Heappey quit government in mini-reshuffle". BBC News. 26 March 2024. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  5. ^ "New MP Jonathan Gullis Pays Tribute To His Princethorpe Teacher". Princethorpe Connect. 27 January 2020. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Speck, Dave (16 February 2020). "'Teaching is like doing 10 rounds with Anthony Joshua'". TES. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  7. ^ "Taxpayer could pay dear as Tory quits". Cotswold Journal. 18 October 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  8. ^ "Vote Labour – says hapless Tory councillor". LabourList. 18 October 2012.
  9. ^ Seddon, Sean (8 June 2017). "Washington & Sunderland West constituency General Election results 2017". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  10. ^ "Meet Boris's Babies – they're young, fun and working class". The Times (London). 15 December 2019. p. 23.
  11. ^ Carr, James (18 January 2020). "From the classroom to the commons: former teacher's first weeks as MP". Schools Week. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  12. ^ "Why new MPs are rushing to join the European Research Group". The Week. 19 December 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  13. ^ Corrigan, Phil (30 April 2020). "'An absolute disgrace' – Piers Morgan blasts Stoke-on-Trent MP for controversial coronavirus tweet". Stoke-on-Trent Live. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  14. ^ Joe Burn (9 July 2020). "Stoke-on-Trent North MP Jonathan Gullis quits Twitter as rivals say he's avoiding scrutiny". StokeonTrentLive. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  15. ^ "Jonathan Gullis". Twitter. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
  16. ^ Burn, Joe (28 October 2020). "MP Jonathan Gullis says he won't address 'baying mob' at church foodbank visit". Stoke-on-Trent Live.
  17. ^ "Dissatisfied Tory MPs flock to ERG-inspired pressure groups". The Guardian. 11 November 2020.
  18. ^ "Britain's heroes". Letter to the Daily Telegraph. 9 November 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2021.{{cite press release}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  19. ^ "Covid: MP told to 'dress properly' for House of Commons debate". BBC News. 24 February 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  20. ^ Burn, Joe (20 May 2021). "MP Jonathan Gullis says sorry after breaching parliament rules". Stoke-on-Trent Live.
  21. ^ "Jonathan Gullis". BBC News.
  22. ^ "Mr Jonathan Gullis MP Rectification" (PDF). UK Parliament. 25 June 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  23. ^ "Tory MP says people using term 'white privilege' should be reported as extremists". The Guardian. 9 October 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  24. ^ "Tory MP says people using term 'white privilege' should be reported to Home Office". The Independent. 9 October 2021. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  25. ^ "People using term 'white privilege' should be reported as extremists, Tory MP says". The National. 9 October 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  26. ^ "Tory MP: We'd save £2m by getting someone with Down's syndrome a job in McDonald's". uk.news.yahoo.com. 5 October 2021.
  27. ^ Harpin, Lee (7 June 2021). "MP compares footballers taking knee to Nazi salute". Jewish News.
  28. ^ "Stoke-on-Trent MP Jonathan Gullis defends standing out from the crowd at PMQs". StokeOnTrentLive. 26 January 2022.
  29. ^ Mike Small (30 January 2022). "Boris Johnson is trashing the whole Westminster system". The National. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  30. ^ Grylls, George; Ball, Tom (28 January 2022). "Commons Speaker demands decorum after yelling MP goes viral". The Times. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  31. ^ "Home Office deportation flight takes off for Jamaica with just 7 people on board". The Mirror. 18 May 2022.
  32. ^ "Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid resign as Boris Johnson apologises for Chris Pincher 'mistake' – UK politics live". The Guardian. 5 July 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  33. ^ "West Midlands MPs withdraw support for Boris Johnson". BBC News. 6 July 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  34. ^ Taylor, Harry; Rawlinson, Kevin; Chao-Fong, Léonie; Sullivan, Helen; Rawlinson, Harry Taylor (now); Kevin; Sullivan (earlier), Helen (21 October 2022). "Flurry of support gives Sunak close to 90 backers – as it happened". the Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 April 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  35. ^ "Meet the ministers: Who's who in Truss's first DfE lineup". schoolsweek.co.uk. 27 September 2022.
  36. ^ "Teacher Recruitment and Retention". Hansard. 24 October 2022. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  37. ^ Taylor, Harry; Rawlinson, Kevin; Chao-Fong, Léonie; Sullivan, Helen; Rawlinson, Harry Taylor (now); Kevin; Sullivan (earlier), Helen (21 October 2022). "Flurry of support gives Sunak close to 90 backers – as it happened". the Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 April 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  38. ^ Corrigan, Phil (28 October 2022). "Stoke-on-Trent MP Gullis sacked as education minister after just 50 days". Stoke Sentinel.
  39. ^ "Tory MP Bemoans Bishops 'Using The Pulpit To Preach From'". HuffPost UK. 19 December 2022. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  40. ^ "Inside Whitehall". inside-whitehall.co.uk. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  41. ^ "Jonathan Gullis named as new deputy chair of Conservative Party". BBC News. 26 March 2024. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  42. ^ Latchem, Dan Evans and Tom (31 May 2024). "Conservative Deputy Chair Jonathan Gullis Took £10,000 From JCB – Then Stayed Silent Over Company's job Loss Announcement". Byline Times.
  43. ^ "Stoke-on-Trent North - General election results 2024". BBC News. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  44. ^ Ault, Richard (10 March 2020). "Jonathan Gullis says people using 'white privilege' should be reported as extremists". Stoke-on-Trent Live. Retrieved 11 March 2020. 'I self-harmed after bullying...' MP Jonathan Gullis speaks out about his own mental health struggles - and thoughts of suicide
  45. ^ Corrigan, Phil (11 June 2020). "Stoke-on-Trent MP opens up about 'painful' marriage breakdown during debate over 'no-fault' divorces". Stoke-on-Trent Live. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  46. ^ Parker, Hayley (3 September 2020). "Adorable moment Stoke-on-Trent MP soothes newborn baby as cries interrupt Ofqual video call - and he's won a legion of fans". Stoke-on-Trent Live. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  47. ^ "Parents kept away from seeing seriously ill babies in intensive care". www.msn.com. 27 September 2020. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  48. ^ "It's a boy - MP Jonathan Gullis welcomes new baby". Stoke-on-Trent Live. 11 February 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  49. ^ Batchelor-Hunt, Nadine (5 October 2021). "Tory MP: We'd save £2m by getting someone with Down's syndrome a job in McDonald's". Yahoo! News.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent North
2019–2024 		Succeeded by