Mark Jenkinson

Mark Jenkinson
Official portrait, 2020
Assistant Government Whip
In office 14 November 2023 – 30 May 2024
Prime Minister	Rishi Sunak
In office 20 September 2022 – 27 October 2022
Prime Minister	Liz Truss
Member of Parliament for Workington
In office 12 December 2019 – 30 May 2024
Preceded by	Sue Hayman
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	(1982-01-28) 28 January 1982 (age 42) Whitehaven, Cumbria, England
Political party	Conservative (before 2012, 2016–)
Other political affiliations	UKIP (before 2016)
Children	4
Residence(s)	Seaton, Cumbria, England
Occupation	Politician
Website	www.mark-jenkinson.co.uk

Mark Ian Jenkinson (born 28 January 1982) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the abolished seat of Workington from 2019 to the 2024 general election.^[1][2] In the 2024 United Kingdom general election, he contested Penrith and Solway but was defeated by Labour candidate Markus Campbell-Savours.^[3]

Early life and career

Mark Jenkinson was born in Whitehaven, Cumbria,^[4] and raised in Workington. He lived on Victoria Road in Workington during his childhood with his parents. Ian Jenkinson (Mark's father) worked as a refuse collector. Mark has a sister called Laura.

He was educated at St Joseph's Catholic High School, Workington and Newton Rigg College, Penrith, where he briefly pursued agricultural studies, and then joined British Steel as an apprentice for a period of months.

Prior to becoming an MP, he worked as a self-employed contractor in the nuclear supply chain.^[5]

Political career

Parliamentary career

Jenkinson was the UK Independence Party candidate for Workington in 2015,^[6] coming third with 19.6% of the vote behind the Labour candidate Sue Hayman and the Conservative candidate.^[7][8] He was previously a member of the Conservative Party.^[9] Jenkinson was a founding member of UKIP's West Cumbria branch but quit in 2016, citing disagreements about the party's approach to the EU referendum and concerns over internal democracy.^[10]

After rejoining the Conservative Party, Jenkinson was elected in 2015 for the Seaton and Northside Ward of Allerdale Borough Council, where he became deputy leader in 2019.^[11] He was also chairman of Seaton Parish Council but stood down after being elected as MP.^[12]

Jenkinson was elected to the House of Commons at the 2019 general election, winning with 49.3% of the vote and a majority of 4,176.^[13] Following his victory, Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage congratulated Jenkinson on Twitter, writing "A personal congratulations to Mark Jenkinson. He was an excellent UKIP candidate in 2015."^[14] The constituency was seen as symbolic at the 2019 election, with a political think tank coining the term 'Workington Man' to represent the type of swing voter the Conservatives needed to win from Labour.^[15]

In October 2020, Jenkinson was criticised by Labour MP Jess Phillips after he stated that in his constituency in a "tiny" minority of cases "food parcels are sold or traded for drugs".^[16]

In 2021, Jenkinson came out in defence of a controversial proposal to build a new coal mine in the Copeland constituency.^[17] The plan to create Woodhouse Colliery was "called in" for government consideration, and The Guardian reported in March 2021 that Jenkinson was one of a number of Conservative backbench MPs on a potential collision course with the prime minister Boris Johnson when a decision was made to put it on hold.^[18] Eventually, Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, approved the application in December 2022,^[19] although the decision was subject to legal challenges which were ongoing at the time of the 2024 United Kingdom general election.

Boundary changes

The Workington constituency was abolished and its territory split between Whitehaven and Workington and Penrith and Solway. On 4 February 2023, Jenkinson announced that he had been selected by Conservative Party members for Penrith and Solway, which was considered to be the safer of the two seats.^[20] In the event, none of the Cumbrian constituencies returned a Conservative candidate in the general election of 2024.

Select Committees

Jenkinson was elected to the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee in March 2020, serving until October 2022.^[21] He returned to the committee on 8 November 2022.^[22] In June 2023, changes were made to Select Committees to mirror the changes in departmental names and responsibilities. Jenkinson move to the new Energy Security and Net Zero Committee.^[23]

In December 2022, he joined the Women and Equalities Committee.^[24]

Jenkinson served as the Vice-Chair of the Conservative backbench Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) committee; as a Vice-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Upland Farming, a Vice-Chair of the APPG Nuclear and as Treasurer of the APPG Cyprus.^[25]

Jenkinson was one of 10 parliamentarians personally named in a Commons Select Committee of Privileges special report on the "Co-ordinated campaign of interference in the work of the Privileges Committee", published 28 June 2023. The report detailed how said parliamentarians "took it upon themselves to undermine procedures of the House of Commons" by putting pressure on the Commons Privileges Committee investigation into Boris Johnson.^[26] Jenkinson maintains that the tweet referenced in the report as evidence, was not about the committee.^[27]

Ministerial career

In February 2022, Jenkinson was made parliamentary private secretary for DEFRA,^[28] and from September 2022 to October 2022 he was an Assistant Government Whip.^[29][30]

He was made parliamentary private secretary to the Scotland Office in February 2023.^[5][31]

Views on transgender issues

Responding to Essex Police marking Transgender Day of Remembrance, Jenkinson questioned whether they had planning permission for the flag they were flying.^[32]

Writing on the website Conservative Home in November 2021, he said that erasing the notion of biological sex would cause harm to women and the "LGB community". He criticised the UK's gender recognition system and expressed concern that the proposed Gender Conversion Therapy Bill would see practitioners and parents who did not affirm their child's chosen gender convicted, writing that "we can't put male-bodied rapists in female prisons can we?"^[33]

Jenkinson has expressed his belief that transgender men are not men and transgender women are not women; in a 2022 tweet Jenkinson said "I don't get to call myself a chicken if I cover myself in feathers". In 2023, he criticised Scotland's gender recognition reforms, describing them as "terrifying".^[34][35]

Personal life

Jenkinson is married to Dawn and has four children. They live in Seaton^[5] He is a former smoker^[36] and is teetotal.^[37]

References

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. 392. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC 1129682574.
2. "Workington parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
3. "Penrith and Solway – General election results 2024". BBC News. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
4. General Register Office; United Kingdom; Reference: Volume 1, Page 0669
5. "About Mark Jenkinson". Mark Jenkinson. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
6. "Workington parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". BBC News. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
7. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
8. "Workington". BBC News. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
9. Jenkinson, Mark (24 October 2016). "Mark Jenkinson: May is bringing Conservatives home". Conservative Home. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
10. "UKIP's Mark Jenkinson quits party". Times and Star. 10 May 2016. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
11. "Allerdale's deputy leader to stand as Tory candidate in next general election". Times and Star. 14 October 2019.
12. "Workington MP stands down as chairman of Seaton Parish Council". Times and Star. 24 January 2020.
13. "Workington parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". BBC News.
14. "Nigel Farage personally congratulated Workington MP on election victory". News and Star. 16 December 2019. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
15. "Election results 2019: Conservatives win Workington from Labour". BBC News. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
16. O'Reilly, Luke (24 October 2020). "Tory MPs Ben Bradley, Mark Jenkinson and Selaine Saxby spark outrage with free school meal remarks". Evening Standard. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
17. "Workington MP Mark Jenkinson blasts Labour over coal mine". Times and Star. 11 February 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
18. "Boris Johnson could clash with backbenchers over coalmine". The Guardian. 12 March 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
19. "First UK coal mine in decades approved despite climate concerns". BBC News. 7 December 2022. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
20. "Mark Jenkinson selected as Conservative candidate for new Penrith and Solway seat – Cumberland and Westmorland Herald". 5 February 2023. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
21. "Parliamentary career of Mark Jenkinson".
22. "Commons Business papers for Tuesday 8 November 2022". 8 November 2022.
23. "Energy Security and Net Zero Committee – Membership".
24. "Workington MP appointed to Women and Equalities committee". News and Star. 1 December 2022. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
25. "About Mark Jenkinson". Mark Jenkinson. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
26. House of Commons Committee of Privileges. "Matter referred on 21 April 2022: Co-ordinated campaign of interference in the work of the Privileges Committee". committees.parliament.uk. House of Commons. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
27. "Privileges Committee Special Report". TheyWorkForYou. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
28. "Workington's Mark Jenkinson MP made parliamentary private secretary for Defra". 11 February 2022.
29. "Ministerial Appointments: September 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
30. "Workington MP Mark Jenkinson talks Rishi Sunak and reshuffle". 3 November 2022.
31. "LinkedIn".
32. Jenkinson, Mark [@markjenkinsonmp] (20 November 2021). "I hope you've got planning consent for that flag, it's not legal to fly it without" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
33. "Mark Jenkinson: My Twitter monstering. I never thought that saying there are two biological sexes would cause such a stir". Conservative Home. 22 November 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
34. Kelleher, Patrick (14 January 2023). "Tory MP Mark Jenkinson thinks trans teens wanting to change gender is 'abhorrent'". PinkNews. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
35. Smedley, Sam (24 May 2022). "Tory MP slammed for 'bigoted' tweets on social media". LancsLive. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
36. Jenkinson, Mark (8 March 2023). "Quitting smoking is tough but we should maximise products that help". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
37. "Hansard".

External links

Media related to Mark Jenkinson at Wikimedia Commons

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

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Sue Hayman	Member of Parliament for Workington 2019 – 2024	Constituency abolished