O'Leary was born at Allerton, Liverpool, and raised in Heswall, on the Wirral, as the eldest of three siblings. His mother Susan (née Dunn) was a nurse, and his father John O'Leary was a college lecturer who trained as a solicitor and worked for the legal firm of the Liverpool lawyer Rex Makin.[2][3]
His most recent candidacy to date was at the 2006 Greenwich election, this time in the Charlton ward, when O'Leary and the other opposition parties finished a considerable margin behind the winning Labour candidates.[10] At this election, his wife, Liz Truss, was elected to Eltham South ward, which she represented until 2010.[11] O'Leary has remained active in politics as a member of the Conservatives, canvassing with the party in Greenwich in 2022.[12][5]
Personal life
O'Leary met Truss at the 1997 Conservative Party conference in Blackpool.[3][13] The couple's first date was spent ice-skating, during which O'Leary sprained his ankle.[3] O'Leary and Truss married in 2000; they live in Greenwich, south-east London, and the South West Norfolk constituency which Truss represented from 2010 to 2024.[5][14] He stayed with Truss following her 2004–2005 extramarital affair with the Conservative MP Mark Field. The couple have two daughters.[3]
^Lott-Lavigna, Ruby (18 October 2022). "Did Liz Truss mislead public over her husband's secretive work?". openDemocracy. Retrieved 19 October 2022. Truss, who in her ministerial career has formally declared almost no financial or familial interests, said in a submission to the List of Ministers' interests that her husband Hugh O'Leary worked at a company called Arrakis Investments Limited – yet documents filed with Companies House say the firm at the time had no employees other than its one director.
2.jpg)
