He was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1996 and specialised in criminal law in the Midlands until his election to Parliament in 2005.[3] Wright remains a member of No.5 Chambers in Birmingham but is officially listed as non-practising as of May 2013.[4][5]
Parliamentary career
Early political career
Wright was first elected to Parliament at the 2005 general election, when he won the seat of Rugby and Kenilworth. He won the seat with 41.2% of the vote and a majority of 1,556.[6]
Wright has generally supported the proposals for the HS2 London to Birmingham rail link which will run through his constituency.[8] He has opposed some of the detailed original plans for the route, although supporting route changes made in 2010.[9][10][11]
In September 2012 Wright was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Justice. His specific responsibility was as Minister for Prisons and Rehabilitation.[4][7][14] He was appointed Attorney General on 15 July 2014, replacing Dominic Grieve. For the purposes of this role, he was appointed a Queen's Counsel.[15]
Wright speaks at the 150 Years of International Humanitarian Law: The UK Perspective event in London on 29 October 2014.
At the 2015 general election, Wright was re-elected with an increased vote share of 58.4% and an increased majority of 21,002.[16][17]
Wright campaigned for the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union before the EU membership referendum on 23 June 2016.[18]
In November 2016, Wright was criticised by a number of other Conservative MPs for his role in the Government's loss of a High Court case which gave MPs and peers a veto over when Brexit begins. Although it was suggested that he should resign as Attorney General, Wright retained his position.[19]
At the snap 2017 general election, Wright was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 60.8% but a decreased majority of 18,086.[20][17]
With Sajid Javid in late 2018, Wright warned social media firms that "the era of self-regulation is coming to an end" with regard to extremist content and announced a forthcoming 'online harms white paper', published in April 2019,[24] which is expected to introduce legal regulation of online publishers and social media, including new censorship rules.[25][26]
At the 2019 general election, Wright was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 57.7% but an increased majority of 20,353.[27]
In late May 2022, Jeremy Wright became the 27th Conservative MP to publicly call for Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign, in a 2,000 word letter on his website.[28][29]
In November 2023, Wright voted against a ceasefire in Gaza.[30]
From 1 September 2021 to 1 September 2022, Wright was a Professor of Practice at the University of Warwick in Coventry, for which he received £10,000 per annum, paid monthly. This was for approximately 3 hours a week. (Registered 1 October 2021).[31]
Expenses claims
Wright has defended his expenses claims as an MP, including claiming nearly £3,000 for the purchase of furniture for a flat in London after he became an MP in 2005.[32] He repaid £46.71 over-claimed for council tax in 2007–08 after a "genuine mistake".[33] He also claimed just under £800 in mobile phone call charges which he was ordered to repay.[33] He appealed the decision to order repayment of these expenses, claiming that he had requested permission to charge an amount for mobile phone calls as he did not have a landline installed in his London flat.[33][34][35] Wright succeeded in his appeal and was not required to repay the amount claimed for mobile phone calls.[36] Wright published errors on his website in 2009, placing political links on it, an activity banned if costs for the site are paid for from Parliamentary expenses, although he was not required to repay the expenses claimed in this instance.[37]
Personal life
He married Yvonne Salter in 1998, with whom he has a son and a daughter. He and his wife live in the village of Shrewley in Warwickshire.[3][38]
In November 2018, Wright said that he likes to unwind by spending time with his "very large" Lego collection. Wright described assembling lego bricks as "therapeutic".[39]
^[1], Sky Sports report, 25 July 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
^ abcd'WRIGHT, Jeremy Paul', Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, December 2012; online edn, November 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
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