Mike Freer

Mike Freer
Official portrait, 2021
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Courts and Legal Services[a]
In office 20 September 2022 – 5 July 2024
Prime Minister	Liz Truss Rishi Sunak
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Heidi Alexander
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exports
In office 16 September 2021 – 6 July 2022
Prime Minister	Boris Johnson
Preceded by	Graham Stuart
Succeeded by	Andrew Griffith
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Equalities
In office 16 September 2021 – 6 July 2022
Prime Minister	Boris Johnson
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Amanda Solloway
Comptroller of the Household
In office 16 December 2019 – 16 September 2021
Prime Minister	Boris Johnson
Preceded by	Jeremy Quin
Succeeded by	Marcus Jones
Lord Commissioner of the Treasury
In office 26 July 2018 – 16 December 2019
Prime Minister	Theresa May Boris Johnson
Preceded by	Andrew Stephenson
Succeeded by	Iain Stewart
Member of Parliament for Finchley and Golders Green
In office 6 May 2010 – 30 May 2024
Preceded by	Rudi Vis
Succeeded by	Sarah Sackman
Personal details
Born	Michael Whitney Freer[1] (1960-05-29) 29 May 1960 (age 64) Manchester, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Angelo Crolla
Website	www.mikefreer.com

Michael Whitney Freer (born 29 May 1960) is a British Conservative Party politician and former banker who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Courts and Legal Services from September 2022 to July 2024.^[2][3] He was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Finchley and Golders Green at the 2010 general election, and stood down in 2024.

Freer is a former leader of Barnet Council and a former councillor for the Church End and St Paul's wards in Finchley.

Early life and career

Michael Whitney Freer was born in Manchester on 29 May 1960. Part of his childhood was spent in a council house, which was then bought by his parents following the Conservative government's Right to Buy policy.^[4] He was educated at the Chadderton Grammar School for Boys and subsequently at St Aidan's County High School (now Richard Rose Central Academy) in Carlisle. He read accountancy and business law at the University of Stirling but did not graduate with a degree.^[4]

Freer worked for a number of fast-food chains, including Pizzaland, Pizza Hut and KFC, prior to a management career in the financial sector.^[4] Freer worked for Barclays Bank as an "Area Performance Manager".^[5]

Local government

Freer was first elected to Barnet Council in 1990 as a Conservative for the St. Paul's ward, winning the seat from Labour. However, he lost the seat back to Labour in 1994 and went on to lose in the East Finchley ward in 1998.^[6][7] He was re-elected to the council, for the Church End ward, in 2002. He was unanimously elected leader of the council by his party on 11 May 2006, replacing Brian Salinger as Conservative group leader, having previously been Salinger's deputy.^[8][9]

Following the collapse of Icelandic banks Glitnir and Landsbanki in October 2008 in which Barnet Council had invested £27.4m of council taxpayers' money, Freer was named Private Eye's "Banker of the Year" in its Rotten Borough Awards of 2008.^[10] The money was subsequently recovered.^[11]

In 2009, Freer announced a new model of local government delivery for the London Borough of Barnet, called "Future Shape" which he stated could save Barnet Council £24 million a year. The scheme has been dubbed easyCouncil because of its similarity to easyJet's business model.^[12]

Parliamentary career

In the 2005 general election, Freer contested Harrow West, coming second with 38.3% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP Gareth Thomas.^[13]

At the 2010 general election, Freer was elected to Parliament as MP for Finchley and Golders Green with 46% of the vote and a majority of 5,809.^[14][15] He was re-elected as MP for Finchley and Golders Green at the 2015 general election with an increased vote share of 50.9% and a decreased majority of 5,662.^{[16][17][18][19]} At the snap 2017 general election, Freer was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 47% and a decreased majority of 1,657.^[20][21] He was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, with a decreased vote share of 43.8% and an increased majority of 6,562.^[22][23]

Positions

Freer was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Transport following the 2015 general election, and served in this post until the 2017 general election.

On 15 June 2017, Freer was appointed as an Assistant Government Whip.^[24] In July 2018, he was appointed Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, before being promoted to Comptroller of the Household in December 2019 in the second Johnson ministry.

On 16 September 2021, Freer was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exports at the Department for International Trade during the cabinet reshuffle.^[25] He resigned on 6 July 2022 in protest over Boris Johnson's leadership.^[26] In his resignation letter, he accused Johnson's government of "creating an atmosphere of hostility for LGBT+ people."^[27]

In the House of Commons he has sat on the Work and Pensions Committee, the Scottish Affairs Committee and the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee.^[28]

Views

Freer is a member of Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI). Although he is not Jewish, The Jewish Chronicle in 2008 ranked him 99th in its list of 100 most powerful influences on the Jewish community.^[29] In 2014, Freer resigned as parliamentary private secretary to Nick Boles in order to vote against a backbench motion recognising Palestine as a state alongside Israel, arguing "the two-state solution we all want to see should be the end not the start of the process".^[30]

In January 2016, the Labour Party unsuccessfully proposed an amendment in Parliament that would have required private landlords to make their homes "fit for human habitation". According to Parliament's register of interests, Freer was one of 72 Conservative MPs who voted against the amendment who personally derived an income from renting out property. The Conservative Government had responded to the amendment that they believed homes should be fit for human habitation but did not want to pass the new law that would explicitly require it.^[31]

Freer was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.^[32] On 1 April 2019 he was one of fifteen Conservative MPs to vote in favour of a People's Vote – a second referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union.^[33]

He was a vocal defender of the Prime Minister Theresa May after she and the Conservative Party received criticism for her role in the Windrush scandal in 2018. After a constituent wrote to him complaining about the Conservative Party's role in the scandal, he responded that it was nothing to do with the party and that they should not believe 'misrepresentations' from the Labour Party.^[34]

Other events

Freer speaking at the British Consul Residence in New York City in 2023

In October 2011, Freer was the target of "a disturbance" at a constituency surgery in a mosque in his constituency of Finchley by members of Muslims Against Crusades.^[35]

In October 2019, Freer hosted a crocus planting ceremony in memory of the 1.5 million children who were murdered in the Holocaust, which was attended by around 100 members of the local community.^[36] Chair of the local constituency Labour Party Matt Staples subsequently claimed that Freer had "politicised" the event by not inviting "representatives from across the political spectrum".^[37]

In April 2022, after the conviction of Ali Harbi Ali for the murder of David Amess, Freer revealed that he had been told by anti-terrorism police that Ali had visited his constituency office on 17 September 2021. Freer would normally have been at the office, but was not there as he was attending other meetings. Freer upgraded his security arrangements following the incident.^[38]

In December 2023, Freer's constituency office was the target of a suspected arson attack.^[39] In January 2024, he announced that he would not seek re-election at the 2024 general election citing concerns over his personal safety from Muslims Against Crusades, Ali Harbi Ali and the arson attack on his constituency office.^[40]

Personal life

Freer is gay, which he revealed to fellow MPs during a speech in the debates over the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013.^[41]

He lives with his husband, Angelo Crolla,^[42] in Finchley, north London.^[7] He entered into a civil partnership in January 2007. On the eighth anniversary of their civil partnership, in January 2015, they converted it into a marriage.^[43]

Notes

1. As Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitution and Legal Services from September to October 2022. He assumed responsibilities for Courts from Gareth Johnson.

References

1. "No. 61961". The London Gazette. 19 June 2017. p. 11776.
2. "Ministerial Appointments: September 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
3. "Mike Freer MP". GOV.UK. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
4. "Mr easyCouncil defends his local government model". The Guardian. 3 February 2010. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
5. "Mike Freer's LinkedIn profile". LinkedIn. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
6. "Barnet Council Election Results 1964–2010" (PDF). Plymouth University. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
7. Marc, Shoffman (11 December 2006). "Gay councillor to fight key Tory target". Pink News. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
8. Marzouk, Lawrence (18 May 2006). "Right-wing coup". Times Series Newspapers. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
9. "About the Leader". Barnet Council Conservatives. Retrieved 3 June 2008.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
10. Lowe, Rebecca (8 January 2009). "Something rotten in the state of Barnet". Times Series. Archived from the original on 25 October 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2009.
11. "Response". London Borough of Barnet. Archived from the original on 27 April 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
12. Mulholland, Hélène (3 February 2010). "Mr easyCouncil defends his local government model". Guardian News and Media Limited. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
13. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
14. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
15. BBC News|Election 2010|Constituency|Finchley & Golders Green, BBC News, retrieved 27 July 2012
16. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
17. "Election results in Barnet - barnet.gov.uk". 9 July 2015. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
18. "Finchley & Golders Green parliamentary constituency - Election 2017" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
19. "UK ELECTION RESULTS". electionresults.blogspot.co.uk.
20. "Finchley & Golders Green parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
21. "House Of Commons Library 2017 Election report" (PDF).
22. "Election of a Member of Parliament for the Finchley and Golders Green Parliamentary Constituency: Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll" (PDF). London Borough of Barnet. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
23. "Finchley & Golders Green parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News.
24. "Assistant Government Whip – GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 17 June 2017. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
25. "Ministerial appointments: September 2021". 16 September 2021. Archived from the original on 17 September 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
26. Rigby, Beth. "BREAKING. Mike freer resigns". Twitter. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
27. Milton, Josh (6 July 2022). "Second Tory equalities minister, Mike Freer, quits as Johnson hangs on by thread". PinkNews.
28. "Michael Ellis". Parliament UK. Archived from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
29. "JC Power 100: The people shaping Jewish life in Britain". Jewish Chronicle. 25 April 2008. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
30. Kinder, Tabitha (14 October 2014). "Golders Green MP Mike Freer Resigns Role Over Commons Vote to Recognise Palestine as a State". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 19 June 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
31. "Tories vote down law requiring landlords make their homes fit for human habitation". Independent. 13 January 2016. Archived from the original on 6 September 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
32. Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 3 February 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
33. "The Public Whip — Voting Record – Mike Freer MP, Finchley and Golders Green (24934)". www.publicwhip.org.uk. Archived from the original on 15 August 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
34. Craig, Jon (23 April 2018). "Tory whip: Windrush critics 'opportunistic'". Independent. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
35. "MP Mike Freer 'threatened at mosque surgery'". BBC News. 29 October 2011. Archived from the original on 31 October 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
36. Wolfisz, Francine (4 October 2019). "Mike Freer hosts crocus garden planting to remember child Shoah victims". Jewishnews.timesofisrael.com. Archived from the original on 7 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
37. Harpin, Lee (4 October 2019). "Finchley and Golders Green MP Mike Freer accused of 'Politicising' Holocaust Memorial Bulb Planting Event". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
38. Rose, David (11 April 2022). "Golders Green MP reveals how last minute call from Boris prevented Amess killer from murdering him". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
39. "Tory MP Mike Freer's office hit by suspected arson attack". BBC News. 25 December 2023.
40. "Finchley and Golders Green MP Mike Freer quits amid personal safety concerns". Evening Standard. 31 January 2024. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
41. Freer, Mike (6 February 2013). "Mike Freer: A gay Tory MP on why he went public". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
42. Lamden, Tim (6 February 2013). "Gay Tory MP Mike Freer 'respects' opposition to 'landmark' gay marriage vote". Ham & High. Archived from the original on 26 September 2019. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
43. "Congratulations! Tory MP Mike Freer and partner Angelo convert their civil partnership to marriage". Pink News. 22 January 2015. Archived from the original on 23 January 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2015.

External links

• Official website
• Profile, conservatives.com
• Profile, finchleyconservatives.org.uk
• 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 Rudi Vis	Member of Parliament for Finchley and Golders Green 2010–2024	Succeeded by Sarah Sackman