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Joy Morrissey
Joyce Rebekah "Joy" Morrissey (née Inboden; born 30 January 1981)[2][3] is an American-born British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Beaconsfield since 2019.[4][5] She was a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury from November 2023 until July 2024.[6] She has been Opposition Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Commons since November 2024, serving alongside Gagan Mohindra.[7] Morrissey grew up in the United States,[2] moving to the United Kingdom in 2008 to attend the London School of Economics.[8] Before doing so, in 1999 and 2000, Morrissey undertook humanitarian work in Albania, Kosovo, China and India, helping refugees, working in an orphanage and teaching English.[9] Before her election to Parliament she worked at the Centre for Social Justice,[10] as a Parliamentary staffer,[2] and was elected a Councillor in Ealing.[11] Early life and educationJoyce Morrisey was born on 30 January 1981 in Indiana, United States.[2] She attended Worthington Christian High School in Ohio and graduated in 1999.[12] Inboden received a master's degree specialising in European Social Policy from the London School of Economics.[8] After completing her postgraduate studies, Morrissey attained British citizenship and is now a British-American dual national.[2] Acting careerIn the late 2000s, Morrissey had a brief acting career. Under the name Joy Boden she appeared alongside Marisa Tomei in a TV movie titled The Rich Inner Life of Penelope Cloud, which she also produced, and which her now-husband directed. After becoming a mother, she decided not to return to the film industry, stating that she "actually looked at going back to get (her) PhD in International Development but got involved with the local Ealing Conservatives".[13] Political careerMorrissey was an elected a Conservative councillor on Ealing Council, where she represented the ward of Hanger Hill until April 2020.[1] She was a London-wide list candidate at the 2016 London Assembly election, but was not elected.[14] At the snap 2017 general election, Morrissey stood as the Conservative candidate in Ealing Central and Acton, coming second with 34.7% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP Rupa Huq.[15][16][17][18] In 2018, she sought nomination to be the London Conservatives mayoral candidate for the 2021 London mayoral election, making it through to the final three shortlist; Morrissey was ultimately not selected.[19] Parliamentary careerMorrisey was elected to Parliament as MP for Beaconsfield at the 2019 general election with 56.1% of the vote and a majority of 15,712.[20] In April 2020, Morrissey was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.[21] She was appointed PPS to the Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Justice, Dominic Raab in October 2020.[22] On 15 December 2021, Morrissey criticised the influence that unelected public health officials were able to exert on public policy during the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that policy decisions should be made by those accountable to the public.[23][24] In February 2022, she was appointed as a PPS to the Prime Minister, working alongside Lia Nici and James Duddridge.[25] Morrissey endorsed Liz Truss in the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election.[26] Morrissey was appointed Assistant Government Whip on 8 July 2022 by the outgoing Johnson administration.[27] On 8 September 2022 she was reappointed an Assistant Government Whip as part of the new Government of Prime Minister Liz Truss, one of very few people to make the transition from the Johnson to the Truss administration.[28] On 27 October 2022 Morrissey was reappointed an Assistant Government Whip once again by her third Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak.[29] In February 2023, Morrisey was re-selected as the Conservative candidate for Beaconsfield at the 2024 general election.[30] In June 2023, she was one of six Conservative MPs to vote against censuring Boris Johnson following the Commons Privileges Committee investigation.[31] In November 2023, Morrissey celebrated the decision by the British government to block the development of a data centre on the site of a former quarry next to the M25.[32] At the 2024 general election, Morrissey was re-elected to Parliament as MP for Beaconsfield with a decreased vote share of 38.8% and a decreased majority of 5,455.[33] She was appointed Shadow Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero and an Opposition whip in the Opposition frontbench of Rishi Sunak July 2024.[34] References
External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Joy Morrissey. |
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