Suella Fernandes

Suella Fernandes MP
Member of Parliament for Fareham
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 May 2015
Preceded by	Mark Hoban
Majority	22,262 (40.7%)
Personal details
Born	3 April 1980 Harrow, London, England
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	Queens' College, Cambridge Pantheon-Sorbonne University

Sue-Ellen Cassiana Fernandes^[1] (born 3 April 1980), known as Suella Fernandes, is a British Conservative Party politician. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Fareham since May 2015.^[2]

Early life and education

Fernandes' parents immigrated to Britain in the 1960s from Kenya and Mauritius. Her mother was a nurse and local councillor and her father worked for a housing association. Fernandes was educated at Heathfield School, Pinner, read law at Queens' College, Cambridge and completed a Masters at Pantheon-Sorbonne University.^[3]

Career

In the 2005 general election, Fernandes unsuccessfully contested Leicester East, coming a distant second to Labour's Keith Vaz. She attempted to be selected to be Conservative candidate in Bexhill and Battle but was unsuccessful and was eventually selected to be the Conservative candidate in Fareham.^[4]

Fernandes also sought election to the London Assembly at the 2012 elections, being placed fourth on the Conservative London-wide list. She missed out, however, as only the first three candidates were elected.

Before her election, she was a barrister at London-based No5 Chambers.^[5] She was elected with 56.1% of the vote and a majority of 22,262.^[6]

She is Chair of Governors at the Michaela Community School,^[7] and supports plans to create a free school in Fareham.^[8][9]

References

1. The London Gazette: no. 61230. p. 9122. 18 May 2015.
2. "Election 2015: Fareham parliamentary constituency". BBC.
3. ‘FERNANDES, Suella’, Who's Who 2016, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2016
4. Rigby, Elizabeth (10 December 2014). "'Being brown and a woman handicaps' candidate says Tory". Financial Times. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
5. Simmons, Richard, Meet the lawyers standing for Parliament, Lawyer 2B, 10 April 2015
6. "Fareham – Election Results". House of Commons Online Library. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
7. Fernandes, Suella (2015-09-16). "Jeremy Corbyn should join our crusade for better education". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2016-07-06.
8. Barber, Kimberley (2015-12-11). "Volunteers wanted to bring A-levels back in to town". The News. Portsmouth. Retrieved 2016-07-06.
9. Campbell, Loughlan (2016-06-08). "Bid for new Fareham school to offer A-levels pushed back to 2018". The News. Portsmouth. Retrieved 2016-07-06.