Simon Clarke

On 27 July 2019 he was appointed Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury in Boris Johnson's administration. On 13 February 2020 he had his portfolio changed to a Minister of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Clarke unsuccessfully stood as the Conservative candidate in the Middlesbrough constituency in the 2015 general election, coming third and suffering a swing against his party of 2.3%. Whilst being employed as a Policy Advisor to the Conservative MP Graham Stuart, he was selected as the candidate for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland in April 2017. He was elected at the 2017 general election, winning the seat from Labour after the sitting MP Tom Blenkinsop stood down.

Clarke was born in North Tees Hospital and grew up in the village of Marton. His parents Richard and Jill Clarke were a solicitor and stay-at-home mother. He was privately educated at Yarm School in North Yorkshire, before going on to study History at University College, Oxford. After leaving university he moved to London and trained as a solicitor with Slaughter and May before going to work in 2010 for the Surrey-based Conservative MP Dominic Raab, and then the Yorkshire-based Conservative MP Graham Stuart.

Simon Richard Clarke (born 28 September 1984) is a British Conservative Party politician who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland. He was first elected in the 2017 general election and held his seat with a greatly increased majority in 2019. Since February 2020, he has been Minister of State for Regional Growth and Local Government after serving as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury.