Jonathan Bainbridge

The Right Honourable Jonathan Bainbridge MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 June 2017
Prime Minister	Catherine Willoughby
Preceded by	Daniel Taylor
First Secretary of State
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 June 2017
Prime Minister	Catherine Willoughby
Preceded by	Daniel Taylor
Secretary of State for Foreign and Colonial Affairs
In office 14 June 2013 – 14 June 2017
Prime Minister	Catherine Willoughby Thomas Attenborough
Preceded by	George Hawthorne
Succeeded by	Sir Lionel Richard-Spence
Chief Whip
In office 1 March 2006 – 14 June 2013
Prime Minister	Thomas Attenborough Arthur Langley Andre Torre
Preceded by	Margaret Springer
Succeeded by	Francis Urquhart
Member of Parliament for Sutton Hoo
Incumbent
Assumed office 18 May 1995
Preceded by	Jo Swawnson
Majority	8,022 (32.8%)
Personal details
Born	Jonathan FitzWilliam Bainbridge 16 September 1960 Westminster, Kiribati
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Georgiana Everdeen (m. 1994)
Children	4
Alma mater	Trinity College, Westminster
Religion	Roman Catholic

Jonathan FitzWilliam Bainbridge is a Kiribatian Conservative politician, currently serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sutton Hoo since 1995 and served previously as the Foreign Secretary and the Conservative Chief Whip. As First Secretary of State, he is also the second most senior minister of the Crown, after the prime minister.

Early life and education

Bainbridge was born 16 September 1960 in the Royal Borough of Swindon, Westminster, the son of Sir Antony Bainbridge, a member of Parliament, and his wife Annalise. He was primed from an early age for a career in politics and frequently accompanied his father to debates in the House of Commons, where he met many of his father's parliamentary colleagues, including the prime minister.

As his family were Catholic, Bainbridge was not sent to attend boarding school (primarily the reserve of the Tarawan elites), but attended Swindon Latin Grammar School. Bainbridge was later accepted to study at Trinity College, Westminster, where he read Literae Humaniores, graduating in 1981 with first-class honours.

Early political career

Member of Parliament

Bainbridge stood in the 1995 general election as the Conservative candidate for the Sutton Hoo constituency in Cheshire, a safe Tory seat. He won the constituency by a comfortable margin and took up his seat that year. Bainbridge's oratory skills made him a formidable force in the Commons, even from the back benches, and his cool, respectful demeanour won him the respect of his colleagues from across the political spectrum.

Chief Whip

In 2006, Bainbridge was appointed by prime minister Andre Torre as the Conservative Chief Whip. Tasked with keeping an increasingly-rebellious parliamentary party in line with the Government's agenda, Bainbridge's tenure as Chief Whip saw the fewest defections against the Torre Government and only one Government defeat on a local housing authority bill. After Torre's resignation, Bainbridge was asked to continue in his post as Chief Whip by both Arthur Langley and Thomas Attenborough.

In government

Foreign Secretary

In 2013, Thomas Attenborough promoted Bainbridge to the role of Foreign Secretary. In his first address to the House of Commons upon his appointment, Bainbridge advocated what he called, "iron fist, velvet glove diplomacy," which sought to combine traditional military strength with economic leverage and humanitarian aid. An advocate of increased autonomy for Kiribati's overseas territories and dependencies, one of his first actions as Foreign Secretary was to shepherd the Colonial Trade Act 2013 through the House of Commons, which permitted Kiribatian dependencies to set their own trade policy.

In 2014, Bainbridge supported Catherine Willoughby in the 2014 Conservative Party leadership election, the only cabinet minister to do so. Willoughby went on to win the election and kept Bainbridge in his post as Foreign Secretary. Though often critical of Willoughby during her time on the back benches, he and the Prime Minister would develop a close political and personal relationship thereafter.

In 2015, Bainbridge entered Kiribati-Tarawa into the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and stated the Government's official policy to maintain current and resupply stockpiles of nuclear weapons only, but not expand the arsenal. The same year, he ordered the creation of a task force within the intelligence services to track down and confiscate stole fissile material in order to fight against the threat nuclear terrorism, and chaired an international conference of fifteen nations pledging cooperation against nuclear terrorism.

Colonial affairs

As Foreign and Colonial Secretary, Bainbridge implemented measures to provide for increased autonomy to Kiribati's colonial dependencies and increased investment from Kiribati to the colonies. His tenure saw the creation of the Colonial Investment Bank to make loans to colonial governments for infrastructure projects.

During Bainbridge's tenure, the Government passed the New Tarawa Act 2015 which extended full self-government to the Dominion of New Tarawa.

Cabinet crisis of 2017

In January 2017, three years into Catherine Willoughby's premiership, a cabinet crisis over the budget - specifically the abolition of the Secondary Income Tax - caused several prominent ministers to offer their resignations, including Daniel Taylor, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Cabinet minutes show that Bainbridge was the only minister to support the Prime Minister during the crisis - both publicly and in private.

In a rare moment of public frustration, Bainbridge chastised his cabinet colleagues for their behaviour. Speaking on a Sunday morning news programme, he said, "In my whole career I've never seen such blatant opportunism, a cabinet turning against their leader like Brutus in the Forum. Vile. Abhorrent. Treacherous. They must be stopped."

Chancellor of the Exchequer

In 2017, following the Conservatives' surprise election gains in the 2017 general election, Bainbridge was appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer as part of the cabinet reshuffle which was dubbed by the press as the "Night of the Long Knives." Willoughby removed every single cabinet minister, excepting Bainbridge and two others. She also named him First Secretary of State, thus making him the most senior cabinet minister and the Government's point person for constitutional issues.

Bainbridge presented his first budget to the House of Commons in early 2018; it was perceived as a significantly more austere budget than past years and included a phaseout of the controversial Secondary Income Tax, an issue which had nearly brought down Willoughby's premiership just a year before. The budget passed along party lines, with only two Tory defections, both of them cabinet ministers axed by Willoughby, including the former Chancellor, Daniel Taylor.

Political positions

Tarawan devolution

In a break with the official Conservative Party position, Bainbridge has spoken in favour of the creation of a devolved Tarawan parliament by popular referendum several times, arguing that giving the nation more autonomy and control over local issues would undermine support for Tarawan independence. "Frankly, I don't see any reason why Tarawa shouldn't be allowed self-government, if they want it. Getting government closer to the people makes it better able to know and respond to their needs, and would allow the government in Westminster to focus on truly national issues. That sounds like a win-win to me."

Personality

Bainbridge is noted by his colleagues for his technocratic style of politics and his no-nonsense, soft-spoken demeanour. Thomas Attenborough, the prime minister in whose Cabinet Bainbridge served, said, "He's precisely the kind of friend you'd want to have if you needed to bury a body... and in politics one does often has to bury a few metaphorical bodies."

Bainbridge is also renowned for his oratory acumen and deep knowledge of policy.