Amanda Folkestone
| The Right Honourable Amanda Folkestone MP | |
|---|---|
| |
| Secretary of State for Education | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 13 May 2018 | |
| Prime Minister | Catherine Willoughby |
| Preceded by | Millicent Proctor |
| Visitor of the University of Westminster Ex Officio | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 13 May 2018 | |
| Chancellor | The Earl of Haversham |
| Preceded by | Millicent Proctor |
| Chairman of the Conservative Private Members' Committee | |
| In office 12 November 2013 – 13 May 2018 | |
| Leader | Catherine Willoughby Thomas Attenborough |
| Preceded by | Thomas Jowell |
| Succeeded by | Vacant |
| Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Women and Equalities | |
| In office 10 June 2012 – 12 November 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Jane Trivaine |
| Succeeded by | Jane Trivaine |
| Member of Parliament for Stoneybrook | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 12 May 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Cecil Beeston |
| Majority | 2,101 (8.8%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Amanda Elizabeth Folkestone 19 August 1979 HMNB Melbourne, Melbourne, New Tarawa |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | The Marquess of Rochdale (m. 2009) |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Lambeth College, Westminster |
| Religion | Church of Tarawa |
Amanda Elizabeth Folkestone, Marchioness of Rochford is a Kiribatian Conservative politician and government minister. She is the current Secretary of State for Education and serves as the Member of Parliament for Stoneybrook. Through her marriage to Roland Clarendon, 9th Marquess of Rochdale, she is also the Marchioness of Rochdale. Folkestone has previously served as the Chair of the Conservative Private Members' Committee and the Chair of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Women and Equalities.
As Secretary of State for Education, Folkestone is also the ex officio Visitor of the University of Westminster and a member of the Academic Senate, serving as the representative of the Crown in the University's administrative affairs.
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Early life and education
Folkestone was born at His Majesty's Naval Base Melbourne in New Tarawa, where her father, a naval officer, was stationed on duty. She returned to Kiribati aged 18 to begin her studies at Lambeth College, Westminster where she read linguistics, graduating with a first-class honours degree in 2001.
Upon graduation, Folkestone took up a job as an English teacher at Stanford Comprehensive School in Stanford, Kiribati. Her students were primarily low-income. In 2008 she was named deputy headmistress of Stanford Comprehensive.
Political career
Member of Parliament
In 2009, Folkestone was invited to give testimony before the Stanford City Council on school choice in anticipation of an initiative by the Labour-held council to convert local grammar schools and academies into state comprehensives. Folkestone opposed the plans, and the testimony brought her to the attention of the local Conservative association, who asked her to stand in the 2010 election.
Folkestone contested and won the parliamentary seat of Stoneybrook, a marginal seat held by Labour MP Cecil Beeston. Folkestone began to involve herself in backbench politics, working behind the scenes to critique legislation. She was named Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Women and Equalities in 2012, a position that she held for only a few months. Upon the resignation of Thomas Jowell, Chairman of the Conservative backbench committee, Folkestone stood for election to the position and was elected Chairman of the Conservative Private Members' Association in 2013, making her the top backbench Conservative in the House of Commons.
Chairman of the Conservative Private Members' Association
As Chairman of the Tory backbench committee, Folkestone presided over the 2014 Conservative leadership election, which saw Thomas Attenborough ousted from the leadership, replaced by Catherine Willoughby. Folkestone remained neutral during the contest but later said that she privately voted for Willoughby.
Secretary of State for Education
In 2018, Folkestone was named Secretary of State for Education by Catherine Willoughby following the resignation of her predecessor, Millicent Proctor, in the wake of a scandal over school accreditation.
In May 2018, Folkestone ordered a freeze on all collective bargaining with the National Union of Educators, Kiribati's teachers' union.
