Margot Cathleen James is a British politician who was Member of Parliament for Stourbridge from 2010 until 2019. She was the Minister of State for Digital and the Creative Industries from 9 January 2018, resigning on 18 July 2019 to vote against the Government on an amendment seeking to prevent prorogation of Parliament to force through a ‘no-deal’ Brexit. James had the Conservativewhip removed on 3 September 2019 On 29 October 2019 she was one of ten Conservative MPs to have the whip restored, but stood down as an MP on 6 November.
James worked in sales and marketing for her father's business, Maurice James Industries, a haulage, waste management, and property group based around Birmingham. After working for a consulting firm, in 1986 she co-founded Shire Health Group, a public relations and clinical trials organisation. Shire Health was voted "Consultancy of the Year" three times in the Communiqué Awards for 1998, 1999 and 2001, while James was voted Communicator of the Year in 1997. The company was sold to WPP Group in 2004, with James appointed Head of European Healthcare for WPP subsidiary Ogilvy & Mather.
Political career
James had resigned from the Conservative Party after Margaret Thatcher was ousted as Prime Minister. She rejoined the Conservative Party in 2004. At the May 2005 general election, she was the Conservative candidate for the Holborn and St. Pancras constituency. She came third behind the sitting MP, Labour's Frank Dobson, and the Liberal Democrat candidate Jill Fraser. In May 2006, James was elected a local councillor for the Brompton ward of Kensington & Chelsea, becoming one of the Conservative Party's few "out" lesbian office holders. She resigned from the council in 2008. James was placed on the "A-List" of Conservative Party parliamentary candidates ahead of the 2010 general election, and was selected as the candidate for the marginal Labour-held constituency of Stourbridge, from where she was elected. This made her the first openly lesbian MP in the Conservative Party, second "out" lesbian in the House of Commons, after Angela Eagle, and the first to have come out before her election. In her maiden speech she paid tribute to Stourbridge's history of glass making. In January 2016, the Labour Party unsuccessfully proposed an amendment in Parliament that would have required private landlords to make their homes "fit for human habitation". According to Parliament's register of interests, James was one of 72 Conservative MPs who voted against the amendment who personally derived an income from renting out property. The Conservative Government had responded to the amendment that they believed homes should be fit for human habitation but did not want to pass the new law that would explicitly require it. James was opposed to leaving the European Union prior to the 2016 referendum. She was the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Stephen Green, Baron Green of Hurstpierpoint, during his period as Minister for Trade and Investment. James endorsed Rory Stewart during the 2019 Conservative leadership election. She resigned from Government on 18 July 2019 after rebelling in an attempt to block the prorogation of Parliament. She stood down as an MP on 3 November 2019 following disagreements with her local party.
Other activities
James served on the board of ParksideNHS Trust, and worked as a Mental Health Manager. She spent ten years as a trustee of ABANTU, an African women's charity, during which time she trained women from more than 40 different African countries in communications and lobbying skills. She has also worked as a mentor for The Prince's Trust and Young Enterprise. She sits on the Court of Governors at LSE. She is a vice-president of the Debating Group. and in 2019, was named the 50th 'Most Influential Woman in UK Tech' by Computer Weekly magazine.
Personal life
James lives in South Kensington and Stourbridge with her partner, Jay Hunt, previously a producer and presenter with the BBC and now managing director of a video production company, Violet Productions. She ranked in the top 50 on The Independents "Pink List" of the 101 most influential British gay men and women in 2009.
