Parliamentary career
Atkins was selected over three others in July 2014 as the Conservative candidate for Louth and Horncastle,at a meeting (referred to as an "Open Primary" by the party) [14] of around 200 local party members in Spilsby. It is a safe Conservative seat;all areas of it have been continuously held by the party since 1924. [15] [16]
The retiring MP was Sir Peter Tapsell,who at that time was Father of the House of Commons,having served the area for nearly 50 years in addition to his previous Parliamentary service. Former Prime Minister John Major (who first entered the House of Commons at the same time as her father) supported her first parliamentary election campaign,and has known her "since she was in nappies". [17]
Atkins was elected as the MP for Louth and Horncastle at the 2015 general election,winning 51.2% of the vote and with a majority of 14,977 votes. [18] [19] After being elected,Atkins was appointed as a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee in July 2015. [20]
Atkins supported the UK remaining within the EU prior to the 2016 EU membership referendum,but consistently voted in favour of a referendum being held. [21] [22] After the referendum,she voted in favour of triggering Article 50 in February 2017. [23] [24] In the 2017 general election,she retained the seat with 63.9% of the votes and an increased majority,of 19,641. [25]
In June 2017,Atkins was appointed as a junior minister. [26] Following Priti Patel's resignation as International Development Secretary,she replaced Sarah Newton as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Vulnerability,Safeguarding and Countering Extremism in the Home Office. [27]
In the House of Commons she has sat on the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill (Joint Committee) and the Home Affairs Committee. [28]
In April 2018,Atkins said she did not know the number of police officers in the country during an 'awkward' interview with Nick Ferrari on the LBC radio station. Ferrari informed her that the number was 123,142. This followed the leak of a Home Office report that concluded cuts to police numbers had "likely contributed" to a rise in serious violent crime. [29] The following month,she voluntarily recused herself from speaking on drug policy in relation to cannabis after it was reported that her husband Paul Kenward's company,British Sugar,grows under permit a non‐psychoactive variety of cannabis which is used in children's epilepsy medicine. [30]
In June 2019,Atkins vetoed the appointment of Niamh Eastwood,the director of Release,to the independent advisory NGO Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). She did so as Eastwood had previously been critical of the Home Office's drug policy on social media,including criticising a letter by Atkins in which she opposed the introduction of drug consumption rooms. Eastwood had previously been approved by a Home Office advisory assessment panel. A subject access request by Eastwood revealed that ministers vetted social media profiles of appointments to public bodies including references to "Windrush","the government","Brexit",and "anything diversity-related". [31] In October 2019,Professor Alex Stevens,a criminal justice expert,resigned from the ACMD over alleged "political vetting" of panel members by the government. [32] Kit Malthouse,the Minister for Policing,replaced Atkins as the minister responsible for the government's drug policy on 7 October. [33]
In the 2019 general election,Atkins was re-elected for Louth and Horncastle with an increased majority of 28,868,obtaining 72.7% of the vote [34] from a turnout of 65.7%.
In September 2021,following the withdrawal of foreign defence forces from Afghanistan and takeover by the Taliban,Atkins became Minister of State for Prisons and Probation at the Ministry of Justice and the Minister for Afghan Resettlement. She oversaw "Operation Pitting",the government's Afghan resettlement programme. [35] On 6 July 2022,during the July 2022 United Kingdom government crisis,Atkins resigned as justice minister,citing concerns with party leadership. [36] [37]
In the November 2023 Cabinet reshuffle,Atkins was appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. [38]
Atkins was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council on 15 November 2023 at Buckingham Palace following her appointment,entitling her to the honorific prefix " The Right Honourable " for life. [39]
