Gareth Bacon

Gareth Andrew Bacon (born 7 April 1972) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Orpington since 2019. He was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Sentencing from November 2023 to July 2024. He was Shadow Minister for London from July 2024 to November 2024 and Shadow Transport Secretary between November 2024 and July 2025.

A member of the Conservative Party, he was a member of the London Assembly from 2008 until he stood down in 2021 after his election as an MP.

Early life and career Bacon was born in Hong Kong in 1972, the son of Robert and Helen Bacon.

Political career Bacon joined the Conservative Party in 1987. Prior to his election as the Member of Parliament for Orpington, he had a long career in local government, serving as a London Assembly Member since 2008 and as a local councillor since 1998.

Following his election as a Member of Parliament in 2019, Bacon announced that he would stand down from Bexley Council and the London Assembly ahead of the upcoming local elections.

Member of the London Assembly Bacon stood for Greenwich and Lewisham on the Greater London Authority in 2004, but was unsuccessful.

In 2012, Bacon, who was ranked second on the Conservative Party top-up list, went on to be re-elected to the London Assembly. In June 2010, Bacon was appointed by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, to serve on the London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority. He became chairman of the authority in 2015, and held this position until the following year, remaining a member of the authority until 2018. He succeeded James Cleverly, who had been elected to Parliament at the 2015 general election. In October 2015, Bacon succeeded Andrew Boff as the Leader of the GLA Conservative Group at City Hall, a position he held until 2019.

In the London Assembly, Bacon was Chairman of the Assembly Budget and Performance Committee (from 2016 onwards), Chairman of the Budget Monitoring Subcommittee and vice-chairman of the Oversight Committee. He was Deputy Mayor of the borough from 2001 to 2002.

Member of Parliament On 8 November 2019, Bacon was selected by Orpington Conservatives to be their candidate for the upcoming general election, after incumbent Jo Johnson, the younger brother of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, chose not to seek re-election.

On 12 December 2019, Bacon was elected as the Member of Parliament for Orpington. Despite a fall in his numerical vote share, Bacon was elected with the highest Conservative vote share in the seat since 1955, winning the seat with 30,882 votes, a majority of 22,378.

Bacon made his maiden speech in Parliament on 5 February 2020. He became a member of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee on 2 March 2020.

Following an interim report on the connections between colonialism and properties now in the care of the National Trust, including links with historic slavery, Bacon was among the signatories of a letter to The Telegraph in November 2020 from the "Common Sense Group" of Conservative Parliamentarians. The letter accused the National Trust of being "coloured by cultural Marxist dogma, colloquially known as the 'woke agenda'".

Bacon was appointed as a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) for the Department for Work and Pensions in September 2021. On 15 March 2022, he was appointed as PPS to the Minister of State for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency, Jacob Rees-Mogg, within the Cabinet Office. On 7 July 2022, he was appointed as PPS to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Kit Malthouse. Following the reshuffle after Liz Truss's election as Leader of the Conservative Party, he was appointed as PPS to the new Secretary of State for Justice Brandon Lewis on 26 September 2022.

On 13 November 2023, Bacon was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Justice by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. He is a former rugby player, a current squash player and a season ticket holder at Manchester United Football Club.