Paul Goodman

Paul Alexander Cyril Goodman, Baron Goodman of Wycombe (born 17 November 1959) is an English journalist and Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wycombe from 2001 to 2010, during which time he was a Shadow Minister shadowing the Department for Communities and Local Government. In 2024, Goodman was elevated to the House of Lords by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

From 2013 to 2024, Goodman served as editor of the centre-right political blog ConservativeHome. His work on the blog earned him a reputation for wielding significant influence over the Conservative Party, the centre-left New Statesman magazine calling him the "authoritative commentator or Tory politics" and the 28th most powerful right-wing figure in Britain.

Early life Paul Goodman was born the son of Jewish parents in London, and converted to Roman Catholicism in his mid-twenties. He was raised in East Sheen, and was privately educated at the Cranleigh School, Surrey before attending the University of York where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature in 1981. He was Chairman of the Federation of Conservative Students between 1983 and 1984, and was a member of the National Union of Students Executive during the two previous years.

In parliament he served on the Work and Pensions Select committee 2001–5. He also served for a year as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chairman of the Conservative Party David Davis from 2001, and was promoted to the frontbench by Michael Howard in 2003 as a spokesman on work and pensions. On David Cameron becoming Conservative leader in 2005, Paul Goodman was made a spokesman on Treasury matters. On 5 June 2009, amidst the uncertainty caused by the parliamentary expenses scandal, he announced in the Bucks Free Press that he would not stand for Parliament at the next general election. He said "a House in which professional politics predominates, entrenching and empowering a taxpayer-dependent political class distinct and separate from those who elect them...for better or worse, this future Commons isn't for me".

Personal life He has been married to Fiona Mary Ann Gill since 1999 and they have a son, named Daniel.

Publication Healthy Choices by Paul Goodman, John Redwood and Angela Watkinson, 2002