George Freeman’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Intro British politician
Is Politician 
From United Kingdom 
Type Politics 
Gender male
Birth 12 July 1967, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Age: 53 years
Star sign Cancer
Politics Conservative Party

George William Freeman (born 12 July 1967) is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Norfolk since 2010.

Freeman was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Life Sciences in July 2014, and left the government when the office was closed in 2016. He was appointed chair of the Prime Minister’s Policy Board in July 2016, and resigned in November 2017.

He is a founder of 2020 Conservatives group and a member of Bright Blue’s advisory board.

Early life

Freeman was born on 12 July 1967 to jockey Arthur Freeman and Joanna Stockbridge. His parents divorced soon after he was born, and he had no contact with his father until he reached adulthood, growing up as a ward of court. Freeman would later buy at auction the trophy his father received as winner of the 1958 Grand National.

He counts 19th-century Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone as his great-great-great-uncle, and Mabel Philipson as his great-aunt. He was educated at Radley College and Girton College, Cambridge, graduating with a Geography degree in 1989.

After university, Freeman worked in Westminster as a lobbyist for the National Farmers Union. Before entering Parliament, he had a career in biomedical venture capital.

Political career

Freeman stood unsuccessfully in Stevenage at the 2005 general election. He was subsequently added to the Conservative A-List, and was selected for Mid Norfolk in October 2006.

Freeman was elected in the 2010 general election as MP for Mid Norfolk. The previous incumbent, Keith Simpson, contested the neighbouring Broadland constituency instead.

The Independent highlighted Freeman as one of a small number of MPs who claimed Parliamentary expenses for rent in London despite owning and letting out property in the city.

Shortly after entering Parliament, Freeman was elected Chair of the All Party Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture. He was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Climate Change, Greg Barker MP, in the Coalition Government’s first tranche of appointments. In July 2011, Freeman was appointed Government Life Science Advisor.

At a 2011 Boxing Day hunt, he called for a review of the ban on hunting with dogs, calling it “class war against the countryside”. In the same year, he opposed holding a referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union. In 2013, Freeman opposed the legalisation of same-sex marriage and supported military intervention in Syria.

After a number of accidents on the A47 road in his constituency, Freeman campaigned for investment in safety. The road was included in a programme of investment announced in December 2014.

In 2014, he was appointed Minister for Life Sciences at the Department of Health and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The role had not previously existed in any country. Freeman was nicknamed “High Tech Hezza”, after Michael Heseltine whose former office he occupied while minister. During this role, Freeman was criticised by Labour opponents for describing use of prosecutions to enforce the minimum wage as “the politics of envy”. In 2015, he asked the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to establish an enquiry into disabilities caused by hormone pregnancy tests.

Freeman is a co-founder of the 2020 Group of Conservative MPs, which he described as the “radical progressive centre ground” of the Conservative Party.

In 2017, Freeman criticised a tribunal ruling that people with extreme anxiety who struggle to leave the house should have the same legal status as the partially sighted, saying that the former were not “really disabled”. After criticism from opposition MPs, disability charity Scope, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission, he said that he regretted if his comment “inadvertently caused any offence which was not intended”, and that he did not “need any lectures on the damage anxiety does” after childhood experience of anxiety and depression.

Freeman chaired the Prime Minister’s Policy Board until his resignation in November 2017. He warned the party not to be defined by “nostalgia, hard Brexit, public sector austerity and lazy privilege”. In September 2018, he called for Prime Minister Theresa May’s resignation once a deal on the UK’s departure from the European Union was secured through Parliament. He said he would stand to be her successor if supported by his party, before ruling out the possibility shortly afterward.

At a party conference fringe meeting in 2018, Freeman described ‘his horror’ being given £4.2bn by the Treasury to computerise the NHS which was then still relying on paper records. He had not been invited to any of the meetings about the project, authorised by George Osborne and Jeremy Hunt, and had received no clear directions on how it was to be spent.

Personal life

Freeman was married from 1996 to 2016, and has two children.

You May Also Like

Tom Hardy’s net worth, biography, fact, career, awards and life story

Tom Hardy Net Worth: Tom Hardy is an English actor who has a net worth of $45 million dollars. Some notable works he has appeared in include the films “Inception” (2010), “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012), and “Dunkirk” (2017), as well as the BBC show “Peaky Blinders”. Early Life and Career Beginnings: Edward Thomas Hardy was born on September 15, 1977, in Hammersmith, London, England. His mother Anne (née Barrett) is an artist and painter, and his father Edward “Chips” Hardy is a novelist and comedy writer. He is an only child, and was raised in East Sheen, London. He was a student at Tower House School, Reed’s School, and Duff Miller Sixth Form College, and later continued his education at the Richmond Drama School and the Drama Centre London, which is a part of Central Saint Martins. Hardy got his start in show business at the age of 21, when he won The Big Breakfast’s “Find Me a Supermodel” competition in 1998. The win landed him a brief contract with Models One, and he then landed the supporting part of John Janovec in the BBC miniseries “Band of Brothers” (2001).On-Screen Acting Career: Hardy’s feature film debut came in 2001, in Ridley Scott’s film “Black Hawk Down”. He gained more international exposure in 2002 when he appeared in “Star Trek: Nemesis”, as Reman Praetor Shinzon, the clone of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. He subsequently appeared in the films “Dot the I” (2003), “LD 50 Lethal Dose” (2003), “EMR” (2004), and “Layer Cake” (2004). Hardy went on to appear in the BBC miniseries “The Virgin Queen” (2005) alongside Emilia Fox, as the character of Robert Dudley. He followed this with an appearance in the BBC Two drama “Stuart: A Life Backwards” (2007), which is based on a true story. He continued with other BBC productions, such as the miniseries “Oliver Twist” (2007). In 2008, he appeared in “Bronson”, a film about the famous English prisoner Charles Bronson. To prepare for the role, Bronson put on three stone (19 kg/42 pounds) of weight, and also met Bronson several times. After several projects, such as the four-part TV drama “The Take” (2009) and ITV’s “Wuthering Heights” (2009), Hardy landed the role of Eames in the science fiction thriller film “Inception” (2010). For his performance as Eames, he won a BAFTA Rising Star award. He then appeared in the films “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” (2011), “Warrior” (2011), “This Means War” (2012), “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012), “Lawless” (2012), and “The Drop” (2014). 2015 proved to be highly productive for Hardy; he starred in five different films that year! These include “Child 44” (2015), “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015), “Legend” (2015), “London Road” (2015), and “The Revenant” (2015). For his role in “The Revenant”, he received an Academy Award nomination (his first!) for Best Supporting Actor. In addition to his large number of film projects at this time, Hardy also joined the cast of the BBC crime drama “Peaky Blinders” as Alfie Solomons, the leader of a Jewish gang. He joined the show in its second season in 2014. In 2017, Hardy starred on the eight-part BBC television show “Taboo” as the character James Delaney. He is also the show’s co-creator and executive producer. His collaborators and co-creators on the show include Steven Knight, as well as his own father, Edward “Chips” Hardy. Also in 2017, Hardy starred alongside the likes of Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy and Harry Styles in the action-thriller film “Dunkirk”. The film, directed by Christopher Nolan, is set during the Second World War, and is based on the events of the British military evacuation of Dunkirk in France in 1940. Following that, in 2018 Hardy starred as the comic book figure and occasional hero, Eddie Brock/Venom, in the film “Venom” (2018). It is not an official part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), but is connected to the MCU as an “adjunct” film based on Marvel source material. Stage Career: In addition to his work on the television and movie screens, Hardy has also been active in the theater and stage productions. In 2003, he performed in productions of “Blood” and “In Arabia We’d All Be Kings” at the Royal Court Theatre and Hampstead Theatre. For these performances, he won the 2003 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Outstanding Newcomer. Also in 2003, he received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Most Promising Newcomer in a Society of London Theatre Affiliate for his “In Arabia We’d All Be Kings” performance. In early 2010, Hardy starred in a production of “The Long Red Road” in Chiago at the Goodman Theatre. Personal Life: In 1999, Hardy married Sarah Ward, a producer. They divorced in 2004. In 2005, he met assistant director Rachael Speed on the set of “The Virgin Queen”, and they began a relationship. Together, they have one son, born in 2008. They broke up in 2009, ending their four-year relationship. That same year, in 2009, Hardy met the actress Charlotte Riley on the set of “Wuthuring Heights”, and they began dating. They got married in 2014, and have two children together. In 2010, Hardy took on the role of ambassador for the UK charity the Prince’s Trust. The organization provides training, business support, mentoring, general advice, and personal development services to youth. In December 2018, he joined the Reorg Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Foundation as a lead ambassador. They are partnered with The Royal Marines Charity and provide opportunities for serving personnel and veterans to learn the practice of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, as a form of recovery and therapy to deal with the challenges of mental health and physical disabilities. Hardy also practices Brazilian Jiu Jitsu himself.
Read More