Rt. Hon. Vicky Ford MP

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State | Minister for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean

Vicky Ford was appointed Minister for Africa at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office in September 2021 and became the Minister for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean in December 2021. Previously she was the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families at the Department for Education from February 2020 to September 2021. Vicky was first elected as the Conservative MP for Chelmsford in 2017.

From February 2020 to September 2021, Vicky served as Minister for Children and Families in the Department for Education, with responsibilities for vulnerable children. Prior to this she was a member of the Parliament’s Science & Technology and Women & Equalities Select Committees. She previously served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development.

A long term campaigner on environmental matters, Vicky was a founder member of the Conservative Environment Network. In 2018, she led the ‘Give Up Plastic for Lent’ campaign which contributed to government initiatives to reduce single use plastics. She has chaired a number of all party groups including those for Women in Parliament, Rare Diseases, Infrastructure and the Parliamentary Forum for Information and Communications Technology.

Vicky was a Member of the European Parliament for the East of England constituency from 2009 to 2017. She chaired the Internal Market and Consumer Affairs Committee (IMCO) in the European Parliament, during which time she was ranked in the top 10 most influential MEPs by Politico magazine.

As well as leading digital policy and single market reforms to boost trade, Vicky led negotiations that ended mobile roaming charges in the EU and chaired the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee as it revised proposed amendments to European gun laws following the Paris terrorist attacks. She also led on banking reform in the aftermath of the financial crisis and on budgetary reforms for Eurozone countries. Vicky helped establish a €80 billion Horizon fund for science and research that brought over £500 million into the East of England.

Prior to her election as a MEP, Vicky was a local councillor in South Cambridgeshire, leading for finance and community development.