Who is Tory defector Nick Boles? Oxford-educated Remainer, two-time cancer survivor and ‘country boy turned metrosexual’ who has quit to become ‘Independent Progressive Conservative’
- Nick Boles said he would sit as an ‘Independent Progressive Conservative’ after quitting the Tories, following a narrow defeat for his Norway-plus Brexit proposal
- He is a leading gay Conservative and was a strong supporter of David Cameron
- In recent weeks he had faced efforts to de-select him by his Lincolnshire party
Former minister Nick Boles is the latest Remainer to quit the Tories as Theresa May fights a losing battle to bring the warring factions of her party under control.
Mr Boles said he would sit as an ‘Independent Progressive Conservative’ after dramatically crossing the floor last night.
The final straw for him was a narrow defeat, by 21 votes, for his Norway-plus proposal in the latest round of ‘indicative votes’ on Brexit.
But Mr Boles, a prominent gay Conservative and strong David Cameron supporter, who has called himself a ‘country boy turned metrosexual’ has been on the brink of leaving the party for some time.
Nick Boles MP, pictured in the Commons last night, said he would sit as an ‘Independent Progressive Conservative’ after dramatically quitting the Tories
Mr Boles, educated at Winchester and Oxford, was first elected a Tory councillor in 1998 in the City of Westminster in London.
Now aged 53, he is also a two-time cancer survivor, having successful treatment in 2007 and again in 2017.
He entered Parliament in 2010, winning the Lincolnshire seat of Grantham and Stamford which he held comfortably in the 2015 and 2017 general elections.
In 2012 he became a minister under David Cameron, a Tory leader he said recently he was ‘proud to support’.
He served as a junior minister at Communities and Local Government, moving to be Minister of State for Skills in 2014 before returning to the back benches after Mr Cameron left office in the wake of the Brexit vote.
During the referendum he backed Remain, saying last year he ‘didn’t believe that leaving the EU was worth the hassle’.
Nonetheless he voted to trigger Article 50, having to be wheeled from his hospital bed to cast the vote despite undergoing chemotherapy treatment.
He is gay and married to Israeli-born husband Shay Meshulam, who is 20 years younger than him.
As a minister he said he had ‘played a part in persuading David Cameron’ to back the introduction of same-sex marriage.
‘I have wanted my party to be guided by liberal instincts, and inspired by progressive goals while also drawing on a deep well of conservative pragmatism and common sense,’ he said recently.
Nick Boles is wheeled from his hospital bed to vote for Article 50 in 2017 (left) and poses outside Downing Street in 2015 (right) when he was a minister under David Cameron
However he has found himself at odds with the Tory Government in recent months.
In January he broke with the Tory front bench to champion a Labour-backed amendment, calling for Brexit to be delayed until 2020.
He also spearheaded initial backbench efforts to seize control of Commons business in order to stop a No Deal departure.
Two weeks ago he said he would not stand for re-election after efforts by local activists in the Grantham and Stamford Conservative Association to dump him as the party’s candidate.
His allies have included fellow Remainer Amber Rudd, who called him a ‘typically thoughtful’ MP after he quit his local party.
Monday night’s votes were the final straw as Mr Boles declared his party had become ‘incapable of compromise’.
He will now sit on the opposition benches alongside other parties including Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP and The Independent Group.