Nick Boles Keynote Speaker

Nick Boles was born in 1965. He studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Magdalen College, Oxford, and was awarded a first class degree. He then won a Kennedy Scholarship and spent 2 years at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, studying for a Masters in Public Policy.

Nick spent the first 10 years of his career in business: first as a merchant banker advising on the privatisation of state-owned industries in the former Soviet Union, then as co-founder and chief executive of a small group of companies supplying the DIY industry.

In 1998, Nick was elected onto Westminster Council and became chairman of housing. In 2001, Nick set up Policy Exchange which went on to become the most influential think tank on the centre right. In 2005, Nick stood for Parliament in Hove but lost by 420 votes. In 2007, Nick was appointed as head of David Cameron’s implementation team which drew up the Conservative Party’s detailed plans for government.

In May 2010, Nick was elected as MP for Grantham and Stamford with a majority of over 15,000. In September 2010, he published his first book, Which Way’s Up? The future for coalition Britain and how to get there. In November 2010, he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Nick Gibb MP, the Minister of State for Schools. In September 2012, he was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Communities and Local Government. In July 2014, he became Minister of State for Education & Skills. Nick is also a Political Fellow at the Institute for Government. In May 2015, Nick was re-elected as MP for Grantham and Stamford.