Greg Hands

Sir Gregory William Hands (born 14 November 1965) is a British politician who served as Minister for London and Minister of State for Trade Policy from November 2023 to July 2024. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chelsea and Fulham, previously Hammersmith and Fulham, from 2005 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as its Chairman from February to November 2023. Hands has served as Minister of State for Trade Policy under four prime ministers, holding the office on four occasions, ranging from 2016 to 2024, and also served as Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth from 2021 to 2022.

Hands was the MP for Chelsea and Fulham from 2010 to 2024; the constituency was created that year by the splitting of the former constituencies of Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham. Prior to these boundary changes, he served as the MP for the Hammersmith and Fulham constituency from 2005.

Hands served in Prime Minister David Cameron's Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2015 until 2016. He voted for the UK to remain in the European Union during the 2016 Brexit referendum. Following the referendum vote and Cameron's consequent resignation, Hands was demoted by the new prime minister Theresa May to a junior ministerial position at the Department for International Trade. Following the snap 2017 general election, Hands retained his position as Minister of State for Trade and Investment but also undertook the Minister for London role, replacing Gavin Barwell who lost his seat. Hands resigned in 2018, citing his opposition to the proposed expansion of Heathrow Airport, but returned to the position as Minister of State for Trade Policy in February 2020 under Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

In September 2021, Hands was appointed Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth. Following Johnson's resignation on 6 September 2022, Hands left that position and briefly returned to the backbenches before being appointed to his former role as Minister of State for Trade Policy by Prime Minister Liz Truss on 9 October 2022. Following Truss's resignation, he was retained as Trade Minister by new prime minister Rishi Sunak. Following the dismissal of Nadhim Zahawi in January 2023, Hands was promoted to Chairman of the Conservative Party by Sunak on 7 February 2023, but was sacked from this role on 13 November 2023. The same day, he was appointed to the role of Minister of State for Trade Policy. He was appointed Minister for London for a second time a day later.

Gregory Hands was born on 14 November 1965 to British parents in New York City. He lived in the United States until he was seven years old and his family moved back to the UK. He was educated at state schools in England, and completed his secondary education at Dr Challoner's Grammar School, Amersham in 1984.

During his gap year Hands worked in a swimming pool in Berlin where he gained the nickname “Tapper”; he became interested in the Eastern Bloc, visiting Prague and other Eastern European cities on future holidays.

He went on to attend Robinson College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a first in Modern History in 1989. He joined the Conservative Party as a student, served as the chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association, and was on the executive committee of the Cambridge University Students' Union.

Hands spent eight years after university in banking. He worked on trading floors in derivatives at the City of London and New York City until 1997.

Hands was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in 1998. He became the leader of the Conservative group in 1999, remaining in that capacity until 2003.

At the 2005 general election, Hands was elected to Parliament as MP for Hammersmith and Fulham, winning with 45.4% of the vote and a majority of 5,029.

In his maiden speech on 26 May 2005, Hands referred to the fact that the BBC was the largest employer in his constituency and that Hammersmith Broadway was the busiest road interchange in Europe.

Hands quickly became interested in the subject of MPs expenses, causing the whips to attempt to dissuade him.

In 2007, Hands was selected to be the Conservative candidate for the new Chelsea and Fulham parliamentary constituency. His previous seat of Hammersmith and Fulham was abolished for the 2010 general election, with Hammersmith having its own seat (being fought by Shaun Bailey for the Conservatives), and Fulham joining Chelsea in a new seat. In January 2009, Hands was appointed to the Conservative front bench team as a shadow Treasury minister. He also became the Parliamentary chairman of Conservative Friends of Poland.

Hands has dual American/British nationality. He lives in Fulham with his son and daughter. Hands says that he speaks five European languages, including German and Czech.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, his father, Edward, died with COVID-19 in a UK care home.