Mark Hoban - Parliamentary Career

Parliamentary Career

Hoban joined the Conservative Party in 1980, and in 1989 was elected as the treasurer of the Southampton Itchen Conservative Association and served until he was elected as the Association's vice chairman for two years in 1991.

He was the campaign manager for the local sitting Conservative MP Christopher Chope at both the 1987 and 1992 General Elections.

He contested the Tyneside seat of South Shields at the 1997 general election, finishing in second place some 22,153 votes behind the sitting Labour MP David Clark.

He was elected to the House of Commons at the 2001 general election for the Hampshire seat of Fareham following the retirement of the Conservative MP Peter Lloyd.

Hoban held the seat with a majority of 7,009 and has remained the MP there since. He made his maiden speech on 4 July 2001, in which he recalled one of his Fareham predecessors, Arthur Lee, who had donated the Prime Minister's country house Chequers to the nation in 1921.

In parliament he served as a member of the science and technology select committee for two years from 2001. He was made an Opposition Whip by Iain Duncan Smith in 2002, joining the frontbench under the leadership of Michael Howard in 2003 as a spokesman on education. Following the election of David Cameron as the party's leader in 2005, Hoban became Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury.

After the May 2010 General Election, Hoban took his shadow portfolio into Government when he was appointed Financial Secretary in George Osborne's Treasury team. His responsibilities include financial services policy including banking and financial services reform and regulation, financial stability, city competitiveness, wholesale and retail markets in the UK, Europe and internationally and the Financial Services Authority (FSA), Responsibility for UK Financial Investments (UKFI) and personal savings and pensions policy. He supports the Chancellor on EU and wider international finance issues.

He was also chairman of the Associate Parliamentary Group on Business, Finance and Accountancy, now succeeded by Ian Wright MP.

It was reported in the Independent in December 2011 that Hoban had been involved in meetings with bankers lobbying to avoid proposals in the Vickers Report that were intended to reduce risks in the banking industry. The talks were alleged to be secret, but were obtained via a Freedom of Information request.