James Brokenshire

A photograph accompanying a May 2019 interview showed two double ovens in the Brokenshires kitchen, leading to #fourovens humour.

Brokenshire resigned as Northern Ireland Secretary on 8 January 2018 on health grounds due to an upcoming lung operation. On 20 January it was announced that he had the operation and had been discharged from hospital.

In April 2018, Brokenshire was appointed as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government following Sajid Javid's appointment as Home Secretary in the light of Amber Rudd's resignation after the Windrush scandal. After his appointment Brokenshire said it was "a real honour" to make a quick return to the cabinet.

In July 2016, under Theresa May's new cabinet, Brokenshire was appointed the Northern Ireland Secretary. On 16 January 2017, the Northern Ireland Executive collapsed following the resignation of Martin McGuinness as deputy First Minister one week earlier, and the refusal of Sinn Féin to nominate a successor. Brokenshire, as Northern Ireland Secretary, temporarily assumed the powers of the Executive and called for snap elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly, which took place on 2 March 2017.

Brokenshire's comments in The Sunday Telegraph of 28 January 2017 sparked consternation in Northern Ireland:

In December 2017, Brokenshire noted blood in his cough and underwent testing that discovered that he had early stage lung cancer. He had the upper lobe of his right lung removed at Guy's Hospital and returned to Parliament five weeks later. Brokenshire said that he wanted to end the social stigma around lung cancer because, like fifteen percent of people with the disease, he has never smoked.

On Brexit, Brokenshire was believed to have voted to remain in the EU in the initial 2016 vote, but his position was seen as unclear later on.

In January 2014, Brokenshire called on National Rail to improve its services, after statistics were published revealing that rail services across Bexley Borough had worsened throughout 2013.

Brokenshire assumed the enlarged role of Minister for Security and Immigration on 8 February 2014 following the resignation of Mark Harper.

In October 2013, Brokenshire published a draft of a proposed Modern Slavery Bill, designed to tackle slavery in the UK. He was quoted as saying that the Bill will "send the strongest possible message to criminals that if you are involved in this disgusting trade in human beings, you will be arrested, you will be prosecuted and you will be locked up." Experts in the issue were sceptical of the Bill, believing that it had many shortcomings and was designed largely to enhance Theresa May's career. The bill was subsequently enacted as the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

He has expressed support for the charity Cancer Research UK and in March 2013 publicly backed their Cell Slider website, calling on all of his constituents to get involved in the initiative.

In the buildup to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, he stated his belief that the games would be a "great success", largely due to the government's security measures. He also commented that "I think it will bring Bexley together and the torch relay will be a fantastic event for the community ... I'm quite sure it will have a lasting impression."

In the frontbench team of David Cameron, he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Crime Reduction; in May 2011 was transferred to the position of Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Crime and Security. He oversaw the closure and privatisation of the Forensic Science Service and championed the Modern Slavery Bill. In February 2014, he was appointed Minister for Security and Immigration. In July 2016, under Theresa May's new cabinet, he was appointed to be Northern Ireland Secretary. He stood down from this role in January 2018 on health grounds and was replaced by Karen Bradley. In April 2018, he was appointed Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government following Sajid Javid's appointment to Home Secretary as a result of Amber Rudd's resignation.

In May 2011, Brokenshire's Home Office brief was changed from Crime Reduction to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Crime and Security following the resignation of Baroness Neville-Jones, although he was not appointed to the more senior rank of Minister of State. In this position, he was responsible for updating plans to tackle terror content online. This move was seen as controversial by broadband companies and freedom of speech groups.

In the 2010 general election, Brokenshire was elected for Old Bexley and Sidcup with 24,625 votes (53.93%), beating the Labour candidate Rick Everitt, in second place with 8,768 votes (19.21%). Voter turnout was 69.13%. Upon victory, Brokenshire announced that as per his pre-election pledges, his priority would be to prevent the proposed closure of accident and emergency services at local Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup. The hospital's A&E department was closed in November of the same year.

With no party gaining an overall majority in the House of Commons, the 2010 election resulted in the formation of a coalition government consisting of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties, led by Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron. The new PM appointed Brokenshire as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Crime Reduction in the Home Office. One of his first moves was to initiate the closing of the United Kingdom's Forensic Science Service; it had been making operational losses of £2 million a month, and was predicted to go into administration in early 2011. Brokenshire stated his desire that there would be "no continuing state interest in a forensics provider by March 2012", with the service's role being taken on by private enterprise. Critics asserted that this move would result in the loss of hundreds of jobs and the degradation of forensic research and criminal justice, with an MPs enquiry chaired by Labour MP Andrew Miller criticising the manner in which the closure had been overseen.

In August 2010, Brokenshire called for the government to adopt a new approach to the war on drugs in Britain; he argued that they should focus on getting addicts off drugs, rather than minimising the effects of drug use, as the preceding Labour government had focused on.

Derek Conway, the member for the Conservative safe seat of Old Bexley and Sidcup in southeast London, was embroiled in an expenses scandal and resigned, after which Brokenshire put his name forward as a potential replacement. His competitors for the seat were Rebecca Harris, Katie Lindsay, and Julia Manning, and he was successful in gaining the selection for the seat in June 2008. He was described as a "serial carpetbagger" by a local single issue party, Independents to Save Queen Mary's Hospital.

He next applied for Gillingham and Rainham in July 2007, Grantham and Stamford in October 2007, North East Cambridgeshire in January 2008, and Maidstone and The Weald later that same month. He was unsuccessful in all of these attempts.

Brokenshire was aware that his constituency, Hornchurch, was to be dissolved for the next election. In November 2006, he applied for selection as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Witham in Essex, but was defeated by Priti Patel. He simultaneously campaigned to be selected as Conservative candidate for the constituency of Hornchurch and Upminster, but in March 2007 was defeated there by Angela Watkinson.

Born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, Brokenshire studied law at the University of Exeter before beginning work with a large international law firm. Deciding on a career in politics, he stood successfully as the Conservative candidate for the parliamentary constituency of Hornchurch in the 2005 general election. When his constituency was to be abolished in the boundary changes, he sought out another constituency to represent, failing to be selected in six constituencies until being selected for Old Bexley and Sidcup. He was elected MP for the area in 2010, on a campaign devoted to preventing the closure of accident and emergency services at Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, a policy that he later did not deliver on.

Brokenshire was first elected at the 2005 general election to the parliamentary constituency of Hornchurch, defeating the Labour candidate and incumbent member John Cryer by 480 votes. The election itself resulted in a third successive term for Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Labour government. From 2005 to 2006, Brokenshire was a member of the House of Commons Constitutional Affairs Select Committee. From 2006 to 2010 he then served as the Shadow Minister for Crime Reduction.

Brokenshire married Cathrine Anne Mamelok in 1999. They have two daughters and a son.

Following a question from MP Sylvia Hermon, Brokenshire offered his "clear and unequivocal" support for the Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan. Sir Declan had earlier criticised Brokenshire for refusing funding for cases and thereby adding to case backlogs when Brokenshire refused to grant £10 million to pay for an inquest into the deaths of eleven civilians shot dead by British forces in 1971 in the Ballymurphy massacre.

James Peter Brokenshire (born 8 January 1968) is a British politician who currently serves as Minister of State for Security at the Home Office. Brokenshire previously served as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government from 2018 to 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Old Bexley and Sidcup since 2010. Brokenshire was first elected as the MP for Hornchurch in 2005; he served in the Cameron Government as Minister for Security and Immigration at the Home Office (2014–2016) and in the May Government as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (2016–2018), overseeing the Stormont deadlock.

Brokenshire was born on 8 January 1968, in the town of Southend-on-Sea, Essex. His father was a council chief executive.