Tessa Munt

On 5 May 2017, at the 2017 UK local elections, she was elected as a councillor in Somerset, beating Somerset County Council leader, John Osman, by the slim majority of 95 votes.

On 27 January 2015, Munt resigned as PPS to Cable after she voted for a Commons amendment – not supported by the government – calling for a moratorium on fracking in the UK.

On 7th of May 2015 Tessa lost the Wells parliamentary seat, in a shocking defeat, to the Conservative party candidate James Heappey by 7585 votes. Tessa continued as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Wells in the following two general elections of 2017 and 2019 failing to reclaim the seat on both attempts, seeing the conservative candidate increase his majority to 9991 in 2019.

Munt was elected as the Member of Parliament for Wells at the 2010 general election with a majority of 800 votes over David Heathcoat-Amory, who admitted that his involvement in the United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal played a part in his defeat.

Munt was a party whip in the House of Commons from 2010 until March 2012, although she threatened to resign from the post if the Trident nuclear missile system was renewed. She was later appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Business Secretary Vince Cable.

In July 2010, newspapers revealed details of an investigation by Sedgemoor District Council into her claims of single person council tax discount while having more than one other adult male registered to vote at her home, including a local GP, the broadcaster Andy Kershaw and the media advisor for the family of Madeleine McCann. On 6 September 2010, Sedgemoor District Council said that there were now no criminal proceedings relating to the single person discount on Council Tax and Munt was cleared of any wrongdoing.

As her father lived in Wells, Somerset, a few weeks after her defeat, the local party committee offered her the option of standing at the Wells constituency. She stood at the 2005 general election, finishing in second place to sitting MP David Heathcoat-Amory with a 37.8% share of the vote.

Munt was the party's candidate for South Suffolk at the 2001 general election, when she finished in third place with a 24.9% share of the votes. She also contested Ipswich at the 2001 by-election following the death of Labour MP Jamie Cann, coming third with 22.4% of the vote.

She then worked in administration for South Essex College at their Southend-on-Sea campus, before moving into teaching. She then worked for a period in social services, working with adults with learning difficulties. She also worked part-time as a volunteer for both Childline and the Environmental Investigation Agency. She married in 1992, and had two children.

Munt had joined the Labour Party in the early-1990s, but left after their election victory in 1997 due to the centralisation of party policy. She then campaigned in the late-1990s in Suffolk to preserve a Victorian school against a proposed development plan, where she met Andrew Phillips, Baron Phillips of Sudbury, and in 1999 after attending a party conference and meeting Norman Lamb, Munt joined the Liberal Democrats.

Tessa Jane Munt (born 16 October 1959) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. She served as the Member of Parliament for Wells in Somerset from 2010–15 and had previously served as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable. Following the appointment of Jo Swinson as PPS to the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, Tessa was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable.

Her paternal grandfather was a politician in Kenya during the 1950s, whilst her uncle was a member of the Church of England synod. Her mother was raised within the Church of Scotland, but her family had mainly Jewish roots.