Noah Harris

Noah Harris in 2021

**Noah Harris is** a British-Irish politician and Journalist who is currently serving as Director General of the British Broadcasting Corporation. He currently serves in Parliament as a Member of Parliament for Croydon.

Harris is also known for his work in the media sector, hosting various election night coverages and creating a podcast named "Politics as we Know It" before eventually being renamed to BBC Newsnight, which he still runs to this day with Harvey Galloway.

## Parliamentary Career

### Member of Parliament

Noah Harris is one of the longest-serving MPs in the history of the House of Commons. He represented Worcestershire and Manchester. He currently represents Croydon.

### Leader of the House of Commons (2019-2020)

Harris continued to serve as Leader of the House of Commons under the I & II Ministry of Prime Minister Donovan Moore, whilst also serving in it under Matthew Johnson's ministry

### Speaker of the House of Commons (2020)

Nearing the final months of Isaksen's Government, Harris served as Speaker of the House of Commons.

### Foreign Secretary (2021)

Harris's final role in a Conservative Government was as Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Affairs, under Prime Minister Jake Percy.

### Lord Chancellor & Justice Secretary (2021)

When the Labour Party came to power, Prime Minister Donovan Moore appointed Harris to the role of Lord Chancellor & Secretary of State for Justice. McCain's tenure in this position is remembered by his fast & efficient approach to setting up a public relations server for the Ministry of Justice, as well as personally engaging in the first ever criminal case in the UK's history. He was later succeeded by Frederick McClaine after he was reshuffled to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

### Leader of the House of Commons & Foreign Minister (2021-2022)

In a cabinet reshuffle, Harris was moved to the post of Minister of State for Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Affairs, alongside the position of Leader of the House of Commons, which he kept from before the ministerial changes were introduced. He worked on the Group of Seven and actively advocated against BUK joining the United Nations upon it's formation, which ended up a success as a majority of voters voted for the "No" campaign, with only one voter voting yes. Harris eventually was reshuffled from the Leader of the House position, whilst keeping the Foreign Minister job before being reshuffled.

### Minister of State for National Security (2022)

Briefly, McCain held the position of Minister of State for National Security and reportedly assisted in the creation of the National Security Bill 2022.

### Chief Whip (2022)

On 12 April 2022, the III Moore Ministry held another Cabinet reshuffle. In it, Harris was moved to the Whip's Office, however only held the position for less than 48 hours after he was subsequently dismissed for several targeted harassment allegations

### Speaker of the House of Commons (2022).

Harris was elected as Speaker of the House of Commons again upon his return to the House. He was known for attempting to combat the inactivity and implementing a strike system which would remove MP's if they attain a certain number of strikes. He held on to the Speakership for 2 months before later resigning, being succeeded by Edward Davis.

## Taoiseach of Ireland (2022-2023)

Noah Harris began his career originally in Ireland by serving as a TD and a government minister under his predecessor, Timothy Laurence's ministry. After the original Ireland server was admin abused and Laurence was deported, Harris was nominated and confirmed by the Dáil Éireann, beating off significant competition to ensure his election. He was also elected Leader of Fine Gael, the governing party, after his election.

He was sworn in after his election and has remained as Taoiseach since. On the 18th of February, Harris was elected to a full term in the General Election. Achieving a majority of seats within the Dáil Éireann, many expected he would work with the Fine Gael majority. Instead, he formed a coalition with the Labour Party, run by Ishaan Patel to further solidify the majority government.

On the 22nd May 2023, Harris announced he would be stepping down as Taoiseach. He also resigned as Leader of Fine Gael and was succeeded by Veronica Carrington.

## Journalist career (2022-present)

On top of being in politics, Harris also has been working within the media sector since February 2023. On the 7th of February 2023, he announced a new podcast called "Politics as we Know It" which was formed to discuss the latest news within the world of politics, both domestically and internationally. He would host live episodes every Saturday with Harvey Galloway also featuring. He would run the podcast up until April 2023 when it was renamed to BBC Newsnight. He has continued to run it even after the name change. Harris is also known for running many election nights for various different countries and has continued to do so.

### BBC Director-General tenure (2023-present)

On the 8th of April 2023, he was appointed Director-General of the BBC to succeed the former Director-General, Ishaan Patel.

## Political positions

### American relations

Harris has been known for his strong opposition against having relations with BUSA. Since BUK cut ties with BUSA in February 2022, he has been known for his constant opposition to any re-establishment of ties with BUSA. When the events of Feb 2022 occurred, Harris asked a question to the Prime Minister in Parliament about it. He asked the PM: "Will he severe all ties with BUSA because of their quite frankly s\*\*\* treatment towards our country", a strong example of his opposition to the establishment of ties with BUSA in the first place. He has continued to play down any idea of re-establishing ties.

### United Nations stance

Harris is also known for his strong opposition towards BUK ever joining a UN. In a referendum hosted back in 2022 on the idea of BUK joining the UN, he swiftly joined the "No" campaign and became a key player within the campaign, promoting the negative sides of joining the United Nations. His efforts would eventually be successful as a majority of voters who voted in the referendum went towards the "No" campaign, solidifying his stance.

### Commonwealth relations

Harris has supported the idea of relations within the Commonwealth even before his election in Ireland, he has continually advocated for close ties with Commonwealth nations.

### Monarchy

Harris has a mixed opinion on the Monarchy. He has publicly criticised King George I on occasions but has not had anything negative to say about the Monarchy since the succession of King George II, even praising the incumbent monarch at times for the tour of the Commonwealth, which included Ireland.