Felicity Buchan
Felicity Christiana Buchan (born 1970) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kensington since 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, she worked in investment banking for JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America prior to her political career. Early life and education. Buchan was born in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the daughter of Charles and Georgina Buchan. She attended the Fraserburgh Academy comprehensive school in Fraserburgh and subsequently studied law at Christ Church, Oxford. Her brother Charles is a partner at the alternative asset management firm Bluecrest Capital Management. Financial career. Buchan worked for  10 years at American investment bank JPMorgan Chase in their syndicate and capital markets division and was promoted to vice president of their European syndicate. She left the company in 2001 to join Bank of America as a managing director in its debt capital markets division. As of September 2020, she holds at least £70,000 of shares in both companies. After leaving the financial services industry, she volunteered at a North Kensington children's charity and was the chair of governors of Bousfield Primary School. Political career. Buchan contested South Down in Northern Ireland as a Conservative candidate in  the 2015 general election, coming last with 318 (0.7%) votes. She then contested the South Shields seat in Tyne and Wear in 2017, where she came second to the incumbent Labour Party MP, Emma Lewell-Buck, with 10,570 (25.9%) votes. During the 2017 campaign, Buchan wrote an article for the website BrexitCentral in which discussed her support for "a tough Brexit deal: that means leaving the Single Market, the Customs Union and the ECJ" and decried a London-centric view of politics. She was selected as the Conservative candidate for Kensington on 16 July 2019. Buchan had been the treasurer  and a member of the board for the Kensington Chelsea & Fulham Conservatives Local Association, roles she had held until 2019. When asked about her prior comments on Brexit during her 2017 campaign, she stated that she had "always campaigned for a good negotiated deal" and that she was not in favour of a "hard Brexit". She was elected as MP in the 2019 general election with a majority of 150. After her election, she pledged to accept and help to implement the recommendations of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry "with a sense of urgency". The purpose of the inquiry is to  investigate the Grenfell Tower fire which occurred in 2017 in North Kensington, which lies within her constituency. She has been a member of the Treasury Select Committee and Finance Committee since March 2020. On 7 September 2020, Buchan voted against a Labour Party amendment to the Fire Safety Bill which was intended to implement the recommendations of the first phase of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. This was criticised by campaign group Grenfell United and opposition politicians. She defended her vote by stating the government was "committed to implementing the recommendations", and criticised the Labour Party for "misrepresenting the vote" for  political reasons. On 23 August 2021, Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed Buchan as the UK's trade envoy to Iceland and Norway. Personal life. Buchan lists her recreations as "friends and family, travel, sport" in "Who's Who". She is a member of the Chelsea Arts Club.