Amber Rudd is the incumbent Member of Parliament for Hastings and Rye, and is currently serving in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, replacing Ed Davey in the Cabinet Reshuffle after the 2015 General Election victory by the Conservative Party.

Born in London in 1963, she was educated at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, and then moved to Queen’s College, London, before moving into Higher Education at Edinburgh University where she graduated in 1986 with a Masters degree in History.

After leaving Edinburgh, Rudd joined investment bank JP Morgan, working in the London and New York office, before moving into venture capital.  A foray into journalism covering the financial sector, before working at Lawnstone, a specialist executive search and human resources consultancy and specialist executive search.  Rudd was also credited as the “aristocracy co-ordinator” in the film, Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Rudd was married to the writer AA Gill until their separation in 1995, and subsequent divorce.  They have 2 children, Flora, and Alasdair.

The local Conservative Party in the constituency of Liverpool Garston, selected Rudd as their candidate for the 2005 General Election, but the seat was retained by Maria Eagle, with Rudd achieving third place, and 9.8% of the vote.

She was selected to contest the Hastings and Rye constituency in 2006, in preparation for the General Election four years later, where she was duly elected with a majority just short of 2000 votes.

During her time in the House of Commons, she served on the Department for the Enviroment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, and was vice-chair of the Female Genital Mutilation Committee.

Over the five years of the coalition government, Rudd served under the Chancellor of the Exchequer as Parliamentary Private Secretary, and also as an assistant government whip.  Following this appointments, July 2014, saw Rudd appointed as Minister for the Department for Energy and Climate Change.  Post-2015 General Election, Rudd was promoted to Secretary of State within the same department, replacing Ed Davey.

As Secretary of State for the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the role has overall responsibility for policy on energy and climate change policy, and to engage in international climate change negotiations, such as at the CoP21 conference, alternatively known as the 2015 Paris Climate Conference that took place in November and December 2015.  The DECC also oversees regulation of energy bills, and investigations into the overall energy market.