FORMER Forest of Dean MP Mark Harper has been awarded a life peerage as part of the Prime Minister’s Resignation Honours, it was confirmed on Friday, April 11.

Mr Harper, who served the Forest for 19 years until his defeat at the 2024 General Election, is among a select group of senior Conservative figures to be elevated to the House of Lords on the recommendation of outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Born in Swindon, Mr Harper studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford before qualifying as a chartered accountant. He moved to the Forest in the early 2000s and began contesting the parliamentary seat in 2001.

He was elected MP four years later, beginning what would become one of the longest tenures in the constituency’s modern political history.

Locally, his early years were marked by staunch loyalty to the Conservative leadership, though a decision in 2010 to support the proposed sell-off of public woodland under the Coalition Government sparked one of the biggest political backlashes the Forest has seen.

Despite the controversy, Mr Harper’s career advanced rapidly in Westminster. He served as a junior minister before being appointed Minister for Immigration in 2012 under David Cameron.

In 2014, he resigned from the post after discovering that his cleaner did not have the right to work in the UK — a resignation that he said was made on principle.

He later returned to government as Minister for Disabled People, where he was involved in overseeing the introduction of Personal Independence Payments — a major but heavily criticised welfare reform that replaced Disability Living Allowance.

In 2015, Mr Harper was made Government Chief Whip under David Cameron, a role that gave him influence over Conservative MPs during the turbulent early days of the Brexit debate.

He ran for the Conservative leadership in 2019 following Theresa May’s resignation, though his campaign failed to gain traction.

During Boris Johnson’s time as Prime Minister, Mr Harper became a prominent backbencher, chairing the Covid Recovery Group — a faction that lobbied for greater scrutiny of pandemic policies.

He was reappointed to the Cabinet in 2022 by Rishi Sunak as Secretary of State for Transport, where he played a central role in the government’s response to ongoing rail strikes.

His refusal to negotiate directly with unions drew heavy criticism from opposition MPs and campaigners, while Mr Harper argued he was upholding industrial protocols.

Plans to close hundreds of railway station ticket offices were also introduced under his tenure, though these were later scrapped following public backlash.

At the July 2024 general election, Mr Harper narrowly lost his seat to Labour challenger Matt Bishop after a campaign heavily focused on transport policy, rail strikes and the future of the NHS.

With the Forest of Dean returning a Labour MP for the first time since 2005, it marked the end of Mr Harper’s time in the Commons.

His appointment to the House of Lords comes less than a year after that defeat, and places him alongside several other former Cabinet ministers, including Michael Gove and Simon Hart, who also received peerages.