Simon Kirby MP promoted to Foreign Office role

Simon Kirby, MP for Brighton Kemptown, has been appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

PPS’s are appointed by the Prime Minister, and provide an important link between senior Government Ministers and backbench Members of Parliament.

Mr Kirby was previously PPS to Hugh Robertson MP in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, using the role to lobby on a range of sport and tourism issues, including the successful campaign to bring the Rugby World Cup to Brighton.

Following Mr Robertson’s move to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as Minister of State, Mr Kirby will now take up a new position within a new Government office.

Simon said:

“I am delighted to have been promoted to PPS within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as it will give me the opportunity to lobby the Government from a more senior position. My focus will always be on the issues that matter to local people and in my experience the PPS role has allowed me to be an even louder voice for the people of Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven.

“Constituents regularly contact me with foreign affairs concerns, for example LGBT rights in Russia and our relationship with the EU. I am pleased that I will now be able to represent my constituents in these matters from a position of influence within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.”