Shailesh Vara

Shailesh Lakhman Vara (born 4 September 1960) is a Ugandan-British politician, who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from July to September 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Cambridgeshire since 2005.

Vara served as a Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2001 to 2005. After two unsuccessful attempts to be elected to the House of Commons, he was elected as the MP for North West Cambridgeshire at the 2005 general election, succeeding Brian Mawhinney as the Conservative MP for the seat. In 2006, he was appointed to the shadow ministerial post of Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons by David Cameron.

Vara served in the Cameron government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Courts and Legal Aid from 2013 to 2016 and as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2015 to 2016. He returned to the backbenches in July 2016, having been removed from his positions by the new Prime Minister Theresa May. In the January 2018 reshuffle, he re-entered government as Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office (NIO), serving under Karen Bradley. In November 2018, Vara resigned from this role in opposition to May's draft Brexit withdrawal agreement. During the July 2022 United Kingdom government crisis, Vara was appointed by Boris Johnson as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland but was dismissed by Liz Truss on 6 September 2022.