Early parliamentary career In 2006, Lewis was selected as Conservative
prospective parliamentary candidate in the
Great Yarmouth constituency; he was elected at the
2010 general election, defeating sitting Labour MP
Tony Wright with a majority of just over 4000 – a swing to the Conservatives of 8.7% in the seat which was number 66 on their list of target seats. Lewis had stood for Parliament on a "clean expenses pledge", pledging to be "completely open about my expenses". Lewis served on the
Work and Pensions Select Committee and the
Regulatory Reform Select Committee from his election until 2012. He has been a member of a number of
all-party parliamentary groups, including time as the chair of the Local Growth group and co-chair of a group discussing
coastal erosion. A report by the Local Growth group in September 2012, when it was chaired by Lewis, criticised the Government for an "uncoordinated" approach to its Local Enterprise Partnership policy which, according to Lewis, left "gaps and weaknesses". In 2010–2011 Lewis claimed just over £15,000 in accommodation expenses and in 2011–12 and 2012–13 he claimed just under £21,500 for accommodation. Lewis ran a variety of campaigns as MP for Great Yarmouth, including cutting fuel duty, protecting Norfolk bus services, and improving
Great Yarmouth railway station.
Early ministerial career In September 2012 Lewis was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the
Department for Communities and Local Government, working under
Eric Pickles. In July 2014, Lewis was promoted to
Minister of State for Housing and Planning, when the prime minister brought the portfolios of Housing and Planning together for the first time under his premiership. He said that there had been a "dramatic swing" in public opinion – with almost half of people now in favour of new housing in their area. This related to the new
National Planning Policy Framework, the primary framework for town planning in the country, which some argued made it substantially easier for developers to build on greenfield land. As the local MP, Lewis declined initially to support local campaigners who were fighting against the Conservative run county council's controversial plans for the proposed King's Lynn incinerator. By 2012 he had joined all fellow local MPs in expressing concern with the proposal and, after a change in leadership of the county council, the plans for the incinerator were dropped in 2014. Lewis previously sat on the House of Commons Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission. In 2013 Lewis was critical of local councils, including many Conservative run councils, planning council tax rises in 2013 against the wishes of the Government, saying that there was "still massive scope" for councils to cut "waste and inefficiency". He has also criticised the
Local Government Association for producing proposals to give local councils more freedom over their levels of
council tax in the future.
Labour MPs called upon
IPSA to investigate whether Lewis was using taxpayer funds for inappropriate political purposes after it was revealed that he had claimed £37,000 for "research briefing and other parliamentary associated assistance" to a political campaign consultancy. In August 2015, it was reported that Lewis claimed £31,000 of hotel expenses over a two-year period following stays at the Park Plaza hotel near Parliament. Lewis stated that he opted to stay in London rather than travel home to Essex and all the claims complied with parliamentary rules. He supported the United Kingdom remaining a member of the European Union in the
2016 EU membership referendum. In July 2016, Lewis was promoted to be the minister of state for the Home Office with a portfolio including Police and Fire services, as well as
Europol and
Interpol. Following the
Grenfell disaster, Lewis was criticised for having rejected calls to increase fire safety regulations in his former role as
housing minister. He had argued that legislating to mandate sprinklers in high rise buildings was the wrong approach as water-based sprinklers were inappropriate for electrical fires.
Chairman of the Conservative Party In a
January 2018 cabinet reshuffle, Lewis was promoted to
Chairman of the Conservative Party, succeeding
Patrick McLoughlin. Lewis was also appointed
Minister without Portfolio. On 19 July,
Government Chief Whip Julian Smith was reported to be resisting calls to resign his position, following allegations that he had instructed five Conservative Party MPs to break "pairing" agreements in an important parliamentary vote the previous day. Lewis was the only one to comply with the instruction. Subsequent reports indicated that Smith had given similar instructions to five MPs, but that Lewis had been the only one willing to break what one commentator described later as "a centuries old 'code of honour'". Before it became known that the affair had involved approaches by Smith to more than one MP, the prime minister
Theresa May backed Lewis by stating that "The breaking of the pair was done in error. It wasn't good enough and will not be repeated." In 2019, Lewis voted for May's
Brexit withdrawal agreement. In July 2019, Lewis was appointed
Minister of State for Security and Deputy for EU Exit and No Deal Preparation by new Prime Minister
Boris Johnson.
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland In February 2020 he moved to be the
secretary of state for Northern Ireland as part of
a cabinet reshuffle under Johnson. He robustly defended the Government's support for the
Northern Ireland Protocol. Lewis also responded to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland. In September 2020, Lewis provoked controversy when he conceded that
a bill designed to amend the United Kingdom's withdrawal agreement with the
European Union would "break international law" in a "specific and limited way". On 6 July 2022, Lewis told Johnson he needed to step down from office due to a loss in support, during the
July 2022 government crisis. Lewis resigned on 7 July, after turning down offers of promotion from Johnson, saying the Government was no longer upholding "honesty, integrity and mutual respect".
Between Ministries Lewis ran
Nadhim Zahawi's campaign in the
July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election. After Zahawi was eliminated from the contest, Lewis endorsed
Liz Truss's leadership bid. On 29 September, Lewis negotiated a deal with the Criminal Bar Association to end the
2022 British barristers' industrial action. The deal included a 15% increase in legal aid fees to cases in the
Crown Court, £3,000,000 of funding for case preparation and £4,000,000 for prerecorded cross-examinations of vulnerable victims and witnesses. On 10 October, 57% of barristers voted to end the strike and Crown Court cases began to be heard as normal from 11 October.
Return to the backbenches On 25 October 2022, Lewis resigned from the front bench upon the ascension of
Rishi Sunak to the Prime Ministership and returned to the backbenches. He was succeeded as Justice Secretary by
Dominic Raab. Lewis was criticised in a September 2023
Eastern Daily Express article for charging nearly £10,000 in expenses for social media content produced by external production companies
Westminster Digital and Millbank Creative. In October 2023, Lewis was appointed to a part-time role as leader of the Chair's Advisory Council of the international investment firm
LetterOne. In March 2024, Lewis announced he would not seek re-election at the
2024 general election. Lewis took five new part-time jobs paying £410,000 a year while still an MP. ==Personal life==