Backbencher Barwell was chosen as the
parliamentary candidate for the Conservative Party in
Croydon Central. At the 2010 general election he defeated the sitting Independent MP,
Andrew Pelling, who had previously been elected as a Conservative. Barwell gained 39.5% of the vote; his majority was 2,969 votes, the
Labour candidate came second. His main subject interests are
education,
urban policy,
policing, the
criminal justice system,
immigration and
asylum rights. He was a member of the House of Commons
Science and Technology Select Committee (2010–2012) and the Draft
Lords Reform Bill Joint Committee (2011–2012) and, until October 2013, Barwell was Secretary of the
All-Party Parliamentary Group for
Tamils.
Mental Health (Discrimination) (No. 2) Bill (2012–13) On 14 June 2012, Barwell announced that, having come fourth in the
Private Members Bill ballot, he would introduce the Mental Health (Discrimination) Bill. The legislation is designed to remove automatic bans from people who have received treatment for mental illness from undertaking jury service, being removed as directors of companies and as MPs. supported by all political parties The
Report stage and
Third Reading of the Bill passed the Commons on 30 November 2012
Lillian's Law Lillian's Law is a law-reform campaign named after Lillian Groves, a 14-year-old constituent of Barwell's who was killed outside her home in
New Addington in 2010 by a driver who was under the influence of cannabis. He was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment, reduced to four months by entering a plea of guilty at the earliest opportunity. Barwell successfully lobbied the Prime Minister,
David Cameron to introduce legislation to make driving under the influence of drugs a similar offence to driving under the influence of alcohol. Cameron met the Groves family and legislation was included in the 2012 Queen's Speech. The legislation created a new offence under the
Crime and Courts Act 2013.
PPS and junior minister Barwell was appointed
Parliamentary Private Secretary to
Greg Clark, Minister for Cities and Decentralisation. In September 2012, he was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to
Michael Gove, the
Secretary of State for Education. On 7 October 2013 the
Prime Minister David Cameron appointed Barwell to the position of
Assistant Government Whip. At the 2015 election, Barwell retained his seat with a majority of just 165. Barwell's book,
How to Win a Marginal Seat: My Year Fighting for my Political Life, was published in March 2016. At the 2017 general election held just 15 months later, Barwell lost his marginal seat. He was
Minister of State for Housing and Planning and
Minister for London from July 2016 to June 2017. The page on Wikipedia was one of a number edited ahead of the
2015 general election by computers inside parliament; an act which
The Daily Telegraph said "appears to be a deliberate attempt to hide embarrassing information from the electorate".
Allegations of electoral fraud In May 2016, a member of the public complained to the
Metropolitan Police Service over possible electoral fraud in Barwell's 2015 election campaign. The claims relate to the number of leaflets Barwell delivered in his constituency, as undelivered election material does not fall under the election spending limit. Barwell denied the claims, saying he followed 'proper process' when filing the election expenses. However, the Police investigation concluded in October 2016 that there was no case to answer.
Fire safety at Grenfell In the run up to the
Grenfell disaster, Barwell was contacted seven times by the Fire Safety and Rescue All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), chaired by
David Amess MP. Their warnings of the potentially deadly consequences of Class 0 fire rated materials had gone largely unanswered, with the last letter being sent 26 days ahead of the tower fire. At a similar time, a letter of concern about the use of these materials in residential buildings, particularly blocks of flats, was issued by the London Fire Brigade Commissioner, which had also gone unanswered. In June 2021, Barwell was invited to give evidence at the Grenfell Tower Inquiry along with 4 other MPs.
2017 defeat In the
snap general election of 2017, Barwell lost his seat to Labour's
Sarah Jones When he lost his seat he was awarded a "loss of office" (redundancy) grant of £8,802 in line with his age and length of parliamentary service. He returned the full amount to IPSA upon his appointment as Downing Street chief of staff. In December 2018 it was announced that he would not be the Conservative candidate in the next election in Croydon Central. ==Downing Street Chief of staff (2017–2019)==