Francois stood for the
Brent East constituency in the
1997 general election, coming second to the incumbent,
Labour's
Ken Livingstone. Francois contested the election to be the Conservatives'
prospective parliamentary candidate for
Kensington and Chelsea in the
1999 by-election. The contest was won by
Michael Portillo, who garnered 60% of the final ballot. He was selected as the party's candidate for
Rayleigh in the
2001 general election. Francois won the seat with a majority of 8,290. He made his
maiden speech on 4 July 2001. Francois was re-elected in the
2005 general election with an increased majority of 14,726. He served as a member of the
Environmental Audit Select Committee for the duration of his first term in Parliament. He was promoted to become an
Opposition Whip in 2003 by
Michael Howard; to
Shadow Economic Secretary in May 2004; and later to
Shadow Paymaster General (10 May 2005 – 3 July 2007) scrutinising
HMRC. He was promoted to be
Shadow Minister for Europe on 3 July 2007, and joined the Shadow Cabinet at the January 2009 reshuffle. As Shadow Minister for Europe Francois oversaw the Conservative Party's withdrawal from the
EPP grouping in the
European Parliament, the creation of the
ECR grouping and the Conservatives' opposition in the House of Commons to the
Treaty of Lisbon, which he spoke against on many occasions including on 5 March 2008 in the debate to pass the
European Union (Amendment) Act 2008. When the
Rayleigh constituency was abolished, Francois was elected in the new seat of
Rayleigh & Wickford in the
2010 general election. Francois won with a majority of 22,338 votes, 42.7%, receiving 57.8% of all the votes cast. When the Conservatives and
Liberal Democrats joined in
a coalition government following the
2010 general election, he was appointed
Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, a
sinecure given to a Government Whip that entails being kept as 'captive' at Buckingham Palace when the Queen
opens Parliament. He joined the
Privy Council on 9 June 2010. In 2011, he was a member of the special Select Committee set up to scrutinise the Bill that became the
Armed Forces Act 2011. He was appointed
Minister of State for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans in the
Ministry of Defence in September 2012. From October 2013 to May 2015, he was Minister of State with responsibility for the armed forces, cyber activity, and force generation. At the
2015 general election, Francois was re-elected as the MP for Rayleigh and Wickford with a reduced majority of 17,230 votes. Following the election, he became Minister of State for Communities and Resilience and
Minister for Portsmouth at the
Department for Communities and Local Government. At the
2017 general election, Francois was re-elected as the MP for Rayleigh and Wickford with an increased majority of 23,450 votes. Since September 2017, Francois has sat on the
Defence Select Committee and is a former member of the Administration Committee, the Committee of Selection, Defence Committee and Environmental Audit Committee. He is a vice-president of Conservative Friends of Poland. In September 2019,
Essex Police issued clarification on Francois' status, when he joined one of their patrols in a
Rayleigh, Essex Wetherspoons pub in his capacity as the local
MP. He appeared to be dressed as a uniformed police officer, including wearing a police issue
stab vest. Essex Police said that they had wrongly issued the jacket to the MP and confirmed that Francois is not employed by them. They used the statement to add that they are however currently recruiting. In 2019, Francois became one of the 28 so called Tory "Brexit Spartans" who voted against Theresa May's Brexit deal all three times it was put to the House of Commons. At the
2019 general election, Francois was re-elected with an increased majority of exactly 31,000 and achieved 72.6% of the vote. On 3 March 2020, Francois was announced as chair of the ERG, succeeding
Steve Baker. In this capacity he wrote to
Michel Barnier, head of the task force negotiating the post-Brexit relationship between the UK and the EU, a letter titled "A Missive from a Free Country". Barnier replied in an open letter. In December 2021, Francois called on
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis to resign for failing to come through with promised legislation related to veterans. In November 2022, Labour MP
Sarah Owen criticised Francois for using an "outdated and crass racial slur" in the House of Commons when he referred to Japanese people as "
Japs". Francois used the term when asking a question on defence, saying: "Given the defence budget is likely to come under great pressure, why does it take
BAE Systems eleven years to build a ship the Japs can build in four?" Francois later said he was complimenting the Japanese shipbuilding industry and used "Japs" as an abbreviation for Japanese. ==Personal life==