Barclay stood in
Manchester Blackley at the
1997 general election, coming second with 15.3% of the vote behind the
Labour candidate
Graham Stringer. He stood in
Lancaster and Wyre at the
2001 general election, coming second with 42.2% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP
Hilton Dawson. At the
2010 general election, Barclay was elected to Parliament as MP for
North East Cambridgeshire with 51.4% of the vote and a majority of 16,425.
ConservativeHome named him in September 2012 as one of a minority of loyal Conservative backbench MPs not to have voted against the government in any substantive rebellions. Barclay was re-elected as MP for North East Cambridgeshire at the
2015 general election with an increased vote share of 55.1% and an increased majority of 16,874. He was again re-elected at the snap
2017 general election with an increased vote share of 64.4% and an increased majority of 21,270.
Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union Barclay was appointed as
Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union in November 2018 following the resignation of
Dominic Raab. It was reported that Barclay would focus on the domestic preparations rather than negotiations for
Brexit. He retained his role as Brexit Secretary in
Boris Johnson's
first and
second cabinets. At the
2019 general election, Barclay was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 72.5% and an increased majority of 29,993. He ceased to be Brexit Secretary at 11:00 pm on 31 January 2020, the moment the
Department for Exiting the European Union was closed down as the UK formally left the EU.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Barclay was appointed as the
Chief Secretary to the Treasury in February 2020, replacing
Rishi Sunak who had been appointed
Chancellor of the Exchequer following the resignation of
Sajid Javid. In May 2020, Barclay appeared on BBC's
Question Time and was corrected by presenter
Fiona Bruce about the number of people who had received the Government's
COVID-19 testing.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Downing Street Chief of Staff In
a cabinet reshuffle on 15 September 2021, Barclay succeeded
Michael Gove as
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and
Minister for the Cabinet Office. On 5 February 2022, Barclay was appointed by Johnson as his new
Chief of Staff, following the resignation of
Dan Rosenfield. He became the first serving MP to hold this position. He said he would pursue a "
smaller state" in his new role. Barclay ceased to hold either office after his appointment as
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
Health Secretary First term (2022) On 5 July 2022, Barclay was appointed Health Secretary after Sajid Javid's resignation on 3 July. According to the editor of the
Health Service Journal "never has a politician arrived in the post of health secretary trailing a worse reputation among NHS leaders". In August 2022, Barclay announced that more than 50 new surgical hubs would open in England to help tackle a backlog of treatments following the
COVID-19 pandemic. On 6 September 2022, Barclay left the government and returned to the backbenches.
Second term (2022–2023) He was reappointed by Rishi Sunak when Sunak became prime minister on 25 October 2022. Chief executive officer of the NHS Confederation,
Matthew Taylor, said: "Mr Barclay would do well to remember that he is taking on one of the most efficient healthcare systems in the world". In April 2023,
The Guardian reported that unnamed sources said concerns had been raised about Barclay's alleged conduct towards civil servants. The Department of Health and Social Care said it had not received any formal complaints about the behaviour of its ministers. On 13 November 2023, he left his role as Health Secretary to take up a different cabinet position.
Environment Secretary On 13 November 2023 in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's November cabinet reshuffle Barclay was appointed
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Conflict-of-interest concerns were immediately raised by his appointment, as his wife was an executive of
Anglian Water, one of the UK water companies perceived to be responsible for widespread and prolonged environmental damage. He also had final say on the Development Consent Order (DCO) for
Anglian Water's relocation to the Cambridge green belt of the current fully functional Waste Water Treatment Plant costing hundreds of millions of pounds. Despite these concerns, in 2024 he announced a block on bonuses' payouts to executives of water companies which are polluting rivers, lakes and seas. in 2023
In opposition Following the Conservative Party's defeat in the
2024 general election and the subsequent formation of the
Starmer ministry, Barclay was appointed
Shadow Environment Secretary in Rishi Sunak's
caretaker Shadow Cabinet. Following Sunak's departure,
Kemi Badenoch did not appoint Barclay to her
Shadow Cabinet. Barclay became Chair of the
Finance Committee in December 2024. ==Personal life==