Michael Alex Burghartis a British politician, academic and former teacher who has served as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland since 8 July 2024, and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster since 5 November 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Brentwood and Ongar since 2017. He informally deputises for the Leader of the Opposition.
Born in Dorset, Burghart studied history at Christ Church, Oxford. After a period working as a history tutor at King's College London, Burghart became a political and policy adviser to Tim Loughton in 2008. He then served successively as Director of Policy at the Centre for Social Justice, Director of Strategy and Advocacy for the Children's Commissioner for England Anne Longfield, and a special adviser in Prime Minister Theresa May's policy team. He was elected to the House of Commons for Brentwood and Ongar at the 2017 general election.
Burghart served as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Prime Minister Boris Johnson from 2019 to 2021 and was promoted to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Apprenticeships and Skills in the second cabinet reshuffle of the second Johnson ministry. He resigned from this position in July 2022, criticising Johnson's handling of the Chris Pincher scandal. Burghart was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pensions and Growth in September 2022 and later Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office in October 2022.
After the Conservative Party's defeat in the 2024 General Election, Burghart was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the Sunak caretaker Shadow Cabinet, and was retained in the post after Kemi Badenoch became leader. He also gained the additional role of Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
