Simon James Hoareis a British Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Dorset since May 2015.
Political career
Hoare was a Conservative cabinet member on West Oxfordshire District Council, a councillor on Oxfordshire County Council and was also a member of the executive of Witney Conservative Association working alongside the then Prime Minister David Cameron. He contested Cardiff West at the 1997 general election, and Cardiff South and Penarth at the 2010 general election, coming second to Labour's Alun Michael.
Hoare was elected Member of Parliament for North Dorset at the 2015 general election, increasing his predecessor, Robert Walter's, majority from 7,625 to 21,118 votes.
Hoare was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.
In September 2018 Hoare was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid.
In June 2019, Hoare was elected as the chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee.
In May 2020 he asked Dominic Cummings to consider his position as the PM's advisor due to Cummings travelling from London to Durham during a nationwide coronavirus lockdown.
In November 2021, he was one of 13 Conservative MPs who voted against a government-supported amendment to defer the suspension of Conservative MP Owen Paterson who was found to have breached lobbying rules.
In May 2023 Hoare was asked to repay four motoring fines of £80 each issued in November 2019, which he had previously claimed on his parliamentary expenses.
Election literature
In 2015, Private Eye reported that on his election leaflets Hoare said that "My family and I live in the constituency, use local schools and are part of the community." He had only recently moved to the constituency by the time that the leaflets had been distributed. It was stated that he was only selected to contest the seat in January and as late as 11 April 2015, an article in the Bournemouth Daily Echo reported that he was planning to move to the constituency. It was also reported that Hoare told the Bournemouth Daily Echo that he was "not a professional politician", which was contrary to his employment history in various pro-Conservative Party organisations.
He was similarly criticised by the South Wales Echo when he stood in Cardiff South and Penarth at the 2010 general election.
