MARK Harper is the latest Conservative hopeful to throw his hat into the ring to become the next leader of the party.
But who is the relatively unknown former Chief Whip?
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Who is Mark Harper?
The 49-year-old from Swindon has made it into the next round after gaining enough backing to get his name onto the ballot.
After graduating from Oxford in PPE he became a chartered accountant before becoming an MP for the Forest of Dean in 2005.
He has served as a junior minister in the Cabinet Office before becoming an Immigration Minister and then the Minister for Disabled People.
Harper then held the position of Government Chief Whip between May 2015 and July 2016 under David Cameron.
He hasn’t served under Theresa May‘s administration and has positioned himself as offering “fresh thinking” for both the party and the approach to Brexit.
Harper told the Daily Telegraph: “We’ve seen basically the same faces saying the same things that they’ve been saying for the last three years.
“A number of them have tried to position themselves as fresh faces but I’m afraid they’ve sat around the cabinet table sharing the responsibility with the Prime Minister.”
During the EU referendum campaign in 2016 he backed remain.
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Why did he resign as an Immigration Minister?
Harper became an Immigration Minister in the reshuffle in September 2012, at the time net migration into the UK was rising.
During the summer of 2013, he was responsible for a trial campaign targeting illegal immigrants which, in part, consisted of lorries driving around London with hoardings attached which read: “Here Illegally? Go Home or Risk Arrest”.
In smaller print the hoardings gave information about how people could contact the Home Office for more advice.
Many people considered the campaign to be offensive and it divided opinion within the Cabinet.
Harper told the Commons in October 2013: “The advertising vans in particular were too much of a blunt instrument and will not be used again.”
He resigned as the Immigration Minister on February 8, 2014, after it was revealed his self-employed cleaner did not have permission to work in the UK.
In his resignation letter he claimed he had first made checks on his cleaner in 2007 and then again in 2010 when he was first appointed a minister.
Checks were again said to have been carried out in September 2012 after he became Immigration Minister and concluded “no further checks were necessary”.
While Immigration Minister he launched a campaign to get employers and landlords to carry out “reasonable checks” on workers.
Harper claimed that during this time it was sensible to check the documents again but could not find them and so asked his cleaner for new copies.
When his private office checked the paperwork with immigration officials it was revealed she did not have indefinite leave to stay in the UK.
He then notified the then Home Secretary Theresa May of this as well as the Prime Minister David Cameron and resigned.
James Brokenshire replaced him.
