Minister tackled the traffickers
SURE footed and well-liked, James Brokenshire spent six years as a Home Office minister while Theresa May was Home Secretary.
When she was Prime Minister he served as Northern Ireland Secretary and had a frustrating time trying to re-establish Ulster’s collapsed power sharing executive and come up with a border policy following the vote for Brexit.
When he was 50 he resigned to undergo lung cancer surgery, later returning to government to serve under May as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Boris Johnson would later ask him to serve as a Minister for Security Issues.
Born in Southend, Essex, Brokenshire read law at Exeter University and joined Jones Day Gouldens as a solicitor in 1991.
He won Hornchurch in the 2005 election and was made Shadow Minister for Crime Reduction.
In 2010 he achieved a majority of 15,857 for the Old Bexley and Sidcup seat, which he continued to hold in three further elections.
One of the highlights of his career came in 2015 when he pushed through the Modern Slavery Act, which meant people traffickers would be locked up. Other successes included ensuring the London Olympics were safe and overseeing the deportation of hate preacher Abu Qatada in 2013.
After his cancer diagnosis at the age of 49 he was more determined to make change happen.
In 2019 he was at the centre of minor controversy when a newspaper discovered he had several ovens at his London home. Making a joke of the situation he wrote: “Maybe some more hot potatoes next time #twoovens.”
He is survived by his wife Catherine Mamelok, their two daughters and a son.