New housing minister confirmed - a former estate agent

In a late night announcement it was confirmed by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities that Lee Rowley MP is to be the new housing minister.

Rowley’s appointment was two-phased - he was actually named as a new minister in the department almost two weeks ago but because of the Queen’s death he was not confirmed as having specific responsibility for housing until last evening.

Rowley, 42 and a Brexiteer, is MP for North East Derbyshire and is the 13th Tory housing minister in the past 12 years. His predecessor, Marcus Jones, lasted just 62 days.

It is expected that Rowley - whose first job out of Oxford university was as an estate agent - will take over responsibility for the fate of the Renters Reform Bill and Fairer Private Rented Sector White Paper, who were created by another former DLUHC minister, Eddie Hughes. Rowley is not known for having given his views on either of those reform documents.

Prior to entering parliament Rowley spent over a decade in finance and consultancy roles at Barclays, Santander, KPMG and Co-Op Insurance. 

In politics he served for eight years as a councillor at Westminster City Council, stepping down in 2014 in a bid to become an MP.

In 2020 he was appointed deputy chair of the Conservative Party but he resigned that position in 2021. He then became a junior minister at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and a junior government whip. 

In the early summer of this year he was amongst the many ministers to resign from the ramshackle government of Boris Johnson, and became an active supporter of Kemi Badenoch in the Conservative leadership election.

His new role as housing minister will see him report to the new Housing Sectreary, Simon Clarke. Ina tweet late last night Clarke said: "Delayed in deference to the mourning period, it’s excellent @Lee4NED is the new Housing Minister. Lee is a huge intellect, a great friend and is keenly committed to building the homes we need."

And Rowley himself tweeted in response: "A big job ahead to further help raise standards & service across the sector, to improve how planning works for local communities and, vitally, to empower more people achieve their dream of home ownership."