About Me
Matthew Hancock was elected MP for West Suffolk on 6 May 2010. Before entering politics he was an economist at the Bank of England and worked in his family business. He is a member of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee.
Hancock, 31, is married to Martha and has a daughter and a son. He was brought up in rural Cheshire, attended Farndon County Primary School and King's School Chester. He holds a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford and a Masters in Economics from Cambridge .
He first worked for Border Business Systems, his family's computer software company in Cheshire, and then for the Bank of England as an economist from 2000 to 2005.
In 2005 George Osborne asked him to advise the Conservative Party on economic policy. He worked for George Osborne and David Cameron, rising to become Osborne's Chief of Staff, managing the Party's Treasury Team, and advising on policy. He stepped down from that role in February 2010 when he was selected as Conservative candidate for West Suffolk.
Following his election in which he increased the Conservative majority in West Suffolk, Hancock was elected by Conservative MPs to be a Member of the Commons Public Accounts Committee.
In 2005 Hancock set out on foot to play the northernmost game of cricket on record at the north pole. He didn't make it to the pole, succumbing to frostbite on the Arctic Ocean, but he did succeed in playing the most northerly recorded game of cricket. He retains all of his fingers.