Alicia Kearns is the Conservative MP for Rutland and Stamford, having first been elected for the predecessor seat of Rutland and Melton at the 2019 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Kearns won 21,248 votes, representing 43.7% of the vote. The Labour candidate, Joe Wood, received 10,854 votes (22.3%), while the Reform UK candidate, Chris Clowes, secured 7,008 votes (14.4%). Kearns was duly elected with a majority of 10,394 votes.

The Rutland and Stamford constituency was newly created for the 2024 election, covering the county of Rutland, the town of Stamford in Lincolnshire, and parts of Leicestershire. It is considered a safe Conservative seat.

Political Career

Kearns currently serves as a shadow minister of state, jointly in the Conservative foreign, commonwealth and development affairs and Home Office teams, and as a senior opposition whip. Kearns was confirmed in these roles as part of the August/September 2026 shadow ministerial reshuffle, Kemi Badenoch’s second as Conservative leader.

Kearns was first appointed as shadow parliamentary under secretary of state for home affairs and an opposition whip in November 2024.

Additionally, Kearns is a member of the House of Commons international development select committee (since June 2026) – the committee responsible for scrutinising the work of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) in respect of aid policy.

Kearns served as shadow minister for foreign affairs from July to November 2024 on the interim/caretaker frontbench created after the general election of that year under Rishi Sunak’s leadership.

Before the 2024 general election, Kearns chaired the influential foreign affairs select committee from October 2022 until May 2024 – becoming the first woman elected to the role. Kearns defeated longserving MP and former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith in the contest for the committee chairship.

By virtue of this position, Kearns sat on the liaison committee – the so-called “super committee” composed of the cross-party chairs of all the other commons select committees – across the same period. It has a broad oversight role, but is best known for its questioning of the prime minister in sessions that take place two or three times a year.

Kearns served on the Northern Ireland affairs committee from 2024 to 2026 and the foreign affairs committee from 2020 to 2024.

Kearns was reported to be a leading figure in the so-called “pork pie plot” of Conservative MPs, which sought to challenge Boris Johnson’s leadership in early 2022 over the Partygate scandal.

Kearns denied leading a rebellion against Johnson.

In a statement to constituents, Kearns said: “I think residents know how let down I have felt over the last few weeks [over Partygate], and that I have been deeply unhappy with the revelations of events, which if accurately depicted demonstrate an indifference towards the sacrifices made by us all to protect one another and adhere to the restrictions that were in place.”

She added: “I make no apology for meeting with my colleagues, but it was not a coup or any such activity despite the mischief of the media or certain actors who might wish to suggest otherwise.”

In June 2023, Kearns voted to support the committee of privileges in its findings that Boris Johnson misled MPs over the “Partygate” scandal and was therefore in contempt of Parliament.

She had previously described Johnson’s account to parliament of lockdown parties as “misleading”.

Kearns commented in 2022: “If [Johnson] did not know about the culture of parties, then this is because he failed to ask the questions necessary, or has chosen not to since last October.

“Those around him clearly did not advise a policy of being honest and transparent with the British people.”

She added: “My position remains unchanged since January [2022], and the prime minister continues not to hold my confidence.”

In a statement setting out her position, Kearns commented: “It is vital the public has confidence in the integrity of parliament and our ability to regulate, and uphold, the standards of the House. This has been undermined by the behaviours of some MPs over the past few months.

“The attacks on those serving on the Committee on behalf of the House are wrong and frankly shameful. Their language risks undermining the processes that hold parliamentarians to account.”

Kearns is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for arbitrary detention and hostage affairs, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and women, peace and security.

Kearns delivered her maiden speech on 13 January 2020 during a debate on Britain in the World.

In it, she said: “We are proud of our role in feeding the nation, with arable, dairy, sheep, pig, poultry and even bison farmers, who for generations past – and generations to come – have ensured that food quality, animal welfare and environmental conservation are paramount to their trade.

“Towards the centre of the constituency is the rural capital of food: Melton Mowbray of pork pie fame. I can promise the House that we will hear much of the pork pie over the next few years.”

She added: “We must recognise that to protect ourselves, we must bolster and defend all levels of our society, not just military infrastructure and capabilities. We must recognise that to defeat our enemies, we will have to possess truly hybrid offensive and defensive capabilities ourselves.”

Before entering parliament, Kearns stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate for Mitcham and Morden in 2017, coming second to the incumbent Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh.

Political views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Tory leadership 2024: Kearns supported Tom Tugendhat’s candidacy in the 2024 Conservative Party leadership election. The contest was triggered by the resignation of Rishi Sunak following the party’s defeat in the 2024 general election. Tugendhat, the then-shadow security minister, was eliminated in the third parliamentary ballot on 8 October 2024 after receiving 20 votes.

Tory leadership 2022 (I): Kearns supported Penny Mordaunt’s candidacy in the Conservative Party’s July-September 2022 leadership election. The contest was triggered by the resignation of Boris Johnson, following the mass exodus of more than 60 frontbenchers.

Mordaunt, the international trade minister, was described as a “socially liberal Brexiteer”. She was narrowly overtaken by Liz Truss in the final round. Mordaunt was thereby eliminated in the fifth parliamentary ballot on 20 July after receiving 105 votes.

Kearns subsequently shifted her support to Rishi Sunak. Sunak, the former chancellor, warned against “comforting fairytales” regarding unfunded tax cuts. Although he won every round of the parliamentary ballots, securing 137 votes in the final stage, Sunak was defeated by Liz Truss in the membership vote, finishing with 60,399 votes (42.6%).

Factional identity and party tradition

Kearns identifies as a one nation Conservative.

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In a 2020 interview, Kearns told PoliticsHome: “I believe in personal responsibility, law and order. The first and foremost job of government is to keep its people safe. If it’s not doing that, then it’s not a government. There is no point having a good economy if people aren’t safe.”

She described her politics as more aligned with Johnson than David Cameron, the prime minister from 2010 to 2016. “He’s more the kind of politician I am”, Kearns said.

She supported Leave in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Conservative Environment Network: Kearns is listed as a member of the Conservative Environment Network (CEN) parliamentary caucus. CEN is an independent forum for conservatives that supports conservation and decarbonisation. It calls for the environment to be given a higher profile at the heart of policy making, describing “biodiversity loss, climate change, and wasteful resource use are threats to our national security”, and promotes “market-based policies” to environmental challenges. Members of its parliamentary caucus, such as …, are thought to generally align with the group’s “green” message and environmentalism.

China Research Group: Kearns was a founding member of the China Research Group (CRG). The CRG was established in 2020 by a group of Conservative MPs to promote a more critical and questioning approach to the UK’s relationship with the People’s Republic of China. The CRG described its mission as aiming to “promote understanding, leading to fresh thinking about issues raised by the rise of China, and provide a trustworthy source of news and informed knowledge on China issues.”

Assisted dying

She voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at both second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Kearns voted against a backbench amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that sought to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in June 2025. The amendment, which was passed by a majority of 242 votes, removed women from the threat of prosecution for ending a pregnancy at any stage. As an issue of conscience, MPs were allowed to vote according to their personal beliefs.

In 2020, she co-authored an article alongside fellow Conservative MP Nicola Richards calling for reform of the Gender Recognition Act.

Kearns and Richards wrote: “The Gender Recognition Act (GRA) allows for transgender people to change the gender on their birth certificate through a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC). The current process for doing so has been acknowledged by many as being overly bureaucratic, medicalised, and lacking transparency, making it inaccessible to many trans people…

“As Conservatives, we have made it a central tenet that individuals should be free to live their lives as they choose. It is our duty to follow through on our pledge to increase the dignity, safety and privacy of transgender members of our society.”

Kearns is considered an ally of the LGBT community.

In a House of Commons debate in March 2024, she reprimanded Alba MP Neale Hanvey for removing the “T” in “LGBT”. I will not stand for that”, Kearns said. “When you say LGBT [and] you remove the ‘T’, you suggest that they are lesser… when you choose to eradicate, that is wrong.”

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Civil liberties

Covid passes vote (2021): Kearns was one of 99 Conservative MPs to vote against Covid passes in England in December 2021.

Before Politics

Born Alicia Alexandra Martha Kearns on 11 November 1987, she grew up in Cambridgeshire. She attended Impington Village College.

She studied social and political sciences at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, graduating in 2009.

She pursued a career in communications and counter-terrorism, working for the Ministry of Defence (MoD), Ministry of Justice (MoJ), and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

At the FCO, she led communication campaigns related to the conflict against Daesh (ISIS) in Syria and Iraq and advised foreign governments on counter-terrorism and countering Russian disinformation.

She helped to organise the MoD’s contribution to the Scottish independence referendum in 2014.

She later worked for the strategic communications consultancy Global Influence and as an independent consultant on similar issues.

Personal Life

Kearns married her husband in 2017. She lives in Langham, Rutland, with her husband. They have three children, a son and two daughters.

She told PoliticsHome her parents were “both left-wing and voted Labour”.

Trivia

Kearns is reportedly a former “centrist” Labour voter who first voted Conservative in 2015.