Gareth Bacon is the Conservative MP for Orpington, having first been elected to parliament at the 2019 general election.

In the 2024 general election for Orpington, Bacon received 17,504 votes, representing 38.0% of the vote share. The Labour candidate, Ju Owens, received 12,386 votes (26.9%), while the Reform UK candidate, Mark James, secured 8,896 votes (19.3%). Bacon was duly elected with a majority of 5,118 votes.

The Orpington constituency is located in Outer South East London, within the London Borough of Bromley and bordering Kent. It includes Orpington town, Farnborough, St Mary Cray, and Biggin Hill. The seat has been held by the Conservative Party continuously since 1970, although it was represented by the Liberal Party from 1962 to 1970 following a notable by-election.

Political Career

Bacon was appointed as shadow minister of state for housing, communities and local government following Kemi Badenoch’s July 2025 shadow ministerial reshuffle. Bacon initially served as shadow transport secretary, having been appointed in November 2024, following the Conservative leadership contest and Badenoch’s elevation as Tory leader.

Bacon served as shadow minister for London from July 2024 to September 2026. He initially held this post on the interim/caretaker frontbench appointed by Rishi Sunak following the 2024 general election.

In government, Bacon served as parliamentary under-secretary of state for sentencing at the Ministry of Justice from November 2023 until the July 2024 general election.

In September 2021, Bacon was appointed as parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Department for Work and Pensions. A PPS acts as an unpaid parliamentary assistant, providing a link between the senior frontbencher and backbench MPs. The role is widely regarded as the first step on the ministerial ladder.

In March 2022, Bacon was appointed PPS to Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg.

In July 2022, Bacon was appointed PPS to Kit Malthouse as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Then, in September 2022, he was appointed PPS to Brandon Lewis as secretary of state for justice.

In June 2022, Bacon publicly declared their loyalty to the prime minister, Boris Johnson, ahead of a vote of no confidence in his leadership. The vote was triggered by discontent within the parliamentary party following the “partygate” scandal and the publication of the Sue Gray report. While the prime minister ultimately won the vote, the scale of the rebellion against him, with 148 of his own MPs voting to remove him, severely weakened his authority and presaged his resignation the following month.

In a post to social media at the time, Bacon stated: “I’ll be backing Boris Johnson this evening. As prime minister, he got Brexit done, delivered the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe, and quickly restored our freedoms.

“Now, he’s standing up to Putin and helping families meet the cost of living.”

Bacon was previously a member of the House of Commons public accounts committee (2020-2022) and the backbench business committee (2020-2021).

Bacon is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for private capital.

Bacon delivered his maiden speech in 2020 during a debate on local government finance.

In it, he said:“[Baroness Margaret Thatcher] made Britain great again, and we on these benches are the inheritors of her world-shaping legacy.”

He added: “The scale of the Conservative victory in Orpington on 12 December [2019], with more than 63% of the vote,was a ringing endorsement of our campaign to ‘get Brexit done’ so that we could move on to the people’s other priorities.”

Before entering parliament, Bacon had a long career in London local government. He was a member of the London Assembly from 2008 to 2021, initially as a London-wide list member (2008-2016) and then representing Bexley and Bromley (2016-2021). He served as leader of the Conservative group on the assembly from October 2015 to December 2019.

Bacon was succeeded as a London-wide list member of the assembly by Kemi Badenoch and served alongside her as Bexley and Bromley’s representative.

Bacon was also appointed by then-mayor Boris Johnson to the London fire and emergency planning authority (LFEPA) in 2010, serving as its chairman from 2015 to 2016. Within the London Assembly, he chaired the budget and performance committee.

Bacon was also a councillor on the London borough of Bexley council from 1998 until March 2021, representing Sidcup West ward initially and then Longlands ward. He served as deputy mayor (2001-2002) and held cabinet positions including environment and later deputy leader of the council.

Bacon stood down from Bexley council on 15 March 2021.

Political Views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Tory leadership 2024: Bacon supported Badenoch’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.

https://x.com/Gareth_Bacon/status/1545857356172500992

Badenoch, the then-shadow housing secretary, was seen as a leading figure on the party’s right wing. After finishing first in the final parliamentary ballot with 42 votes, she defeated Robert Jenrick in the membership vote on with 53,806 votes (56.5%). Badenoch was declared Conservative leader on 2 November.

Tory leadership 2022 (I): Bacon supported Badenoch’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.

Badenoch, who had resigned as a local government minister, was seen as a combative culture warrior. Having gained significant momentum among the party’s right wing, she was eliminated in the fourth parliamentary ballot on 19 July after receiving 59 votes.

Bacon went on to support Liz Truss’ successful candidacy.

Factional identity and party tradition

Common sense group: In the 2019-2024 parliament, Bacon was associated with the Common Sense Group (CSG) of socially conservative MPs. The CSG’s principal focus was to combat what it described as “woke” ideology. In 2021, it published a manifesto, Common Sense: Conservative Thinking for a Post-Liberal Age, which took aim at the Equality Act 2010, the supreme court, British broadcasters and environmentalist direct action group Extinction Rebellion. Veteran Conservative MP Sir John Hayes served as the group’s chair.

In a 2020 open letter published in the Daily Telegraph, MPs of the Common Sense Group said the faction had formed to “speak for the silent majority of voters tired of being patronised by elitist bourgeois liberals whenever issues such as immigration or law and order are raised.”

New Conservatives: Bacon was a member of the New Conservatives, a faction within the Conservative Party that emerged in the aftermath of the 2019 general election. The group was originally made up of 24 Conservative MPs elected primarily after the Brexit referendum. However, Bacon was one of only three members to retain their seats at the 2024 general election (alongside Danny Kruger and John Hayes).

Upon the group’s launch in July 2023, it published a “10-point plan” to reduce net immigration to the UK to below 226,000 a year – which was seen as a challenge to the authority of then-prime minister Rishi Sunak. Danny Kruger, who co-chaired the group, defected to Reform UK in September 2025. Speaking at the launch event, co-chair Miriam Cates warned that “addiction” to mass migration for the economy is like “turning on the hot tap to warm up your bath when it’s already overflowing and flooding your home.”

The Free Market Forum: Bacon has been listed as a supporter of the Free Market Forum (FMF) of Conservative MPs and peers. The group, co-chaired by Dehenna Davison and Greg Smith in the 2019-2024 parliament, set out to “encourage free market thinking, winning over the unpersuaded and providing intellectual firepower and a public platform to proponents of classical liberalism.” Founded in 2021, the forum, associated with the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), was seen as aligned with the economic policies of the Liz Truss government.

Bright Blue: Bacon is listed as a parliamentary supporter of Bright Blue, an independent centre-right think tank and membership organisation that champions liberal conservatism. The organisation has since expanded its reach through a new cross-party strategy.

Brexit and Europe

Bacon’s MA dissertation focused on the democratic deficit in the European Union. In his official Conservative Party biography, Bacon writes: “I concluded that this was a problem that could not be resolved and that Britain would be better served by leaving the European Union. This forms much of the foundation for my support for Brexit.”

Customs union vote (2025): In December 2025, Bacon voted against the UK-EU Customs Union (Duty to Negotiate) Bill. The bill, introduced under the ten-minute rule procedure by Liberal Democrat Europe spokesperson Al Pinkerton, sought to mandate the government to enter into negotiations with the European Union to establish a bespoke customs union.

Assisted dying

Bacon voted against 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).

In a statement setting out his position, published June 2025, Bacon said: “I… voted against this bill because there are too many unknowns. What if the doctor gets the life expectancy wrong?

“What if the medical professional assessing the case has a casual or even favourable attitude towards assisted dying?

“Then, there is the risk of this becoming a ‘slippery slope’. It is conceivable that once assisted dying is legalised for some, it could easily be widened. Belgium removed age limits on euthanasia requests in 2014 – meaning children could now be helped to end their life. Meanwhile, in Canada, there are cases of people with treatable conditions being offered death instead of care.”

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Bacon 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.

Before Politics

Born in British Hong Kong on 7 April 1972, Bacon grew up in Sidcup, South East London. He attended St. Mary’s and St. Joseph’s School in Sidcup.

He studied at the University of Kent, gaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in politics and government in 1996, followed by a Master of Arts degree in European Studies in 1997.

Before focusing full-time on politics, Bacon worked in the financial recruitment industry. He was Head of the Public Sector division at the firm Martin Ward Anderson from 2004 to 2012. He joined the Conservative Party in 1987.

Personal Life

Bacon married Cheryl Cooley in 2004, who was also a Conservative councillor in Bexley. She has worked in Kemi Badenoch’s office since the latter’s election as an MP in 2017.

They have one daughter.

Trivia

Bacon plays squash and is a former rugby player.

He has previously stated he is a season ticket holder at Manchester United Football Club.