Geoffrey Cox

MP for Torridge and Tavistock

Conservatives

Sir Geoffrey Cox KC is the Conservative MP for Torridge and Tavistock, having first been elected for the predecessor seat of Torridge and West Devon at the 2005 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Cox won 16,049 votes, representing 31.6% of the vote. The Liberal Democrat candidate, Phil Hutty, received 12,099 votes (23.8%), while the Labour candidate, Isabel Saxby, secured 10,765 votes (21.2%). Sir Geoffrey was duly elected with a majority of 3,950 votes.

The Torridge and Tavistock constituency was newly created for the 2024 election following boundary changes. It covers a large, rural area of West Devon bordering Cornwall, including the towns of Bideford, Great Torrington, Holsworthy, and Tavistock. The predecessor seat was held by the Liberal Democrats between 1995 and 2005 – after former Conservative politician Emma Nicholson defected to the party, but has been held by Sir Geoffrey for the Conservatives since 2005.

Political Career

Sir Geoffrey Cox served as attorney general for England and Wales and advocate general for Northern Ireland from July 2018 to February 2020, under prime ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson. The government’s top law officer, he provided key legal advice regarding Brexit during this time.

In December 2018, Cox’s legal advice on the Brexit deal negotiated by May was leaked to the Sunday Times. It confirmed the worst fears of those pro-Brexit voices opposed to the agreement: that Britain could be trapped “indefinitely” in a customs union with Brussels under the terms of the deal, as a consequence of the “backstop” arrangement with the European Union.

In January 2019, Cox took to the commons despatch box to defend the government’s Brexit deal. Cox warned MPs that if they did not accept the deal, they risked condemning Britain to the chaos of a no-deal Brexit. “It would be the height of irresponsibility for any legislator to contemplate with equanimity such a situation”, he said.

Cox added: “What are you playing at? What are you doing? You are not children in the playground. You are legislators, and this is your job.”

The main government motion was rejected by 432 votes to 202 – a majority of 230. This marked the largest defeat for a sitting government in modern parliamentary history.

In February 2019, Cox was later placed in charge of negotiating changes to the Northern Ireland backstop. BBC Newsnight politics editor Nick Watt commented that this role meant Cox now held “the fate of Theresa May’s premiership in his hands”.

Cox retained his post as attorney general under Johnson, having established himself as a forceful and verbose commons performer. He went on to play a similarly prominent role in that administration’s conflicts with parliament and the courts.

Cox was reported to have advised the prime minister that his decision to prorogue parliament in the latter months of 2019, one of the more controversial episodes in the years-long Brexit saga, was “lawful” – only for the supreme court to rule otherwise on 24 September 2019. Johnson had insisted the five-week suspension, beginning 9 September, was to allow the government to set out a new legislative agenda in a Queen’s speech when MPs return to parliament.

Prorogation in order to secure a ‘no deal’ Brexit – the default legal position under EU law’s Article 50 process – had been a point of debate in the 2019 Tory leadership contest. This strategy, it was suggested, would prevent MPs legislating to block a no deal Brexit, tabling a vote of no confidence in the government, or introducing a motion to trigger an early election.

The supreme court ruled unanimously that Johnson’s advice to the Queen was unlawful because it had the effect of frustrating parliament “or preventing the ability of parliament to carry out its constitutional functions.”

Minutes of a telephone conference call between cabinet ministers, leaked to Sky News, suggested Cox had deemed prorogation in the circumstances as “lawful and within the constitution”, and that accusations of “unlawfulness or constitutional outrage were motivated by political considerations.”

Sir Keir Starmer, then the shadow Brexit secretary, called on Cox to “consider his position” as attorney general and “at the very least” make a statement to MPs.

Hauled before MPs on 25 September to answer an urgent question on the government’s legal advice and the implications of the supreme court’s ruling, Cox responded to such calls: “I have to say that if every time I lost a case I was called upon to resign, I would probably never have had a practice.”

Cox’s comments focused on his characterisation of the position adopted by opposition MPs: that they had failed to agree on a means of the UK leaving the EU, while repeatedly preventing the House of Commons from dissolving for an election.

In a famous contribution, Cox declared: “This parliament is a dead parliament – it has no moral right to sit on these green benches…

“They don’t like to hear it, Mr Speaker. Twice they have been asked to let the electorate decide upon whether they should be allowed to sit in their seats, while they block 17.4 million people’s votes. This parliament is a disgrace.”

He added: “This parliament should have the courage to face the electorate but it won’t, because so many of them are really all about preventing us from leaving the European Union at all.

“But the time is coming, Mr Speaker, when even these turkeys won’t be able to prevent Christmas!”

https://x.com/BrexitCentral/status/1176821684076208128

Cox’s speech set the scene for a series of angry exchanges. Barry Sheerman, the Labour MP for Huddersfield, hit back: “For a man like him, a party like his, and a leader like this prime minister to talk about morals and morality is a disgrace.”

https://x.com/bbcpolitics/status/1176820779863834624

The subsequent general election, held on 12 December 2019, was won by the Conservative Party and Boris Johnson with a majority of 80 seats.

On 13 February 2020, Cox was dismissed from his post in a cabinet reshuffle and replaced by Suella Braverman. In his letter of resignation, Cox made it clear that he had been removed on Johnson’s request. He referred moreover to his efforts to deliver “candid and independent” advice to the prime minister.

He wrote: “I bluntly told the House of Commons in September that they risked incurring the wrath of the British people by continually frustrating the result of the referendum, and that a reckoning at the polls would come.

“It is very good news for our country and a source of great personal satisfaction to me that you have so emphatically proven those predictions to be correct.”

https://x.com/Geoffrey_Cox/status/1227901241923186688

Cox was a member of the commons the environment, food and rural affairs select committee between 2006-2010, and the committee on standards and committee of privileges from 2010 until 2015.

Cox resigned from the standards and privileges committees in 2015, after failing to declare more than £400,000 worth of outside income on time. He apologised “unreservedly” and referred himself to the standards commissioner.

Cox said he had always intended to declare the income but recognised he had breached rules. “I have referred myself to the parliamentary commissioner for standards following the late registration of payments received for my continued practice at the Bar”, he said.

A standards committee report into Cox, recommended the MP deliver an official apology in the House of Commons.

Cox delivered his maiden speech on 28 June 2005 during a debate on the Identity Cards Bill. He outlined his staunch opposition, maintaining that the proposed legislation “represents a vast expansion of the potential for control by the state over the individual.”

He added: “There has not been a time in peacetime when the state has been able to require an individual to notify the state authority of a change of address or to come to a specific place at a specific time, unless he was subject to criminal process and on bail. We should pause and reflect on that fact.

“Why should free citizens of this great country be subjected to the direction of the state merely in order to exist in our society?”

Cox was knighted in the 2021 New Year Honours for parliamentary and political service.

Political views

In a speech to the Institute for Government think tank, delivered 12 February 2020, Cox argued that the public was entitled to be concerned about what he termed the creeping “judicialisation of politics”.

He said that there was a palpable “disconnect” between “ordinary people and their votes and what happens here in Westminster” and the government’s challenge was to “restore the feelings to millions of people that they are not powerless.”

He added: “I do think there is a question now whether or not the judicialisation of politics has gone too far and requires some amelioration or changing of the balance…

“Politically appointed judges are completely off the table”, Cox said. “However, there’s a case for looking at how supreme court judges are appointed …There’s a committee of the Canadian parliament that carries out interviews [of candidates].”

A joint committee of the commons and Lords, Cox said, might give more public confidence in the appointment of supreme court judges, “who wield immense powers”.

He continued: “There is a case for looking at how supreme court judges are appointed. We need to look at how precisely that is done.”

The comment came a day before Cox was reshuffled out of government.

Leadership elections and loyalty

Tory leadership 2024: Cox supported Kemi 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.

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.

During the contest, Cox praised Badenoch’s “sheer bloody mindedness” and “unpredictability”.

In an op-ed for the Telegraph, published October 2024, Sir Geoffrey wrote: “Effortlessly, Kemi has teased and mangled the preconceptions of the bien pensants, the theologians of woke. Fearlessly, she has trodden on the ground from which other more timid souls have shrunk.”

He added: “She has resisted the temptation to define herself only by opposition or support for a few policy positions, however reassuring, and seems to hold out the promise of something new. Every successive Conservative generation must find a new answer to what it means to be a Conservative.”

Tory leadership 2022 (I): Cox supported Rishi Sunak’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.

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%).

Tory leadership 2022 (II): Cox also supported Sunak’s candidacy in the Conservative Party’s October 2022 leadership election. The contest was triggered by the resignation of Liz Truss after just 45 days in office, following the financial and political tailspin triggered by her “mini-budget”.

https://x.com/Geoffrey_Cox/status/1584116608544350209

Tory leadership 2019: Cox supported Boris Johnson for the party’s leadership in 2019. The election was triggered by the resignation of Theresa May following her inability to secure a Brexit deal acceptable to the Conservative Party.

Johnson, the former foreign secretary and mayor of London, campaigned on the central pledge to “deliver Brexit” by 31 October 2019, “deal or no deal”. He thereby positioned himself as the candidate best-placed to break the parliamentary deadlock. Johnson secured 114 votes in the first parliamentary ballot, and reached 160 votes in the final MP round. In the subsequent ballot of the party membership, Johnson won a decisive victory with 92,153 votes (66.4%).

Johnson utilised Cox’s famous eloquence by tapping the Tory MP to introduce him for his campaign launch in June 2019. In his address, Cox praised Johnson as “a leader who can unify the Conservative family, and out-campaign and outfight Jeremy Corbyn and Nigel Farage, at any time and in any corner of our country”.

Brexit and Europe

Brexit referendum: Cox campaigned for Leave in the 2016 referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union (EU), and therefore agreed with a majority of constituents, 57.2% of whom voted to Leave.

Article 50: In February 2017, Cox voted in favour of the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill. The legislation empowered the prime minister to notify the Council of the European Union of the UK’s intention to withdraw, formally triggering the process set out in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. MPs supported the bill by 498 votes to 114 at second reading.

Assisted dying

Cox 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).

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Cox 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.

Same-sex marriage (2013): In February 2013, Cox was one of the 139 Conservative MPs to vote against the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill at its second reading. The landmark piece of legislation, which received its second reading by 400 votes to 175, legalised marriage for same-sex couples in England and Wales.

Foreign policy and security

Trident renewal (2016): Cox voted in favour of a government motion calling for the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent system in July 2016. The motion, which was passed by 472 votes to 117, committed the UK to constructing a new fleet of submarines to carry the nation’s nuclear weapons.

Syria airstrikes (2015): Cox voted in favour of a government motion to extend UK airstrikes against Isis from Iraq into Syria in December 2015. The motion, which was passed by 397 votes to 223 after a ten-hour debate in the House of Commons, authorised the RAF to conduct strikes against Isis targets in Syria.

Before Politics

Born Charles Geoffrey Cox on 30 April 1960 in Wroughton, Wiltshire, he attended King’s College, Taunton. He studied law and classics at Downing College, Cambridge.

Cox was called to the bar in 1982 and pursued a career as a barrister. He co-founded Thomas More Chambers in 1992, later serving as its head of chambers. He was appointed queen’s counsel in 2003.

Cox’s legal practice included high-profile commercial, civil fraud, human rights and defamation cases. He appeared frequently in appellate courts including the supreme court and privy council, and advised and appeared in overseas jurisdictions including Mauritius (where he was standing counsel to the government for a time), Dubai, and the Cayman Islands.

Cox continued his legal practice after entering parliament, and has declared substantial earnings, including work as consultant global counsel for the law firm Withers LLP since September 2020.

In November 2021, it emerged that Cox had been working in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) while the commons was still sitting. Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, said Sir Geoffrey was “openly taking the mick” after he took part in a Zoom hearing for an inquiry into corruption in the BVI.

https://x.com/AngelaRayner/status/1463502556492148747

At around the same time, Cox came under scrutiny after it was revealed he voted by proxy in the House of Commons while working more than 4,000 miles away in the Caribbean.

A statement posted to Cox’s website responded: “Sir Geoffrey regularly works 70-hour weeks and always ensures that his casework on behalf of his constituents is given primary importance and fully carried out.”

It added that Cox “does not believe that he breached the rules” regarding use of his office for the Zoom call but “will of course accept the judgment of the Parliamentary Commissioner or of the committee on the matter”.

Sir Geoffrey also claimed he consulted the Conservative chief whip about voting by proxy while in the Caribbean and “was advised that it was appropriate”.

Boris Johnson, the then prime minister, accused Cox of failing to do his job as an MP.

A spokesperson for the prime minister said: “An MP’s primary job is and must be to serve their constituents and to represent their interests in parliament. They should be visible in their constituencies and available to help constituents with their constituency matters.

“If they’re not doing that, they’re not doing their job and will rightly be judged on that by their constituents.”

In January 2023, Sky News reported that Cox had earned more than £2 million since the previous general election. Former prime minister Theresa May was the only MP to have earned more. Cox responded that said there was “no conflict of interest between my work as a barrister and my role as a member of parliament”.

He added: “On the other hand, I frequently put my experience and understanding of the law at the service of my constituents in helping them to resolve their individual problems in my regular advice surgeries…

“Private practice as a barrister is certainly no more time consuming and demanding than the role of attorney general. If it is possible to carry out the role of an MP while also the senior law officer, it is certainly possible to do so while continuing selective practice at the Bar.”

In October 2024, the Guardian reported Cox had missed votes and sitting days while working as a lawyer in Mauritius. The former attorney general, the newspaper reported, was on the Indian Ocean island for at least three days in mid-September and missed two votes on cuts to the winter fuel allowance.

A spokesperson for Cox responded that he had informed the whips and was “paired” for the votes – meaning his absence was offset by another non-voting MP from another party.

The Times reported in March 2025 that Cox was paid £75,000 to give legal advice to the Mauritian government in the months leading up to the Chagos Islands deal, which was heavily criticised by the Conservative Party. Cox denied that his paid work in Mauritius concerned the dispute over the overseas territory.

According to the local press, Cox was said to have discussed the deal with Navin Ramgoolam, the Mauritian prime minister, during the 2024 election campaign. Ramgoolam was Cox’s pupil when he studied law in the UK.