Julia Lopez

MP for Hornchurch and Upminster

Conservatives

Julia Lopez is the Conservative MP for Hornchurch and Upminster, having first been elected to parliament at the 2017 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Lopez received 15,260 votes, representing 32.5% of the vote share. The Reform UK candidate, Nicholas Palmer, received 13,317 votes (28.4%), while the Labour candidate, Sunny Brar, secured 12,939 votes (27.6%). Lopez was duly elected with a majority of 1,943 votes.

The Hornchurch and Upminster constituency is located in the north-eastern corner of Greater London, bordering Essex, and includes the communities of Hornchurch, Upminster, Cranham, Harold Wood, and Emerson Park. It is noted as the only London constituency extending beyond the M25 motorway and has higher levels of home ownership and retired residents compared to London averages.

The seat, created in 2010, has been held continuously by the Conservatives. Lopez succeeded Dame Angela Watkinson, who represented the seat from 2010 to 2017 (having previously represented the predecessor Upminster seat from 2001).

Political Career

Lopez currently serves as shadow minister for science, innovation and technology. She was appointed to this role as part of the August/September 2026 shadow cabinet reshuffle, Kemi Badenoch’s second as Conservative leader.

Lopez served as shadow secretary of state for science, innovation and technology from July 2025 to September 2026.

Lopez, an ally of the Conservative leader, was previously parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to Badenoch as leader of the opposition (November 2024 – July 2025). A PPS acts as an unpaid parliamentary assistant, providing a link between the senior frontbencher and backbench MPs.

Lopez was shadow secretary of state for culture, media and sport on the interim/caretaker frontbench constructed by Rishi Sunak following the 2024 general election.

In government, Lopez served under prime ministers Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. She was appointed parliamentary secretary at the Cabinet Office in February 2020, serving until September 2021. She was then promoted to minister of state at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

In June 2022, Lopez publicly declared their loyalty to the prime minister, Boris Johnson, ahead of a Conservative “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. In a social media post, Lopez called for a united “Conservative focus on growth and lower tax”. 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.

However, Lopez resigned in July 2022 as part of the mass walkout of ministers that ultimately precipitated Boris Johnson’s downfall. Notably, Lopez resigned by way of a joint letter, co-written with Alex Burghart, Neil O’Brien, Lee Rowley and Kemi Badenoch. The letter’s signatories were considered “rising stars” in the Conservative Party.

The letter read: “It is with great regret that we are resigning as members of the government. It has been an honour to serve in your administration and we remain extremely grateful for the opportunity you have given us to serve our country.

“You have had the most difficult task in a generation. We hugely admire your fortitude, stamina and enduring optimism. You can be rightly proud of the significant decisions which you have, by common acclamation, got right.

“However, it has become increasingly clear that the government cannot function given the issues that have come to light and the way in which they have been handled. In good faith, we must ask that, for the good of the party and the country, you step aside.”

Lopez was subsequently reappointed minister of state at DCMS under Liz Truss in September 2022. She retained this role under Rishi Sunak. The department was later restructured, with Lopez becoming minister of state across both DCMS and the new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

Lopez took maternity leave from her ministerial duties between May and December 2023. She remained minister of state at DCMS and DSIT until the change of government following the July 2024 general election.

Lopez has been a member of the House of Commons international trade select committee (2017-2019).

Lopez delivered her maiden speech on 6 July 2017 during a debate on exiting the European Union and global trade. In it, she said: “Rather like me, Hornchurch and Upminster may now be in London, but it will always and forever have an Essex heart. Both Hornchurch and Upminster were agricultural parishes of the county, and the vestiges of a simpler past are scattered across the seat like antique jewels”

She added: “The past decade may have undermined trust in our economy, in our politicians and in our media, but crises and scandals can also drive improvements, and should not be taken as a reason to give up or dismiss our nation with a relentless, virulent negativity.”’

Political Views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Tory leadership 2024: Lopez 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 with 53,806 votes (56.5%). Badenoch was declared Conservative leader on 2 November.

Tory leadership 2022 (I): Lopez supported Kemi 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.

Lopez went on to support Liz Truss’ candidacy. Truss, the then-foreign secretary, campaigned on a platform of sweeping tax cuts. After finishing second in the final parliamentary ballot with 113 votes, she won the subsequent vote of the party membership with 81,326 votes (57.4%) and was appointed prime minister on 6 September.

Factional identity and party tradition

European Research Group: Lopez has been associated with the European Research Group (ERG). During the Conservative Party’s last stint in government, the ERG emerged as a highly influential Tory faction composed of staunchly eurosceptic MPs. Founded in 1993, the group played a pivotal role in shaping the UK’s exit from the European Union, consistently advocating for a “hard” Brexit.

Its members were generally and often stridently critical of the withdrawal agreement negotiated by Theresa May. Chaired variously by Mark Francois, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Steve Baker and Suella Braverman, the group proved instrumental in May’s downfall as prime minister.

Bright Blue: Lopez has been listed as a parliamentary supporter of Bright Blue, an independent centre-right think tank and membership organisation that champions liberal conservatism in the UK. Since its founding in 2014, the organisation has expanded its reach through a new cross-party strategy.

Blue Collar Conservatives: Lopez was previously listed as a member of the Blue Collar Conservatives group. This faction within the Conservative party was founded in 2012 by the former cabinet minister Esther McVey, but came to greater prominence following the 2019 general election. The group aimed to “champion working people and develop a conservative agenda to benefit the voters and communities most neglected by Labour”. In October 2022, McVey was succeeded by Lee Anderson as the group’s chair.

Brexit and Europe

Brexit referendum: Lopez supported Leave in the 2016 Brexit referendum, and therefore agreed with a majority of her constituents, 69.5% of whom also voted to Leave.

Brexit spartan: Lopez was one of the 28 so-called “Brexit spartans”, a group of hardline Eurosceptic Conservative MPs who voted against then-prime minister Theresa May’s Brexit withdrawal agreement on all three occasions it was put to parliament in 2019. The so-called “spartans” argued that May’s deal did not represent a genuine departure from the European Union. Their steadfast opposition was a critical factor in May’s resignation as prime minister.

Assisted dying

Lopez 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): Lopez 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.

Foreign policy and security

Sanctioned (Russia): In April 2022, Lopez was among the group of MPs placed on a sanctions list by the Russian government. The measure barred them from entering Russia and was presented by Moscow as a retaliatory response to the UK’s stance on the invasion of Ukraine.

Before Politics

Born Julia Louise Dockerill in Harlow, Essex, in June 1984, she grew up in Stansted Mountfitchet. Her mother was a primary school teacher and her father was a businessman. She attended Hertfordshire and Essex High School.

She studied social and political sciences at Queens’ College, University of Cambridge.

After graduating, she worked as a researcher and later chief of staff for the Conservative MP Mark Field. She co-authored two books with Field (Between the Crashes and The Best of Times) and has also worked as a ghostwriter.

From 2014 to 2018, Lopez served as a Conservative councillor for the St Katharine’s and Wapping ward on Tower Hamlets London borough council.