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James Sunderland (politician)

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Colonel
James Sunderland
Official portrait, 2019
Member of Parliament
for Bracknell
In office
12 December 2019 – 30 May 2024
Preceded byPhillip Lee
Succeeded byPeter Swallow
Personal details
Born (1970-06-06) 6 June 1970 (age 56)
Chertsey, Surrey, England
PartyConservative
Education
Websitejamessunderland.org.uk
Military service
Allegiance United Kingdom
Branch/service British Army
Years of service
1993–2019
Rank Colonel
Battles/warsIraq War
War in Afghanistan

James De Ville Sunderland (born 6 June 1970)[1] is a British Conservative politician and former military officer who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bracknell between 2019 and 2024.

Early life and education

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James Sunderland was born on 6 June 1970 in Chertsey. He was privately educated at Royal Grammar School Guildford, before earning a bachelor’s degree at the University of Birmingham. He later earned a master's degree from King’s College London before attending the Defence Academy.[2]

Military service

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Sunderland was commissioned into the British Army from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1993 and served for 26 years before retiring in November 2019 with the rank of Colonel.[2]

Sunderland was commissioned in the Royal Logistic Corps as a second lieutenant on 7 August 1993, with seniority in that rank from 11 August 1990, and promoted the same day to lieutenant and granted seniority from 11 August 1992.[3] He was promoted to captain on 11 August 1995,[4] and to major on 31 July 2002.[5]

Sunderland was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 30 June 2012.[6] From 2014 to 2016, he was commanding officer of 27 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps based in Aldershot.[7] He was promoted to colonel on 30 June 2018.[8] His final post was as commander of the Army Engagement Group.[7][9]

Parliamentary career

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At the 2019 general election, Sunderland was elected to Parliament as MP for Bracknell with 58.7% of the vote and a majority of 19,829.[10][11]

Following an interim report on the connections between colonialism and properties now in the care of the National Trust, including links with historic slavery, Sunderland was among the signatories of a letter to The Telegraph in November 2020 from the "Common Sense Group" of Conservative Parliamentarians. The letter accused the National Trust of being "coloured by cultural Marxist dogma, colloquially known as the 'woke[broken anchor] agenda'".[12]

In March 2021 Sunderland was elected as the chairman of the Armed Forces Bill Select Committee.[13]

He responded to claims that the Boundary Commission charged with redistricting the Bracknell Constituency purposefully redrew the maps to aid Conservatives by saying "I am comfortable that fairness has been employed and that the fundamental principles that underpin it have been robustly honoured".[14]

In the Government reshuffle of September 2021, Sunderland received his first official appointment, as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to the ministerial team at the Ministry of Defence. On 13 June 2022, he was moved to the role of PPS to George Eustice, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.[15] He resigned from this position on 6 July 2022, in protest at Boris Johnson's conduct in the Chris Pincher scandal.[16]

In February 2023, Sunderland was re-selected as the Conservative candidate for Bracknell[17] but narrowly lost his seat to Labour's Peter Swallow at the 2024 general election.

Post-parliamentary career

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Following his defeat at the 2024 UK General Election, Sunderland returned to the British Army and works as the Director of the Army Discipline Review.[18]

References

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  1. ↑ Brunskill, Ian (19 March 2020). The Times guide to the House of Commons 2019 : the definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General Election. HarperCollins Publishers Limited. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC 1129682574.
  2. 1 2 "About James | James Sunderland MP | Member of Parliament for Bracknell". www.jamessunderland.org.uk. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  3. ↑ "No. 53426". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 September 1993. p. 14963.
  4. ↑ "No. 54160". The London Gazette (Supplement). 18 September 1995. p. 12685.
  5. ↑ "No. 56655". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 August 2002. pp. 9426–9427.
  6. ↑ "No. 60197". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 July 2012. pp. 12690–12691.
  7. 1 2 "Commander (Ret.) James Sunderland". Defence Leaders. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  8. ↑ "No. 62342". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 July 2018. pp. 11754–11755.
  9. ↑ Design, Akiko (3 April 2019). "'Your Army' Impresses At Denbies!". High Sheriff of Surrey. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  10. ↑ Knight, Alice (13 December 2019). "Bracknell general election results: Conservative candidate James Sunderland wins seat". Bracknell News. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  11. ↑ "Bracknell parliamentary constituency" (PDF). Bracknell Forest Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  12. ↑ "Britain's heroes". Letter to the Daily Telegraph. 9 November 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2021.{{cite press release}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  13. ↑ "Committees". Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  14. ↑ "Letter: MP rebuffs claims Tories have rigged the nation's new political map". Reading Chronicle. 20 June 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  15. ↑ Heale, James [@JAHeale] (13 June 2022). "Some PPS changes for rising Tory stars: -Rob Butler to Liz Truss -Selaine Saxby to Simon Clarke -James Sunderland to George Eustice" (Tweet). Retrieved 14 June 2022 – via Twitter.
  16. ↑ Young, Brad. "Bracknell MP resigns from Johnson's Government". Bracknell News. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  17. ↑ James Sunderland [@JamesSunderl] (18 February 2023). "Thrilled to be re-selected as the Conservative candidate for Bracknell Constituency. Thank you to everyone in Bracknell, Crowthorne, Finchampstead, Sandhurst & Wokingham Without for your objectivity and friendship. It remains an honour to serve you" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  18. ↑ Crowther, Zoe (6 July 2025). "One Year After The General Election: Where Are Former MPs Now?". PoliticsHome. Retrieved 21 April 2026.
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