The Rt Hon Mark Lancaster TD
Biography
Mark Lancaster TD was Minister of State for the Armed Forces from 13 June 2017 to 16 December 2019.
Mark was educated at Kimbolton School. He has a BSc in Business Studies from the University of Buckingham and an MBA from the University of Exeter Business School. He was awarded an Honorary PhD by Buckingham University in 2008.
Mark served on a gap year commission in the army between 1988 and 1990. He was a company director for the family fireworks firm, Kimbolton Fireworks, before he was elected to Parliament and continues to serve in the Army Reserves as a Colonel; this has included operational tours in Kosovo (1999 to 2000), Bosnia (2001 to 2002) and Afghanistan (2006).
Mark was a Member of Huntingdonshire District Council (1995 to 1999) where he served as the Chairman of the Leisure Committee (1996 to 1999). He was elected as Member of Parliament for the North East Milton Keynes in the 2005 general election.
Mark was a Conservative Party whip between November 2006 until July 2007 and as a Shadow Minister for Department for International Development ((DfID) until the 2010 general election. Shortly after his re-election in 2010, he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Secretary of State for International Development. In September 2012 he became a government minister when he was made a Lord Commissioner of Her Majesty’s Treasury. In May 2015 Mark was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Defence Veterans, Reserves and Personnel and held that position until June 2017, when he was appointed Minister of State for the Armed Forces.
He is married to Caroline Dinenage the MP for Gosport.