Lord Bates: The Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Ethiopia

Between 1992 and 1997 Lord Bates was the Member of Parliament for Langbaurgh constituency. In the House of Commons he served as a senior Government Whip, Paymaster-General in the Cabinet Office and Sponsor Minister for North East England. In 2008 he was appointed to the House of Lords. Between 2008 and 2010 he held a number of Shadow Ministerial posts including: Communities and Local Government, Cabinet Office and the Whips’ Office.

In 2013 he was appointed a Deputy Speaker and Deputy Chairman of the House of Lords. He then was appointed Whip for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on broadcasting in October 2013. At the same time he was also appointed as a Lord-in-Waiting. Following this he was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Criminal Information at the Home Office in 2014; the Lords spokesman and Whip at the Department for Work and Pensions; and the Whip at the Department for International Development.

He worked, with others, to establish one of the first City Technology Colleges in Gateshead dedicated to delivering academic excellence in a socially deprived area of Tyneside. He has served as Director of Research & Consulting for Oxford Analytica – an international consulting firm using a network of academics for Oxford and universities around the world to undertake research in economic, business and political trends. Lord Bates was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Ethiopia in October 2020.