Kevin Shinkwin, Baron Shinkwin

The Right Honourable The Lord Shinkwin
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 October 2015 Life Peerage
Personal details
Born	Kevin Joseph Maximilian Shinkwin (1971-06-07) 7 June 1971 (age 53)
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative

Kevin Joseph Maximilian Shinkwin, Baron Shinkwin (born 7 June 1971) is a British Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords.

Early life and education

Shinkwin was educated at Ratcliffe College where his father was a physics teacher. Ratcliffe is a private Catholic school in Ratcliffe on the Wreake, Leicestershire. He also attended Llanarth Court School which was a public school in Raglan, Gwent for a few years. He studied British politics and legislative studies at the University of Hull, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1993.[1]

Career

He worked for almost 20 years in the voluntary sector, serving in various public affairs roles, including at RNID, Macmillan, Cancer Research UK, and The Royal British Legion, where he led successful campaigns on the Armed Forces Covenant[2] and securing reforms to the coroners service for bereaved Armed Forces families.[3] Immediately prior to entering the Lords, he was Director of Public Affairs and Campaigns for the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, a position he resigned following his appointment to avoid a conflict of interest.

On 21 April 2017 he was appointed a commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.[4] He resigned from this position in December 2017.[5]

Political career

He was created a life peer taking the title Baron Shinkwin, of Balham in the London Borough of Wandsworth on 14 October 2015.[6] He was introduced to the House of Lords on 17 November 2015.[7] He sits as a Conservative.[8][9][10]

Since becoming a Peer, he has focused on charity governance and disability equality issues. In a debate in March 2017 he described Britain's abortion laws as "a licence to kill for the crime of being disabled".[11]

Personal life

He was born with osteogenesis imperfecta.[12]

References

1. 'SHINKWIN', Who's Who 2017, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2016; online edn, Nov 2016 accessed 16 Oct 2017
2. "Armed Forces Covenant recognised in law for first time – Announcements". Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
3. "Case study: Royal British Legion – "Leave it out Ken"" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 May 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
4. "New Commissioner for the Equality and Human Rights Commission". Retrieved 22 April 2017.
5. "Anti-abortion activist resigns as Equality and Human Rights Commissioner". Humanists UK. Humanists UK. 13 December 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
6. "No. 61385". The London Gazette. 20 October 2015. p. 19670.
7. "Introduction: Lord Shinkwin". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Lords. 17 November 2015.
8. "Dissolution Peerages 2015". Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
9. "House of Lords: Outcry as donors, fixers and MPs caught up in expenses scandal are handed peerages". The Independent. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
10. "Members of the House of Lords: Lord Shinkwin". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
11. Hughes, Laura (10 March 2017). "Tory peer Lord Shinkwin warns Britain's abortion laws are a 'licence to kill disabled people'". The Telegraph.
12. "Disability Must Stop Being Workplace D&I's Poor Relation, Says Disabled Conservative Peer". Forbes. Retrieved 13 November 2023.

Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by The Lord Campbell of Pittenweem	Gentlemen Baron Shinkwin	Followed by The Lord Porter of Spalding