Robert has spent most of his life in the Midlands and comes from small town Britain. Born in 1980s Wolverhampton, his father, Bill, was a small businessman from Manchester and his mother, Jenny, was a secretary from Liverpool. They set up their own business fitting fireplaces around their kitchen table.

Robert’s formative years were defined by fundamental conservative values of family, hard work, self-reliance, and pride of place. His politics was informed not by what his parents said, but what they did.

Robert attended a state primary school and later attended Wolverhampton Grammar School. He became the first generation of his family to go to university, studying history at Cambridge.

Robert joined the Conservative Party in 1997 and later became an Association Chairman. In 2014 he stood for election in the Newark by-election, defeating UKIP. By 2019 he was made the joint youngest Cabinet Minister since the Second World War, tied with Harold Wilson and William Hague. Robert served in the governments of all 5 previous Conservative Prime Ministers and currently serves as the Shadow Lord Chancellor and Shadow Secretary of State for Justice.

As a Treasury Minister Robert helped to deliver freeports and produced the Brexit coin. As Communities Secretary he delivered record investment in forgotten towns across the country, and raised the number of housing starts to the highest number since 1987. As Immigration Minister Robert personally secured the largest ever reduction in legal migration, and resigned on principle when it became clear the Government’s Rwanda policy would not produce an effective deterrent.

Since resigning, Robert has been campaigning for a cap on legal migration in the 10,000s, tougher action on illegal migration, less red tape on small businesses, action on the housing crisis and higher defence spending. He writes a weekly Telegraph column.

Robert is married to Michal, a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, and together they have three young girls.