Who is Felicity Buchan?
Felicity was born in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire. She attended a local comprehensive school before studying law at Christ Church, Oxford.
She began her career working for JPMorgan in 1991. Over 10 years at JPMorgan she worked in both London and New York, in M&A, fixed income trading, syndicate and capital markets.
She left JPMorgan in 2001 to join Bank of America as a managing director, running its European corporate debt capital markets division.
Living in Kensington & Chelsea for more than 25 years, she has been an involved member of our community both before and after becoming the local MP at the 2019 General Election. She has volunteered at a North Kensington children’s charity and was the Chair of Governors of Bousfield Primary School. She believes it is the honour of her life to represent her local community.
On the 8th of September 2022, she was appointed as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury before becoming Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing and Homeless, a position she has held since the 30th of October 2022.
In her ministerial role, she is responsible for tackling rough sleeping and homelessness as well as Ukrainian, Hong Kong and Afghan resettlement. The UK has the third lowest rough sleeping rate in the World behind South Korea and Japan with around 3,000 rough sleepers across England. However, every rough sleeper is one too many. That’s why the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has a budget of over £2bn over 3 years to end rough sleeping for good and reduce homelessness.
As part of her resettlement portfolio, she is responsible for Homes for Ukraine. The UK has welcomed almost 200,000 Ukrainians to the UK since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and many Kensington families have welcomed Ukrainians into their homes and communities. Similarly, the UK has welcomed 192,000 Hong Kongers, and almost 25,000 Afghans – she is responsible for their integration.
When she gets time away from politics, she enjoys travelling and meeting friends and family in Kensington’s excellent restaurants, museums and galleries.