Sam Gyimah facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sam Gyimah
Official portrait, 2017
Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation
In office 9 January 2018 – 30 November 2018
Prime Minister	Theresa May
Preceded by	Jo Johnson
Succeeded by	Chris Skidmore
Minister of State for Prisons
In office 17 July 2016 – 9 January 2018
Prime Minister	Theresa May
Preceded by	Andrew Selous
Succeeded by	Rory Stewart
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Childcare and Education
In office 21 July 2014 – 17 July 2016
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Liz Truss
Succeeded by	Caroline Dinenage
Parliamentary Secretary for the Constitution
In office 14 July 2014 – 12 May 2015
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Greg Clark
Succeeded by	John Penrose
Lord Commissioner of the Treasury
In office 7 October 2013 – 14 July 2014
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Desmond Swayne
Succeeded by	Harriett Baldwin
Liberal Democrat frontbench positions Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy In office 21 October 2019 – 13 December 2019 Leader Jo Swinson Preceded by Sir Ed Davey Succeeded by Sarah Olney (Business and Industrial Strategy) Wera Hobhouse (Energy and Climate Change)
Member of Parliament for East Surrey
In office 6 May 2010 – 6 November 2019
Preceded by	Peter Ainsworth
Succeeded by	Claire Coutinho
Personal details
Born	Samuel Phillip Gyimah (1976-08-10) 10 August 1976 (age 49) Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England
Political party	Liberal Democrats (2019–present)
Other political affiliations	Conservative (1999–2019)
Spouse	Nicky Black ​ (m. 2012)​
Children	2
Alma mater	Somerville College, Oxford

Samuel Phillip Gyimah (born 10 August 1976) is a British politician and banker. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for East Surrey from 2010 to 2019. An MP's job is to represent the people of their local area, called a constituency, in the government.

He was first elected as a member of the Conservative Party. However, in 2019, he voted against his party's plans for Brexit (the United Kingdom leaving the European Union). Because of this, he was removed from the Conservative Party in Parliament. He then joined the Liberal Democrats.

During his time in government, Gyimah held several important jobs. He was the Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation. He resigned from this role in 2018 because he disagreed with the government's Brexit plan. After leaving politics, Gyimah began working on the board of the major banking company Goldman Sachs International.

Early Life and Education

Sam Gyimah was born in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England. His father was a doctor and his mother was a midwife. When he was six, his parents separated. He moved to his mother's home country of Ghana with his younger brother and sister.

For ten years, Gyimah went to the famous Achimota School in Accra, the capital of Ghana. He later returned to the UK for his high school education. He attended Freman College, a state school in Hertfordshire.

After high school, he studied Politics, philosophy and economics at the University of Oxford. He was very active in student life and was elected President of the Oxford Union, a well-known debating society, in 1997.

Career Before Politics

After graduating from Oxford, Gyimah worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. In 2003, he left to start his own business that focused on training and hiring people for jobs.

He also became involved with the Bow Group, a think tank connected to the Conservative Party. A think tank is a group of experts who research and share ideas on big topics. He was the chairman of the Bow Group from 2006 to 2007.

A Career in Parliament

In 2010, Gyimah was elected as the Conservative MP for East Surrey. He made his first official speech in Parliament on 29 July 2010.

Working for the Government

In 2012, Gyimah became a Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, David Cameron. This role is like being a special assistant to the Prime Minister. A year later, he became a Government Whip. A whip's job is to make sure that MPs from their party vote together on important laws.

From 2014, he served in several minister roles. As the Minister for Childcare and Education, he helped pass a law in 2016 that gave working parents 30 hours of free childcare per week for their young children.

Minister for Universities

In January 2018, Gyimah became the Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation. In this role, he visited universities across the country to talk with students and staff.

He encouraged university leaders to make student mental health a top priority. He also spoke about the importance of free speech at universities, warning that some schools might be limiting open discussion.

Disagreement over Brexit

Gyimah with Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson at the 2019 Lib Dem autumn conference

In 2016, the UK voted to leave the European Union in a process known as Brexit. Gyimah had supported staying in the EU.

In November 2018, he resigned from his job as a minister. He strongly disagreed with the Brexit deal that Prime Minister Theresa May had made with the EU. He believed the deal would make Britain "rule takers" instead of "rule makers" and would be bad for the country.

Gyimah wanted the public to have a final vote on the Brexit deal. He co-founded a group called Right to Vote to support a second referendum.

Leaving the Conservative Party

In September 2019, Gyimah and 20 other Conservative MPs voted against the new Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. They wanted to stop a "no-deal Brexit," which meant leaving the EU without any agreement.

Because they voted against their party, all 21 MPs were told they could no longer be Conservative MPs. This is called "losing the whip." They had to sit in Parliament as independents.

A few days later, on 14 September, Gyimah announced he was joining the Liberal Democrats. He stood as a candidate for them in the 2019 general election but was not elected.

Life After Parliament

After his political career, Gyimah took on new roles. In 2020, he joined the board of Oxford University Innovation, a company that helps turn university research into real-world products and businesses.

He also returned to Goldman Sachs, the company where he started his career. He now serves as a non-executive director, which means he helps guide the company's decisions.

Personal Life

In 2012, Gyimah married Nicky Black. They have a son and a daughter. His wife is from New Zealand and grew up in Hong Kong. She also attended Oxford University and was a president of the Oxford Union.

Gyimah has volunteered for several charities, including Crisis, which helps homeless people, and the Down's Syndrome Association. He is also a Vice-President of the Young Epilepsy charity.