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Biography
Laura Rose Farris (née McNair-Wilson) is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Newbury since the 2019 general election. Prior to her parliamentary career, she worked as a journalist and later as an employment law barrister.
Early life
Farris was born and grew up in Bucklebury, West Berkshire, England. Both her father Michael McNair-Wilson and uncle Patrick McNair-Wilson are former Conservative MPs. She studied philosophy, politics and economics at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, graduating in 2000 with an upper second class degree. Farris worked as a journalist for BBC and Reuters and also worked for Hillary Clinton when she was a New York State senator.
She retrained as a barrister and qualified in 2007, specialising in employment and discrimination law.
Parliamentary career
Farris was selected as the Conservative candidate for Newbury on 10 November 2019. She had previously stood as a candidate in the notionally safe Labour seat of Leyton and Wanstead in London. Farris was elected as Newbury MP with a majority of 16,047 in the 2019 general election. Her father had previously represented the constituency between 1974 and 1992. She has been a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee since March 2020.
Personal life
She is married to Henry Farris and they have two daughters.
