Andrew Lewer MBE MP

Andrew Lewer MBE MP is the founder and Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group (‘APPG’) for Independent Education and has served as the MP for Northampton South since 2017. Before that he was a Member of the European Parliament and before that Leader of Derbyshire County Council and is the only person in Britain to have served as an MP, an MEP and a Council Leader.

Andrew was educated at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Ashbourne, Derbyshire (a state school with boarders founded in 1585), Newcastle University and Downing College, Cambridge, and later served as a Governor of the University of Derby for nine years As well as encouraging state – independent school partnerships as a Council Leader, Andrew chaired the annual European Council of National Associations of Independent Schools (‘ECNAIS’) Conference in Brussels and served on the Culture and Education Committee of the European Parliament. As Chairman of the APPG he has endeavoured to give independent education a louder voice in Parliament and thus Government, chairing evidence sessions and making representations to Ministers on issues of concern, which came especially to the fore at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.