Jo Gideon

Joanna Mary Gideon is a British Conservative Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-on-Trent Central constituency since the 2019 general election. Early life and career Gideon studied at Stourbridge High School, and then earned a degree (BA Hons in German) from the University of Birmingham. She has worked in higher education as a small business owner: she ran a business importing and selling handmade paper. Political career Gideon contested the marginal seat of Scunthorpe at the 2015 general election, but lost to the Labour incumbent, Nic Dakin. At the 2017 general election, she stood in another marginal seat, Great Grimsby, and finished 2,565 votes behind Labour's sitting MP, Melanie Onn. Gideon was elected to Ashford Borough Council in May 2019 as a borough councillor, where she was a cabinet member for Community Safety & Wellbeing. She stood down as councillor following her election to Parliament in December 2019, when she narrowly gained Stoke-on-Trent Central from Labour for the Conservatives, it being the third marginal seat she had stood for election in. She has also worked as an aide to Damian Green, former Cabinet minister and MP for Ashford since 1997.