The Right Honorable Mark Francois is a United Kingdom Conservative Party Member of Parliament who is currently the Shadow Armed Forces Minister. He has previously served in several government roles including the Minister for Portsmouth for Communities and Local Government from May 2015 until July 2016, as Vice Chamberlain of Her Majesty’s Household in the Government Whips Office from May 2010 until September 2012 and as Minister of State for the Armed Forces from September 2012 until May 2015.
He has published several important defence reports concerning both recruitment of reserves and regular members of the Armed Forces “Filling the Ranks” 2017 and on retaining serving Armed Forces personnel in “Stick or Twist” in 2020. He has served several times on the Parliamentary Defence Committee, most recently from 2020 to 2024. During this time, he led a detailed inquiry into defence procurement which finalised in a report in 2023 entitled 'It is broke- and it is time to fix it.' This report contributed significantly to the recent new Integrated Procurement Model (IPM) which represents a significant change to how the UK Ministry of Defence procures its military equipment.
He studied history at Bristol University and has an MA in War Studies from King’s College, London. He served as an infantry officer in the Territorial Army, including with the local Royal Anglian Regiment, in the 1980s.