Jo Gideon was elected as the Member of Parliament For Stoke-on-Trent Central in December 2019.
Having grown up in the West Midlands, Jo previously owned a handmade paper import and wholesale business for ten years and served as a local councillor for thirteen years in Thanet and Ashford. She moved from Kent to Stoke-on-Trent when she was selected to stand in the 2019 General Election and is now proud to call the Potteries home.
Before entering national politics, Jo helped a number of businesses and charities across the country overcome their challenges, working for university enterprise centres, as a leadership mentor and through a range of voluntary roles. These have included being a trustee of national and local charities, membership of a town centre management committee, school governor, and small business member on a Leadership Board for Business in the Environment.
She has three grown-up children and three grandchildren. Jo’s father, Eric, served with the British Army in the Second World War and was awarded the Légion d'Honneur in recognition of his participation in D-Day shortly before his death in 2017. Her mother was a music teacher.
Jo is a strong believer in having a government that accurately reflects the society it serves, and is excited to see the number of new intake MPs from the 2019 General Election entering Parliament with real world experience in a wide range of professions. Her key political interests include the “Levelling-Up” agenda, driving local investment to her constituency, improving both the physical and social infrastructure in the area, and supporting veterans during and after their transition to civilian life. Jo served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State and Ministers at the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy till July 2021 and currently sits on a wide range of All-Party Parliamentary Groups, including Charities and Volunteering, Knife Crime and Violence Reduction, Waterways, Entrepreneurship and Key Cities. Jo is Vice Chair of the Women and Enterprise and Business in a Pandemic (Covid) World APPGs and Chair of the APPG on the National Food Strategy.