Gregory William Hands (born 14 November 1965) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chelsea and Fulham, previously Hammersmith and Fulham, since 2005. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as its Chairman since February 2023. Hands previously served as Minister of State for Trade Policy under four prime ministers, holding the office on three occasions, and as Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth from 2021 to 2022. Hands has been the MP for Chelsea and Fulham since 2010; the constituency was created that year by the splitting of the former constituencies of Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham. Prior to these boundary changes, he served as the MP for the Hammersmith and Fulham constituency from 2005. Hands served in Prime Minister David Cameron's Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2015 until 2016. He voted for the UK to remain in the European Union (EU) during the 2016 Brexit referendum. Following the 2016 referendum vote to leave the EU and Cameron's consequent resignation, Hands was demoted by newly appointed Prime Minister Theresa May to a junior ministerial position at the Department for International Trade. Following the 2017 general election, Hands retained his position as Minister of State for Trade and Investment but also undertook the Minister for London role, replacing Gavin Barwell who lost his seat. Hands resigned in 2018, citing his opposition to the proposed expansion of Heathrow Airport, but returned to the position as Minister of State for Trade Policy in February 2020 under Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In September 2021, Hands was appointed Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth. After Johnson's resignation in 6 September 2022, Hands left that position and briefly returned to the backbenches before being appointed to his former role as Minister of State for Trade Policy by Prime Minister Liz Truss on 9 October 2022. Following the resignation of Truss in October 2022 and the dismissal of Nadhim Zahawi in January 2023, Hands was appointed as the Chairman of the Conservative Party by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on 7 February 2023. Early life and career Hands was born on 14 November 1965 to British parents in New York City. He lived in the United States until he was seven years old and his family moved back to the UK. He was educated at state schools