THE rapid rise in the political career of Tenbury MP Harriett Baldwin has been shot down following the election of Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party and his taking over as Prime Minister.

Mrs Baldwin, whose West Worcestershire constituency includes Tenbury, was elected as an MP in May 2010.

But she did not stay on the back benches for long and in nine years had already held office in the Treasury, Ministry of Defence and Foreign Office.

But all of this came to an end when she was sacked from her most recent role as an international development minister with special responsibilities for Africa.

Mrs Baldwin had recently returned from a visit to the continent.

As someone who had been a strong campaigner for Remain in the 2016 Referendum and a high profile supporter of Jeremy Hunt in the Conservative leadership race she would not have been labelled by Mr Johnson as a ‘true believer’ and so cannot have been surprised at her sacking.

She has said little about her removal from Government so far although Mrs Baldwin did philosophically use the words of the actor Hyman Goth on Godfather II: ‘this is the business we have chosen.’

Mrs Baldwin went on to say that it had been an honour to serve at the Foreign Office and congratulated Andrew Stephenson who has been appointed to replace her.

In the 2016 Referendum Mrs Baldwin was a passionate campaigner to Remain in the European Union warning that leaving would be damaging to the economy and to security.

However, after the result was declared in May 2016, Mrs Baldwin said that the outcome had to be honoured and that to fail to do so would be damaging to democracy.

She was a strong supporter and admirer of Theresa May who she believed had worked hard to come up with a compromise deal.

Speaking just days before the Conservative party leadership result was announced Mrs Baldwin repeated her belief that the Referendum result had to be delivered but that she was against a no deal although wanted it kept on the table as a negotiating weapon.

At the same time, she said that she thought that there was a late swing towards Mr Hunt but in the end, he was well beaten by Mr Johnson by two votes to one.

The former Foreign Secretary launched his campaign for the leadership of the Conservative party in Tenbury with Mrs Baldwin at his side where she took the chance to brief him about the need for a Post office in Tenbury and flood protection.

Daughter of a teacher, born in Watford, Mrs Baldwin worked in financial services before becoming at MP at the age of 50 in 2010.

Promotion was rapid with her appointment as City Minister, responsible for regulation of banks, by former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in 2014, she replaced neighbouring MP Philip Dunne as Minister for Defence Procurement, in July 2016 before moving to the Foreign Office at the beginning of last year.