James Brokenshire was elected to serve Hornchurch & Rainham as the Member of Parliament in May 2005. In November 2006 he was appointed to the Conservative front bench as a Shadow Home Affairs Minister. James previously served as a member of the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee.

James is married to Cathrine and the couple have three young children - two daughters (Sophie born in November 2002 and Jemma born in April 2005) and one son (Benjamin born in August 2006).

Born in 1968 in Southend-on-Sea, James spent the first few years of his life in Basildon before the family settled in Loughton where James went to school at Davenant Foundation Grammar School. James also attended the Cambridge Centre for Sixth Form Studies before going to university at Exeter where he graduated with an honours degree in law.

Before entering Parliament James was a partner at a large international law firm where he advised a range of companies, businesses and financial institutions on company law, mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance deals.

As Shadow Minister for Crime Reduction James is responsible for helping to develop Conservative policy on issues relating to gun and gang crime, knife crime, drug crime, anti-social behaviour, fraud and on-line crime.