Helen Whately, MP for Faversham and Mid Kent
Helen Whately has been an MP since 2015. Currently: Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
Roles and committees
Posts held in government or opposition, and committee seats, as Parliament records them.
In government
| Post | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care) (Department of Health and Social Care) | 2022 to 2024 | |
| Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury) (HM Treasury) | 2021 to 2022 | |
| Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care) (Department of Health and Social Care) | 2020 to 2021 | |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) | 2019 to 2020 |
In opposition
| Post | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Department for Work and Pensions) | 2024 to now | Now |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Transport (Department for Transport) | 2024 |
Committees
| Post | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Health and Social Care Committee | 2022 | |
| Finance (No.2) Bill | 2021 to 2022 | |
| Public Accounts Committee | 2021 to 2022 | |
| Draft Domestic Abuse Bill (Joint Committee) | 2019 | |
| Health and Social Care Committee | 2015 to 2017 |
Other posts
| Post | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Deputy Chair, Conservative Party | 2019 | |
| Vice-Chair, Conservative Party | 2018 to 2019 |
Source: UK Parliament Members API · Parliament’s own page
Declared interests
MPs must publish certain paid work, gifts, donations and other interests. This is a record of what they declared, not a suggestion that anything is wrong.
Helen Whately has 9 interests currently registered.
| Type | What was registered | Registered |
|---|---|---|
| Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MP | Michael Hintz - £5,000.00 | 21 Jul 2026 |
| Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MP | Benjamin Tansey - £3,000.00 | 30 Jun 2026 |
| Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MP | Richard Oldfield - £7,500.00 | 25 Mar 2026 |
| Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MP | Lord Michael Farmer - £5,000.00 | 25 Mar 2026 |
| Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MP | Edward Sells - £10,000.00 | 24 Feb 2026 |
| Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MP | Edward Garton Woods - £5,000.00 | 21 Jan 2026 |
| Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MP | Lord (Stanley) Fink - £5,000.00 | 14 Jan 2026 |
| Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MP | Richard Oldfield - £7,500.00 | 5 Jan 2026 |
| Miscellaneous | My husband, Marcus Whately, is Chief Executive of GrowUp Farms, a salad producer. | 17 Sep 2024 |
Source: Register of Members’ Financial Interests · Parliament’s own page
Questions
MPs can ask ministers questions in writing. The questions show what an MP is working on, which votes cannot.
Helen Whately asked 212 written questions in the last 12 months.
Who they asked
Latest questions
Source: Written Questions API · Updated 4 Oct 2026
Expenses
MPs claim back money for running an office and working in two places. An independent body, IPSA, publishes every claim. This is what was paid in 2025-26.
59 claims. For comparison, across the 657 MPs in IPSA’s file the middle MP was paid £18,469 and the average was £19,699.
Source: IPSA, individual business costs data · About this data
Election result and area
Helen Whately represents Faversham and Mid Kent. Here is who won there at the last general election, and a few numbers about the area.
Conservative
votes ahead of second place
of people who could vote did
Helen Whately won with 32% of the votes, and Mel Dawkins (Labour) came second with 29%.
Votes for each party
Every candidate
| Candidate | Party | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helen Whately | Conservative | 14,816 | 31.8% |
| Mel Dawkins | Labour | 13,347 | 28.6% |
| Maxwell Harrison | Reform UK | 9,884 | 21.2% |
| Hannah Temple | Green Party | 4,218 | 9.1% |
| Hannah Perkin | Liberal Democrat | 4,158 | 8.9% |
| Lawrence Rustem | British Democratic Party | 171 | 0.4% |
2024 General Election, on today’s boundaries. Source: House of Commons Library via the Members API.
Your area at a glance
Median gross weekly pay, 2025. Source: ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.
Share of people aged 16 to 64, August 2026. Source: ONS and DWP claimant count.
How they vote
In the last 12 months Helen Whately took part in 210 Commons votes.
More detail on how they vote
Helen Whately voted the same way as their party in 208 of the 208 votes where parties gave instructions (100%), and went the other way in 0.
What does this mean?
Parties tell their MPs how to vote. Most MPs usually follow that. A high or low count says nothing on its own about whether an MP is good or bad, and we do not rank MPs by it. We only count votes where parties gave instructions, not free votes. How we count it
Recent votes
| Date | Vote | They voted | Compared with party |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Sep | End of life for terminally ill adults: the first main vote | Against | Free vote |
| 11 Sep | A vote to end a debate | Against | Free vote |
| 10 Sep | Social housing: an attempt to block it | For | Same as party |
| 8 Sep | Health: a proposed change | For | Same as party |
| 8 Sep | Health: a proposed change | For | Same as party |
| 8 Sep | Health: a proposed change | For | Same as party |
See every vote on Parliament’s site
Has this changed over time?
View data table
| Month | This MP | Party average |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 25 | 100% | 100% |
| Nov 25 | 100% | 100% |
| Dec 25 | 100% | 100% |
| Jan 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Feb 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Mar 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Apr 26 | 100% | 100% |
| May 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Jun 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Jul 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Sep 26 | 100% | 100% |
Source: Commons Votes API
This page states what the record shows. It does not say why an MP voted as they did. How we calculate this