One of the shortest-serving housing ministers in recent history has been knighted in the 2025 New Year’s Honours List.

Marcus Jones (main image), who for three months was a housing minister within the ill-fated Boris Johnson government and did not much more than answer a few written answers to parliamentary questions, has been given the ‘Knights Bachelor’ title which will enable him to use Sir in front of his name and wife Suzanne to call herself Lady.

The title is usually given for public service and Jones has been given the gong most likely for being a long-standing politician in local and national government rather than his time at the Ministry of Housing.

He held his seat as a Conservative member of parliament for Nuneaton for 14 years from 2010 to 2024 and, as well as his short stint in housing, was also a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government, Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party for Local Government, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, Comptroller of the Household, Treasurer of the Household and Government Deputy Chief Whip during his tenure.

He has been an Ambassador for The Federation of Small Businesses’ “Keep Trade Local” campaign as well as a campaign leader for the PFI Rebate campaign.

Jones got his brief shot at housing after the fast-crumbling Boris Johnson sacked Michael Gove from his role running the ministry after he urged the then PM to step down following a string of scandals including ‘partygate’ and the Chris Pincher affair.

Gove gone

Gove was replaced by Greg Clarke who then appointed two junior ministers neither of whom had any track record in housing – Jones and Paul Scully.

It was their appointments, and almost immediate departures when the Johnson regime collapsed, that led many within the property industry to bemoan such frequent ‘revolving doors’ at the Ministry of Housing and complaints that this was leading to poor policy decisions.

Jones is joined as a Knights Bachelor in the 2025 New Year’s Honours list by 21 other people including most notably, Stephen Fry, novelist Alan Hollinghurst, London mayor Sadiq Khan and former footballer Gareth Southgate.

Jones lost his seat at the most recent general election.