Defence intellectual, anti CND warrior of the 1980s, longest serving Tory defence specialist in Parliament, the man Boris Johnson stripped of the whip the day he won the Intelligence and Security Committee chair against Number 10''s preferred candidate. Whip back in December, Russia Report out six days after he took the gavel.

Born 1951; history at Balliol; DPhil at St Antony''s on British post-war strategic defence planning, published as Changing Direction in 1988. Newham North East CLP from 1976 to early 1978 was where he made his first political name, posing as a Labour moderate with covert Freedom Association funding in an attempt to reverse Reg Prentice''s deselection and expose Militant entryism; Labour''s NEC overturned the moderates and a follow up court case went the same way. Director of CCO''s Media Monitoring Unit from 1995. Elected in 1997 for New Forest East on a 5,215 majority. Held the seat on 4 July 2024 with an 8,495 majority over Labour on a 38.5% share, with Reform third on 7,646.

The defining cause has been nuclear deterrence. He founded the Coalition for Peace Through Security in September 1981 to oppose CND and support Polaris to Trident replacement and the deployment of cruise missiles at Greenham Common; co actors Edward Leigh and Tony Kerpel; offices in Whitehall rented from Jeffrey Archer; funding from a private intelligence outfit called The 61 and from the US Heritage Foundation in 1982. Chartered planes to fly banners over CND festivals, harangued marchers from the office roof, ran counter demonstrations. The career as MP turned the polemic into legislation. He voted for Trident renewal at every opportunity from 2007 to 2016 and spoke for the 472 to 117 successor vote of 18 July 2016.

Chair of the Defence Select Committee from June 2015 to November 2019, re-elected against Madeleine Moon by 305 to 265 in 2017. More than thirty inquiry reports under his chairmanship; the Shifting the Goalposts report on the 2% NATO pledge and the Restoring the Fleet report on naval procurement were his clearest legacy. Privy Counsellor from March 2015. Knight Bachelor in the 2023 New Year Honours for political and public service. One of the 28 Spartans who voted against May''s Withdrawal Agreement at all three meaningful votes. Voted Aye on the Rwanda Bill at every stage and No on the Leadbeater assisted dying bill at second reading on 29 November 2024.

The ISC episode is the entire third act. On 15 July 2020, members elected him chair against Boris Johnson''s preferred candidate Chris Grayling. The same day Johnson''s whips stripped him of the Conservative whip, accusing him of "working with Labour and other opposition MPs". The whip was restored on 30 December 2020. He chaired the Committee through to dissolution in May 2024. The Russia Report, completed under Dominic Grieve in March 2019 and sat on by Number 10 for nine months, was published on 21 July 2020, six days after Lewis took the gavel. Headline finding: the government had "actively avoided" examining possible Russian interference in the Brexit referendum and that interference was "the new normal".

The contradictions hold the bio together. The man who posed as a Labour moderate to fight Militant, then ran a covertly Heritage Foundation funded group to ambush CND, ended up the parliamentarian Number 10 most wanted to keep out of intelligence oversight and used the chair to force out the report Number 10 had been hiding. One of two MPs, with John McDonnell, with a track record of opposing virtually every overseas military intervention this century. Did not stand for the 2024 leadership and has kept his counsel publicly since.