He previously served as Education Secretary from July to September 2022, Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party alongside Ben Elliot from 2019 to 2020, and in other junior ministerial positions.

In the second May ministry, Cleverly served as Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2018 to 2019 and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union from April to July 2019.

Cleverly was promoted to the Cabinet as minister without portfolio in the First Johnson ministry, serving as co-chairman of the Conservative Party alongside Ben Elliot from 2019 to 2020.

During the July 2022 government crisis, Cleverly returned to Cabinet; succeeding Michelle Donelan as Secretary of State for Education.

He pursued hospitality management studies at Ealing College of Higher Education (now University of West London) graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1991.

[3][4] After graduation, Cleverly worked for publishing company Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeverijen, and joined Informa as international sales manager in 2002.

"[24] In January 2016, the Labour Party proposed an amendment to the Housing and Planning Bill 2016,[25] which would have required private landlords to make homes which they put up for rent "fit for human habitation".

According to Parliament's register of interests, Cleverly was one of 72 Conservative MPs who voted against the amendment and who personally derived an income from renting out property.

The Conservative Government had responded to the amendment by saying that they believed homes should be fit for human habitation but did not want to pass the new law that would explicitly require it.

[26] In March 2016, Cleverly was asked to step down as patron of Advocacy for All, a charity supporting disadvantaged people in South East England.

The charity felt he was no longer a suitable person for the role, given that he had voted to cut Employment and Support Allowance (the benefit paid to disabled people who are unable to work).

[30] In January 2018 he was appointed as a deputy chairman of the Conservative Party[31] before becoming a junior minister at the Department for Exiting the European Union in April 2019.

In October 2018, Cleverly defended Conservative London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey over potentially Islamophobic and Hinduphobic comments made in a pamphlet and suggested that black boys were drifting into crime as a result of learning more about faiths other than "their own Christian culture".

Cleverly attended the UN Security Council meeting on 22 September, where he called on other countries to reject the annexation referendums due to take place in Russian-occupied areas in Eastern and Southern Ukraine.

[41] On 20 October 2022, he announced that the United Kingdom would pursue sanctions against Iran for supplying drones to attack civilian targets in Ukraine.

[50] In the same month, Cleverly met his Norwegian counterpart, Anniken Huitfeldt, to discuss continued military cooperation and attended the annual Christmas tree lighting.

[52] Cleverly was criticised by some Conservative MPs, including Liz Truss, for refusing to reclassify China as a "threat" in response to the Chinese Government's aggressive foreign policy and its human rights abuses of the Uyghur Muslim community.

[54] On 19 July 2023, Cleverly made a public statement following his being mooted as a possible successor to the departing Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace.

[56] The trip was reportedly to promote bilateral trade and climate change policy and challenge China's response to the Russo-Ukrainian War.

[57][58] On 13 September 2023, he met Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Ankara and stated that Turkey is an "indispensable partner" to the UK and "has truly significant commitments to NATO.

[64] On 23 December 2023, Cleverly faced calls to resign for joking about spiking his wife's drink with Rohypnol, a date rape drug to ensure that she would "never realise there are better men out there”.

[78] The day before the result was announced, Cleverly revealed that he would not take a frontbench role in either Badenoch or Jenrick's Shadow Cabinet, instead choosing to return to the backbenches.

[80] Susannah was diagnosed with triple positive breast cancer in December 2021, and following a single mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy she finished treatment in April 2023.

He was sworn of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom on 8 October 2019 at Buckingham Palace as part of his appointment as Minister without portfolio and Conservative Party Chairman in the Johnson ministry.