Major James Stephen Heappey[3] (born 30 January 1981) is a British politician and former soldier who served as Minister of State for the Armed Forces from 2020 to 2024.

[15][16] He used his maiden speech in the House of Commons to encourage the Government to continue addressing the problems that many rural communities face, including poor road connections, limited access to the rail network, weak phone signals and slow broadband speeds.

[17] In October 2015, Heappey succeeded Nick de Bois as the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for the UK Events Industry.

[22] He backed the Government's decision to give the go-ahead for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, in particular citing the benefits for the local economy of Somerset.

[24] He expressed disappointment in January 2016 when, despite his lobbying efforts, the Conservative Government approved the construction of a 40-mile stretch of power lines to link the Hinkley Point C power-station and Avonmouth.

[35][36] Heappey endorsed Boris Johnson to be leader of the Conservative Party during the 2019 leadership election,[37] and served as his Parliamentary Private Secretary in a job share with Alex Burghart from August to December 2019.

[40] In January 2020, Heappey awarded £184m to Ascent Flight Training, a consortium that the National Audit Office had criticised, in September 2019, for its poor performance and failure to meet "contractual obligations".

[41] In February 2020, Johnson appointed Heappey Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces as part of a cabinet reshuffle.

[4] In March 2024, Heappey announced that he would be standing down as Minister of State for the Armed Forces at the end of the month and would not contest the 2024 general election.

[59] The Liberal Democrat candidate for Wells, Tessa Munt, condemned Heappey's use of what she called "bullying, racist and abusive language to dismiss a teenage schoolgirl engaging in political debate.

The largest single item Mr Heappey declared was a donation worth £5,000 from the businessman, and climate change denier, Neil Record.

[63] In July 2024, Heappey was one of five politicians to cover for James O'Brien's radio show on LBC, as part of the station's "Guest Week".

[12][65] His brother Matthew works in financial services and was selected as the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Bath at the 2024 general election in May 2023,[66][67] before standing down in September of the same year.