Mark Gino Francois (/frɑːnˈswɑː/; born 14 August 1965) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rayleigh and Wickford since 2001.

[8] He went on to undertake a Master of Arts (MA) degree in war studies at King's College London, graduating in 1987.

[18] Francois stood for the Brent East constituency in the 1997 general election, coming second to the incumbent, Labour's Ken Livingstone.

[21] Francois contested the election to be the Conservatives' prospective parliamentary candidate for Kensington and Chelsea in the 1999 by-election.

As Shadow Minister for Europe Francois oversaw the Conservative Party's withdrawal from the EPP grouping in the European Parliament, the creation of the ECR grouping and the Conservatives' opposition in the House of Commons to the Treaty of Lisbon, which he spoke against on many occasions including on 5 March 2008 in the debate to pass the European Union (Amendment) Act 2008.

[31] In 2011, he was a member of the special Select Committee set up to scrutinise the Bill that became the Armed Forces Act 2011.

[33] At the 2015 general election, Francois was re-elected as the MP for Rayleigh and Wickford with a reduced majority of 17,230 votes.

[35] At the 2017 general election, Francois was re-elected as the MP for Rayleigh and Wickford with an increased majority of 23,450 votes.

[42] In January 2020, he launched a crowdfunding bid with the StandUp4Brexit group to raise money for Big Ben to chime upon the UK's departure from the EU.

[44] In this capacity he wrote to Michel Barnier, head of the task force negotiating the post-Brexit relationship between the UK and the EU, a letter titled "A Missive from a Free Country".

[47][48] In December 2021, Francois called on Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis to resign for failing to come through with promised legislation related to veterans.

[49] In November 2022, Labour MP Sarah Owen criticised Francois for using an "outdated and crass racial slur" in the House of Commons when he referred to Japanese people as "Japs".

[7] On 11 June 2022, Francois married Olivia Sanders, a NHS radiographer, borough councillor, and former Conservative Mayor of Brentwood.