Victoria Mary Atkins (born 22 March 1976)[1] is a British politician who served in various ministerial positions under Prime Ministers Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak between 2017 and 2024, lastly as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from November 2023 to July 2024.

[1] Atkins was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding at the Home Office in November 2017 by Prime Minister Theresa May.

[16][17] The retiring MP was Sir Peter Tapsell, who at that time was Father of the House of Commons, having served the area for nearly 50 years in addition to his previous Parliamentary service.

Former Prime Minister John Major (who first entered the House of Commons at the same time as her father) supported her first parliamentary election campaign, and has known her since she was a young girl.

[29] In April 2018, Atkins said she did not know the number of police officers in the country during an 'awkward' interview with Nick Ferrari on the LBC radio station.

This followed the leak of a Home Office report that concluded cuts to police numbers had "likely contributed" to a rise in serious violent crime.

A subject access request by Eastwood revealed that ministers vetted social media profiles of appointments to public bodies including references to "Windrush", "the government", "Brexit", and "anything diversity-related".

[32] In October 2019, Professor Alex Stevens, a criminal justice expert, resigned from the ACMD over alleged "political vetting" of panel members by the government.

[34] In the 2019 general election, Atkins was re-elected for Louth and Horncastle with an increased majority of 28,868, obtaining 72.7% of the vote[35] from a turnout of 65.7%.

[39] Atkins was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council on 15 November 2023 at Buckingham Palace following her appointment, entitling her to the honorific prefix "The Right Honourable" for life.

[42] During a debate in the House of Commons on 19 July 2024, Atkins was admonished by Acting Deputy Speaker Sir Christopher Chope for behaving "abominably" after attempting to intervene from the despatch box as Environment Secretary Steve Reed delivered a ministerial statement.