Bishop Auckland MP Dehenna Davison to move to Brazil

The 30-year-old’s partner, Tony Kay, who works for the Foreign Office, has been appointed as the Deputy Ambassador to Brazil.

She and the diplomat, who is 51, will be based in the capital, Brasilia, for at least three years.

Tony Kay (Image: Gov.uk)

Dehenna Davison (Image: PA) Dehenna, who was elected as County Durham constituency’s first Conservative MP in 2019, said: “When I announced that I was standing down my partner started applying for roles within the Home Office and he has landed a fantastic role in South America so I'm going be moving with him.

“The plan was always to move after the election, but the election has come sooner than we thought so I am going to be moving overseas.

“We are going to be based in Brasilia, which is a bit less sexy than your Rio de Janeiro or your San Paulo, but it is like the Washington DC of Brazil where all the Government offices and that sort of thing are.

“It looks amazing. I am still a bit dumbstruck it is happening to be honest.”

Dehenna, an ally of Liz Truss, once tipped as a rising star of the Tory party, served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities from September 2022 to September 2023.

She resigned from the role saying "chronic migraines" made it "impossible" to do her job and told Prime Minister Rishi Sunak people deserved "a minister who can give the job the energy it needs".

As well as supporting her partner, she plans to spend time working to raise awareness of migraine, developing her ‘one punch can kill’ campaign and on the Lobular Moonshot Project for funding to create a dedicated research stream for breast cancer.

Dehenna said: “One of the great things about being an MP is that that you can make a difference on things so, once I am settled, I want to be a position where I can do that, supporting charities and doing social mobility work, getting more women in education, they are the sort of things I am interested in.

“When I said I was standing down part of it was because I felt as though I haven't given enough time for off my friends and my family.

“So I also want to be able to support my partner in the same way he has supported me for past few years.”

Dehenna said she is also looking forward to the contrasting cultural events she will experience as young woman from the north of England attending events as the partner of a British diplomat abroad.

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Dehenna Davison (Image: Contributor) She added: “It is going to be completely different from anywhere I have lived.

“I grew up in Sheffield and lived in Hull and Bishop was great home so it is going to be very different, but I think there is something good about expanding your horizons and seeing new places.

“Partly to see how it works elsewhere but also to make you realise how great your hometown is too.

“I just want to get there and get settled in because moving how is quite stressful anyway, even if you are just moving down the road.

“This is completely different.”

Dehenna, the first openly bisexual female Conservative MP and a champion of LGBT+ rights, separated from her former husband, Hull City councillor John Fareham, who is 35 years her senior, before she was elected to Parliament.

She has been with Tony, the Foreign Office's former head of the Arabian Peninsula department, for around two years.

Dehenna said she and Tony, have always kept their careers separate to avoid any conflict of interest when she was a serving MP.

She added: “We will continue to do that but certainly at social functions – and diplomats have to attend so many – I will be there quite a lot.

“I am looking forward to the change of pace but I imagine we will be dead busy when we first get there.

“It is going to be strange being a plus one instead of having a plus one.”