James Nicholas Bethell, 5th Baron Bethell (born 1 October 1967) is a British hereditary peer, Conservative politician and former member of the House of Lords. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Innovation at the Department of Health and Social Care and was involved in negotiating various controversial contracts.
Contents
Early life
Bethell was educated at the independent, fee-paying Harrow School before going on to study for a Scottish Master of Arts (an undergraduate degree) at the University of Edinburgh.
Bethell worked as a journalist, and then managed the Ministry of Sound, a multimedia entertainment business based in London with a nightclub, before founding Westbourne Communications which he sold to Cicero Group after succeeding to his family titles.
Political career
Bethell unsuccessfully contested election to the House of Commons for the Tooting constituency in the 2005 general election, losing to Labour candidate and future Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.
Bethell contested the 2009 primary to become the Conservative Party's prospective parliamentary candidate for the constituency of Gosport. He came second behind Caroline Dinenage, who went on to become the Member of Parliament in the 2010 general election.
House of Lords
Bethell entered the House of Lords in July 2018, after successfully contesting a Conservative hereditary peers' by-election. He had succeeded to the title of Baron Bethell following his father's death in 2007, but hereditary peers have not had an automatic right to a seat in the Lords since the House of Lords Act 1999.
In July 2019, he was appointed a Lord-in-Waiting and, in March 2020, was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Innovation at the Department of Health and Social Care in the second Johnson ministry.
In November 2020, The Times reported Bethell's appointment as the Minister for NHS Test and Trace, formed as part of the Johnson ministry's efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic. As minister, his responsibilities included life sciences, medicines, research, international diplomacy and relations, data and technology, and NHS security management, including cyber security. As the House of Lords health minister, he was responsible for representing health matters and legislation in the Upper House, and he moved the Coronavirus Bill at Third Reading and the Medicines and Medical Devices Bill at Second Reading in the Lords. As the junior minister supporting the health track of the United Kingdom’s G7 presidency, he took part in related health-policy work during the UK’s 2021 presidency. In July 2021, he was one of the ministers associated with the publication of the government's Life Sciences Vision, a ten-year strategy for the sector.
According to The Times, Bethell "was a surprise appointment in March having chaired Matt Hancock's leadership campaign in 2019 and giving [him] a £5,000 donation." He became the subject of allegations of "cronyism" published in The Guardian over his selection to an advisory role of lobbyists like George Pascoe-Watson, whose clients include the Boston Consulting Group "which has won several large government contracts during the pandemic."
In July 2021, Bethell was placed under investigation by the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards over a "complaint regarding Lord Bethell sponsoring a pass for Gina Coladangelo", who was a lobbyist and lover of the then Health secretary Matt Hancock.
In August 2021, it was reported that Bethell had replaced his mobile phone earlier that year and not transferred data from his previous phone, meaning that it could not be searched for messages related to an £85m contract with Abingdon Health that was subject to judicial review. In November 2021 he stated in a witness statement that three prior explanations he had given for why he could not access his messages – that he lost his phone, that his phone was defective and that he had given it to a relative – were incorrect and that he had deleted them because he incorrectly thought they were backed up.
Personal life
Bethell is married to Melissa Bethell (née Wong), a business executive who has served as a non-executive director of Tesco and Diageo. Lord and Lady Bethell have four children. He succeeded his father Nicholas as Baron Bethell in 2007.
Bethell is a member of the board of trustees of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is a repeat participant in the London Marathon. Before the 2025 race, he was described as returning for his third consecutive TCS London Marathon and as the only peer participating that year.