Andrew John Bower Mitchell (born 23 March 1956) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sutton Coldfield since 2001. A member of the Conservative Party, Mitchell was previously the MP for Gedling from 1987 to 1997. Mitchell served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development from 2010 to 2012 and then briefly as Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons until he resigned after an alleged altercation with a police officer, referred to as "Plebgate".Mitchell studied History at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he was elected President of the Cambridge Union in 1978. He was elected to the House of Commons for Gedling in Nottinghamshire at the 1987 general election. He served in the second Major government as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury from 1994 to 1995 and as a junior minister at the Department of Social Security from 1995 to 1997. Mitchell lost his seat to the Labour Party's Vernon Coaker at the 1997 general election. In 2001, he contested Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands, a safe seat for the Conservatives, and was returned to Parliament. Mitchell was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet in 2005 as Shadow Secretary of State for International Development. In this role, he founded Project Umubano, a Conservative Party social action project in Rwanda and Sierra Leone in central and west Africa. Under the coalition government of David Cameron, he served as Secretary of State for International Development from 2010 to 2012. In the September 2012 cabinet reshuffle, he was appointed Chief Whip. Amid public pressure due to the Plebgate scandal, Mitchell resigned from the government the following month, and returned to the backbenches. In 2022, after serving on the backbenches for a decade, Mitchell made a return to government as Minister of State for Development and Africa following the appointment of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister. In the role he attends Cabinet.