Heather Wheeler was brought up in Wandsworth and is a former Wandsworth councillor for West Hill in Putney. At the time of her election, she was just 22 and the youngest female councillor in the country.
In 1995, she was elected to represent Repton Ward on South Derbyshire District Council; and in 2002, she became Leader of the Conservative Group.
In May 2007, the Conservatives took control of the Council for the first time in its 34-year history and Heather became Leader of the Council, a position which she held until she was elected as MP for South Derbyshire in May 2010 with a majority of 7,128 (14.1%) taking the seat from Labour after 13 years.
In 2014 Heather was made Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Attorney General and in 2015 Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
In September 2016, Heather was made a Government Whip and in January 2018 a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. In July 2019, Heather was appointed as the Minister for Asia and the Pacific (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State) at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.