Sam Gyimah has been considered a “rising star” for nearly two decades.

The Conservative MP for East Surrey, who has resigned as universities minister over Theresa May’s Brexit deal, was born in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. He was sent to live in Ghana aged six before returning to a state comprehensive to complete his GCSEs and A-levels.

The 42-year-old credited “good schools with great teachers” as he earned a place at Somerville College, Oxford, to read philosophy, politics and economics. He served as president of the Oxford Union and stood unsuccessfully for Camden council elections.

Initially employed by Goldman Sachs as an investment banker, where he worked on mergers and acquisitions, Gyimah was added to the Conservative party A-list and selected as the prospective parliamentary candidate for East Surrey in 2010 after the retirement of Peter Ainsworth.

He took the seat with a 17,000-vote majority and had only been in Westminster for two years when he was made parliamentary private secretary to the then prime minister, David Cameron.

But he pushed for a bigger role in the government, becoming a whip in 2013 and childcare minister in 2014.

Further promotions to prisons minister and his most recent role as universities minister followed.

Outside Westminster circles, his following increased after he appeared to quote from Harry Potter during Question Time. When discussing the US president Donald Trump’s Britain First retweets and Theresa May’s condemnation, he channelled Albus Dumbledore and said: “It takes great bravery to stand up to your enemies; it takes even more bravery to stand up to your friends.”