Knight was manager of Central Studio, the arts centre of Queen Mary's College, Basingstoke, from 1988–90.[2] From 1990–91, he was director of West Wiltshire Arts Centre Ltd, then director of Dentons Directories Ltd in Westbury from 1991–2001.[3]
At the 2001 general election, he was elected as the Member of Parliament for South Dorset by 153 votes in the only Labour gain from the Conservatives that year.[6] At the 2005 general election, Knight increased his majority to 1,812 votes, but with a small decrease in his share of the vote.[7] At the 2010 general election, Knight lost his seat to ConservativeRichard Drax by 7,443 votes after an 11.4% drop in his share of the vote.[8]
Knight was the campaign co-ordinator for Ed Balls's unsuccessful Labour Party leadership campaign in 2010.[9]
In 2009, when MPs expenses were revealed following a leak in the Daily Telegraph,[11] Knight was ranked 171 out of 645 in the MPs' expenses list, claiming £155,987 in 2007/2008, compared with £137,970 in 2006/2007, of which £94,135 was for staff, £9,746 was for a communications allowance and £4,993 was for personal living expenses.[12]
In his first Parliament, Jim Knight generally voted in line with party policy, including all major votes such as those on the Iraq war and top-up fees.[13]
2004–2005 – Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Ministerial Team at the Department of Health
2005–2006 – Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Rural Affairs, the Landscape & Biodiversity
2006–2009 – Minister of State for Schools
2009–2010 – Minister of State for Employment
2009–2010 – Minister for the South West
After politics
Knight was created a life peer on 23 June 2010, taking the title Baron Knight of Weymouth, of Weymouth in the County of Dorset.[14][15]
In April 2014 he stepped down from the Labour front bench in the House of Lords to take up a full-time role as managing director, online learning at TES Global Ltd, building an online professional development and training service for teachers. Knight was subsequently appointed chief education and external officer at TES Global.
In 2011, Knight was appointed as chair of digital and social inclusion charity Tinder Foundation (now Good Things Foundation). He stood down as chair in 2016 but remains a patron of the Technology, Pedagogy and Education professional association. He is now Chair Emeritus of the Digital Poverty Alliance and co-owner of XRapid, an app that diagnoses malaria and is a board member of Apps for Good. He is also the deputy chair of the Nominet Trust,[citation needed] and an honorary associate of the National Secular Society.[16]