1.
House of Commons of the United Kingdom
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The House of Commons of the United Kingdom is the lower house of the countrys parliament. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster, officially, the full name of the house is, The Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The House is a body consisting of 650 members known as Members of Parliament. Members are elected to represent constituencies by first-past-the-post and hold their seats until Parliament is dissolved, under the Parliament Act 1911, the Lords power to reject legislation was reduced to a delaying power. The Government is primarily responsible to the House of Commons and the prime minister stays in office only as long as he or she retains the support of a majority of its members. Although it does not formally elect the prime minister, the position of the parties in the House of Commons is of overriding importance, by convention, the prime minister is answerable to, and must maintain the support of, the House of Commons. Since 1963, by convention, the minister is always a member of the House of Commons. The Commons may indicate its lack of support for the Government by rejecting a motion of confidence or by passing a motion of no confidence, confidence and no confidence motions are sometimes phrased explicitly, for instance, That this House has no confidence in Her Majestys Government. Many other motions were considered confidence issues, even though not explicitly phrased as such, in particular, important bills that form a part of the Governments agenda were formerly considered matters of confidence, as is the annual Budget. Parliament normally sits for a term of five years. Subject to that limit, the minister could formerly choose the timing of the dissolution of parliament. By this second mechanism, the government of the United Kingdom can change without a general election. In such circumstances there may not even have been a party leadership election, as the new leader may be chosen by acclaim. A prime minister may resign if he or she is not defeated at the polls. In such a case, the premiership goes to whoever can command a majority in the House of Commons, in practice this is usually the new leader of the outgoing prime ministers party. Until 1965, the Conservative Party had no mechanism for electing a new leader, when Anthony Eden resigned as PM in 1957 without recommending a successor and it fell to the Queen to appoint Harold Macmillan as the new prime minister, after taking the advice of ministers. By convention, all ministers must be members of the House of Commons or of the House of Lords, a handful have been appointed who were outside Parliament, but in most cases they then entered Parliament either in a by-election or by receiving a peerage. Since 1902, all ministers have been members of the Commons
2.
Chief Whip
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In British politics, the Chief Whip of the governing party in the House of Commons is usually also appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury, a Cabinet position. The Government Chief Whip has a residence at 12 Downing Street. However, the Chief Whips office is located at 9 Downing Street. The Chief Whip can wield great power over their partys MPs, including cabinet ministers, margaret Thatcher was famed for using her Chief Whip as a cabinet enforcer. An exception was Andrew Mitchell, the Government Chief Whip in 2012, Whips in the House of Commons do not speak in debates. The Government Chief Whip is assisted by the Deputy Chief Whip, other Whips, the whips are not fully active in either of these departments, though do undertake a number of responsibilities. Assistant Whips, and Whips of opposition parties, generally do not receive such appointments, the whips, although superficially dictatorial, do act as communicators between the backbenchers and the party leadership. Ultimately if backbenchers are unhappy with the position they can threaten to revolt during a vote. This letter informs them of the schedule for the days ahead, the actual direction of their vote is communicated to them in the chamber by hand signals during the division when the time comes. The consequences of defying the party whip depend on the circumstances, theoretically at least, expulsion from the party is an automatic consequence of defying a three-line whip. Other such offences include betraying party loyalties, in 2011 Aidan Burley and his outspoken views caused expulsion from the party, losing the whip, he was de-selected for the 2015 General Election. In practice they remained Conservative MPs supporting the government on issues, Sir Bill Cash, John Redwood. Yet despite the whip, individuals are entitled to according to their own beliefs. There are some cases in which the whip is removed because an issue is a matter of conscience and these include adoption, religion and equal opportunities. The impact of a whip being imposed on a matter of conscience can be damaging for a party leader, one such case was that of Iain Duncan-Smith, who imposed a three-line whip against the adoption of children by unmarried couples. Several Conservative MPs voted against the party line, and Duncan-Smiths authority was weakened. Whips can often be brutal to backbenchers to secure their vote, a good whip will know secrets and incriminating information about Members of Parliament. A whip should know major figures in an MPs local constituency party, There have been cases where sick Members of Parliament were wheeled into the House from far afield to vote for the government on a crucial vote
3.
Theresa May
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Theresa Mary May is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party, having served as both since July 2016. She has been the Member of Parliament for Maidenhead since 1997, may identifies as a one-nation conservative and has been characterised as a liberal conservative. She is the second female Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader after Margaret Thatcher, the daughter of a vicar, May grew up in Oxfordshire. From 1977 until 1983, she worked for the Bank of England, after unsuccessful attempts to be elected to the House of Commons in 1992 and 1994, she was elected as the MP for Maidenhead in the 1997 general election. She was also Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2002 to 2003, after the formation of a coalition government following the 2010 general election, May was appointed Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities, giving up the latter role in 2012. Reappointed after the Conservative victory in the 2015 general election, she went on to become the longest-serving Home Secretary since James Chuter Ede over 60 years previously. She won the first and second ballot of Conservative MPs by a significant margin and was due to face a vote of Conservative Party members in a contest with Andrea Leadsom, leadsoms withdrawal from the election on 11 July led to Mays appointment as party leader the same day. She was appointed Prime Minister on 13 July, as Prime Minister, Mays focus has primarily been on withdrawing the UK from the European Union. Born on 1 October 1956 in Eastbourne, Sussex, May is the child of Zaidee Mary. Her father was a Church of England clergyman who was chaplain of an Eastbourne hospital and he later became vicar of Enstone with Heythrop and finally of St Marys at Wheatley, to the east of Oxford. Mays mother was a supporter of the Conservative Party. May was educated primarily in the sector but with a short spell at an independent Catholic school. She initially attended Heythrop Primary School, a school in Heythrop, followed by St. Julianas Convent School for Girls, a Roman Catholic independent school in Begbroke. At the age of 13, May won a place at the former Holton Park Girls Grammar School, during her time as a pupil, the Oxfordshire education system was reorganised and the school became the new Wheatley Park Comprehensive School. May then attended the University of Oxford where she read geography at St Hughs College, between 1977 and 1983 May worked at the Bank of England, and from 1985 to 1997 as a financial consultant and senior advisor in International Affairs at the Association for Payment Clearing Services. Both Mays parents died during this period, her father in a car accident in 1981, may served as a councillor for Durnsford ward on the London Borough of Merton from 1986 to 1994, where she was Chairman of Education and Deputy Group Leader and Housing Spokesman. May then stood at the 1994 Barking by-election, which was prompted by the death of Labour MP Jo Richardson. The seat had been held by Labour since it was created in 1945 and Labour candidate Margaret Hodge was expected to win easily
4.
Julian Smith (politician)
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Julian Richard Smith is the Conservative Member of Parliament for the constituency of Skipton and Ripon. He was elected at the election of 2010 with 27,685 votes. Smith was born in the city of Stirling in the Central Belt of Scotland on 30 August 1971. Smith was elected as MP for Skipton and Ripon in 2010 with a majority of 9,950, Smith was subsequently Parliamentary Private Secretary to Justine Greening MP, Secretary of State for International Development, from 2012 to May 2015. After the 2015 General Election Smith was appointed an Assistant Government Whip in David Camerons Second Ministry. Following the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum on 23 June, Smith was one of six MPs who led the Parliamentary leadership campaign on behalf of the then Home Secretary, Theresa May. May became Prime Minister on 13 July 2016 and four days later Smith was appointed Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, in October 2013 The Guardian alleged that Smith may have breached national security by posting an image of him alongside military personnel on his website. Smith argued the newspaper should be investigated as it had endangered British security personnel by publishing leaked information, Smith was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum. Official website Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 2010–present Voting record at Public Whip Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
5.
Eastleigh (UK Parliament constituency)
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Eastleigh is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The current MP is Mims Davies of the Conservative party, elected in the 2015 General Election, 1983-1997, The Borough of Eastleigh, and the City of Southampton ward of Woolston. Eastleigh constituency was created for the 1955 general election, before then Eastleigh itself had been in the Winchester constituency and it was a fairly safe seat for the Conservatives for nearly forty years until the death of its then MP, former journalist Stephen Milligan, in 1994. At the subsequent by-election, the Liberal Democrats gained the seat on a large swing. Chris Huhne, the MP from 2005 to 2013, was his partys environment spokesman in opposition, while in the previous role Huhne stood unsuccessfully for party leader in 2006 against Sir Menzies Campbell and again in 2007 against Nick Clegg. His resignation took effect from 5 February, and the day it was confirmed that a by-election to fill the vacancy would be held on 28 February 2013. Mike Thornton retained the seat for the Liberal Democrats in the by-election, however, at the 2015 general election Thornton was defeated by the Conservative Mims Davies. List of Parliamentary constituencies in Hampshire
6.
Mike Thornton (politician)
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Michael Douglas Thornton is a British politician and former Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Eastleigh in Hampshire. He was elected in the Eastleigh by-election held on 28 February 2013, the son of Sir Peter Eustace Thornton, Thornton grew up in Farnham in Surrey and was educated at Charterhouse School, before reading law at Manchester Polytechnic. He has had a range of jobs, including spells in the United States, Thornton spent a significant period of time working in financial services. He has lived in Bishopstoke, Hampshire since 1994 and was previously a councillor in Bishopstoke. Following the resignation of the previous Liberal Democrat MP Chris Huhne and this took place on 28 February 2013 and Thornton was declared the winner in the early hours of 1 March. Indeed, at the 2013 by-election the Conservatives had been beaten into place by UKIP. Constituency website Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 2010–present Voting record at Public Whip Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
7.
Conservative Party (UK)
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The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a political party in the United Kingdom. It is currently the party, having won a majority of seats in the House of Commons at the 2015 general election. The partys leader, Theresa May, is serving as Prime Minister. It is the largest party in government with 8,702 councillors. The Conservative Party is one of the two major political parties in the United Kingdom, the other being its modern rival. The Conservative Partys platform involves support for market capitalism, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, a strong national defence, deregulation. In the 1920s, the Liberal vote greatly diminished and the Labour Party became the Conservatives main rivals, Conservative Prime Ministers led governments for 57 years of the twentieth century, including Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher. Thatchers tenure led to wide-ranging economic liberalisation, the Conservative Partys domination of British politics throughout the twentieth century has led to them being referred to as one of the most successful political parties in the Western world. The Conservatives are the joint-second largest British party in the European Parliament, with twenty MEPs, the party is a member of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe Europarty and the International Democrat Union. The party is the second-largest in the Scottish Parliament and the second-largest in the Welsh Assembly, the party is also organised in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The Conservative Party traces its origins to a faction, rooted in the 18th century Whig Party and they were known as Independent Whigs, Friends of Mr Pitt, or Pittites. After Pitts death the term Tory came into use and this was an allusion to the Tories, a political grouping that had existed from 1678, but which had no organisational continuity with the Pittite party. From about 1812 on the name Tory was commonly used for the newer party, the term Conservative was suggested as a title for the party by a magazine article by J. Wilson Croker in the Quarterly Review in 1830. The name immediately caught on and was adopted under the aegis of Sir Robert Peel around 1834. Peel is acknowledged as the founder of the Conservative Party, which he created with the announcement of the Tamworth Manifesto, the term Conservative Party rather than Tory was the dominant usage by 1845. In 1912, the Liberal Unionists merged with the Conservative Party, in Ireland, the Irish Unionist Alliance had been formed in 1891 which merged anti-Home Rule Unionists into one political movement. Its MPs took the Conservative whip at Westminster, and in essence formed the Irish wing of the party until 1922. The Conservatives served with the Liberals in an all-party coalition government during World War I, keohane finds that the Conservatives were bitterly divided before 1914, especially on the issue of Irish Unionism and the experience of three consecutive election losses
8.
Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
9.
Swansea University
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Swansea University is a public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it changed its name to the University of Wales Swansea following structural changes within the University of Wales, Swansea University has two campuses located adjacent to the coast at the north of Swansea Bay. The Singleton Park Campus is set in the grounds of Singleton Park to the west of Swansea city centre, the Bay Campus which opened in September 2015, is located adjacent to Jersey Marine Beach to the east of Swansea city centre. It is the third largest university in Wales in terms of number of students and it currently offers about 330 undergraduate courses and 120 post-graduate courses to 17,445 undergraduate and postgraduate students. In 2014 Swansea was named University of the Year in the WhatUni. com Student Choice Awards, in 2016, Swansea University was named as the best university in Wales by The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017 League Table. It was also awarded the inaugural Welsh University of the Year title, the university is divided between two campuses. The 46-acre Singleton Park campus, set in two miles west of Swansea city centre, houses the colleges of Arts and Humanities, Human and Health Sciences, Medicine, Science. It lies on the approach to the Gower Peninsula, the UK’s first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It lies three miles east of Swansea city centre in the County Borough of Neath Port Talbot, information Services and Systems has provided a combined library, IT and careers service for the university since 2011. In 2013, ISS received a renewed Customer Service Excellence award along with the universitys Registry and Student Services. Visitors can access a range of electronic resources, including 23,000 e-journals. There are over 1,000 study spaces, almost half of which are equipped with networked PCs, LIS was awarded the Charter Mark in 2006, and received the new Customer Service Excellence award in 2009. In 2013 it received a renewed Customer Service Excellence award in combination with the universitys Registry, morriston Hospital Nursing Library is also housed there. The 2,624 square-metre Bay Library is open round the clock to provide learning spaces for more than 650 students including 400 study spaces and silent study areas for a further 150 students. It holds 1, 800m of library stock, focused on Engineering and Management titles and has dedicated postgraduate rooms, a 30-seat computing and teaching room, Swansea Universitys £20 million International Sports Village is five minutes walk from the Singleton Park campus on the western side of Sketty Lane. The University also owns training pitches in the north of the city, in Fairwood, during the 2012 Summer Olympics, the University hosted the training camps for the Mexican and New Zealand Paralympic teams and the Ireland Triathlon team. In 2014, it hosted the IPC Athletics European Championships, furthermore, in 2015 it hosted the training camps of the Canada national rugby union team and the Fiji national rugby union team in preparation for the 2015 Rugby World Cup
10.
Royal Russell School
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Royal Russell School is an independent school in Coombe Lane, Surrey, South London. The Royal Russell School is a day and boarding school. The motto of the school is Non sibi sed omnibus meaning Not for ones self, the School is a member of the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference. The patron of the school is Queen Elizabeth II, there are currently 900 pupils at the Royal Russell School, aged between 3-18. The school occupies a site of 100 acres in gardens in a wooded estate 2 miles south-east of Croydon, the Junior and Lower Junior schools are in separate buildings from the Senior School, but are still on the same site. Since the 1970s new and better facilities have been built, numbers of girls have increased, the school has enjoyed Royal Patronage from its early days and the Queen has visited the school on four occasions as of 2013. Her first visit was in 1950 as Princess Elizabeth, in 1963 she opened Cambridge House and the Practical Block, she joined the celebrations of 125 years in 1979 and the sesquicentenary in 2003. The school is now independent of The Warehousemen, Clerks and Drapers Livery companies and operates as a charity under the direction of its own Board of Governors. Extensive changes have taken place in recent years and today there is an IAPS Junior School, in 2003 the school held celebrations to mark its sesquicentennial year, being commemorated by Queen Elizabeth II visiting the school to open the library and Sixth Form Centre. In 2010 Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex visited the school, in 1924 the school moved to its present site two miles south-east of Croydon in a 100-acre wooded estate. Its buildings include a chapel and modern facilities. The school is affiliated to the Church of England, and the approach to life is founded on Christian principles. The most recent ISI report assessed the school in 10 specific areas on a 3-point scale, unsatisfactory, satisfactory, in certain circumstances if the lead inspector decides that the standard exceeds those set nationally then an excellent grading can be given. Royal Russells Boarding provision was inspected too, as part of a 3-year cycle by Ofsted in which inspectors spent 3 days reviewing the Boarding provision. The inspectors were very impressed by all that is done for the boarding community. The Ofsted report can be found on the Royal Russell School site or here, GCSE is taught from years 10 and 11, though it is possible to study maths a year early, starting in year 9 and completing the course in year 10. Required GCSE subjects include Triple Science, English Language, English Literature, Maths, and a language. GCSE choices include, French, Spanish, Geography, History, Business Studies, Drama, Art, Music, Design Technology, Food Technology, Philosophy and Ethics, Physical Education, there are a choice of 19 subjects at GCSE including the compulsory subjects
11.
The Automobile Association
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AA plc is a British motoring association founded in 1905, which currently provides car insurance, driving lessons, breakdown cover, loans, motoring advice, road maps and other services. The association demutualised in 1999 to become a limited company and in 2002 the AA Motoring Trust was created to continue its public interest. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE250 Index, the act also required drivers to hold a driving licence and to display a registration plate on their vehicle. By 1906 the AA had erected thousands of roadside danger and warning signs, by 1926 the organisation had installed 6,500 direction signs and 15,000 village signs, most of which were removed during the Second World War. In 1908 the organisation published its first AA Members Special Handbook containing a list of nationwide agents, AA patrols on bicycles warned motorists of police speed traps ahead. In 1920, members were issued with keys to roadside wooden telephone boxes which could be used to call the organisation for assistance, there were almost 1,000 boxes in their heyday, and they remained in use until the 1960s. 1949 saw the launch of a breakdown and recovery service, initially in London only. The AA Insurance brokerage service was started in 1967, after the war the AA led protests against petrol rationing, which was repealed in 1950. The organisation campaigned for the wearing of seat belts. Seat belt legislation became law in the UK in 1983 as required by the Transport Act 1981 and they have lobbied successive governments over what they describe as unfair motoring taxes. In February 1972 the AA relocated from its central London offices to Basingstoke and it began broadcasting AA Roadwatch traffic reports on UK commercial radio stations the following year. AA Relay was also introduced in 1973, a service that will deliver a broken-down vehicle, its driver and passengers, luggage, the association demutualised in 1999 to become a private limited company, which was bought later the same year by Centrica. In 2002, the AA Motoring Trust charity was created to continue its public interest, Centrica sold the AA in 2004 to two private equity firms, CVC and Permira, who in 2007 merged the AA with Saga under Acromas Holdings. In July 2013, the company launched AA Cars, linking buyers of used cars with sellers, the service is a partnership with Vcars, rebranding its partners existing online service and providing a check of the cars history. At the time of rebranding over 110,000 cars were available for purchase via 2,000 registered dealers, the AA became listed on the London Stock Exchange as AA plc in June 2014, through an initial public offering in which Acromas sold all its shares. In 2015, the AA acquired the garage booking service Motoriety, the AA awards ratings according to a system based on quality standards agreed by the AA and the various UK tourist authorities. Properties are awards a rating, from one to five stars. In addition, each receives a Merit % Score to enable comparison of hotels with similar star ratings
12.
Law enforcement in the United Kingdom
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Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom, England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Most law enforcement is carried out by police serving in regional police services within one of these jurisdictions. Police officers are granted powers to enable them to execute their duties. Their primary duties are the protection of life and property, preservation of the peace, in the British model of policing, officers exercise their powers to police with the implicit consent of the public. Policing by consent is the used to describe this. In England and Wales, the vast majority of attested constables enjoy full powers of arrest and search as granted by the Police, all police officers are constables in law, irrespective of rank. Although police officers have wide ranging powers, they are subject to the same laws as members of the public. However, there are additional legal restrictions on police officers such as the illegality of taking industrial action. There are 45 territorial police services as of 2013 that cover an area and have an independent police authority or local authority or joint police board. Some territorial police services host specialist bodies that operate in more than one area of the United Kingdom, National law enforcement bodies, including the National Crime Agency and British Transport Police. The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 refers to these as special police forces, the National Crime Agency operates across the United Kingdom against organised crime and acts as the UK point of contact for foreign agencies. There are also non-police law enforcement agencies whose officers, while not police constables, miscellaneous police services, mostly having their foundations in older legislation or common law. Until the passing of Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003, the British Transport Police was such a force, the list of law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom details the various services. Territorial police constables have certain powers of arrest in one of the UKs three legal jurisdictions than they were attested in. Detention under these powers, which in Scotland normally lasts for twelve hours, a constable from one legal jurisdiction has, in the other jurisdictions, the same powers of arrest as a constable of that jurisdiction would have. When a constable arrests a person in England & Wales, the constable is subject to the requirements of section 28, section 30, when a constable arrests a person in Northern Ireland, the constable is subject to the requirements of Article 30, Article 32 and Article 34. Referred to as aid, constables loaned from one force to another have the powers. Constables from the Metropolitan Police who are on protection duties in Scotland or Northern Ireland have all the powers, a constable who is taking a person to or from a prison retains all the powers, authority, protection and privileges of his office regardless of his location
13.
Mid Sussex
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Mid Sussex is a local government district in the English county of West Sussex. It contains the towns of East Grinstead, Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill, the Prime Meridian passes through the district, has most headwaters of the River Ouse, Sussex and its largest body of water is Ardingly reservoir which is used by watersports clubs. The north of the area is the High Weald has sections of Ashdown Forest, Mid Sussex was first, in 1885, another name for the Lewes constituency when Sussex representation was reformed to nine approximately equal electorate seats. The first Parliamentary mention of a Mid Sussex body of any sort is in 1907, to the Mid Sussex Joint Water District, an amalgamation of private water companies to provide safe, treated, piped water. Sussex has been divided into East Sussex and West Sussex for taxation since the medieval period. Changes were provided for under a 1972 Act, all major proposals debated in outline, Mid Sussexs change in county was argued under the Redcliffe-Maud Reports Planning Area enhancing a Second Wilson ministry plan with support from locally resident Lords and of the Heath ministry. East to West Sussex land re-designation was kept with the aim of uniting all areas affected by the projected major Crawley. Lord Nugent set up and defined five major growth areas, one of these, called Planning Area No. So this planning area spreads into three counties, Surrey, East Sussex and West Sussex, in any event, that solution was overtaken by the South-East Strategic Plan. I must confess that the expression, Strategic Plan, has a cold and impersonal ring. The three county councils of Surrey, East Sussex, and West Sussex have been consulting on a joint advisory committee for this area. Homes owned by their occupants, with or without a loan, Mid Sussexs residents had the lowest burden of social housing, at 0. 8% social housing and 28% of its housing privately rented, Brighton and Hove. In terms of rented housing Mid Sussex at the 2011 census ranked 216th out of in terms of 327 local authorities in England and these figures are those of the 2011 census. The parliamentary constituency of Mid Sussex covers most of the district, the incumbent Member of Parliament is Sir Nicholas Soames, the grandson of former Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, and a former junior minister in the Government of Sir John Major. The southernmost part of the district, including Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint falls within Arundel and South Downs whose MP is Nick Herbert
14.
United Kingdom general election, 2015
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The United Kingdom general election of 2015 on 7 May 2015 elected the 56th Parliament of the United Kingdom. Each of the 650 parliamentary constituencies elected one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons and it was the first general election at the end of a fixed-term Parliament. Local elections took place in most of England on the same day, polls and commentators had predicted the outcome would be too close to call and would result in a second hung parliament similar to the 2010 election. Opinion polls were eventually proven to have underestimated the Conservative vote as they won an outright majority. Having governed in coalition with the Liberal Democrats since 2010, the Conservatives won 330 seats and 36. 9% of the vote, the British Polling Council began an inquiry into the substantial variance between opinion polls and the actual result. The Labour Party, led by Ed Miliband, saw an increase in its vote share to 30. 4%. This was its lowest seat tally since the 1987 election, senior Labour shadow cabinet members, notably Ed Balls, Douglas Alexander, and Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy, were defeated. The UK Independence Party came third in terms of votes with 12. 6%, the Green Party won its highest-ever share of the vote with 3. 8%, and held Brighton Pavilion with an increased majority, though did not win any additional seats. Labours Miliband and Murphy resigned, as did Clegg, Farage claimed that his resignation was rejected by his party, and he remained in post. In Northern Ireland, the Ulster Unionist Party returned to the Commons with two MPs after an absence, while the Alliance Party lost its only seat despite an increase in total vote share. That renegotiation was followed by an in-out referendum a year later in June 2016, as a result, it is likely that this was the last general election to be held in the UK during its membership of the EU. There were local elections on the day in most of England. No other elections were scheduled to take place in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, all British, Irish and Commonwealth citizens over the age of 18 on the date of the election were permitted to vote. In general elections, voting takes place in all constituencies of the United Kingdom to elect members of parliament to seats in the House of Commons. Each parliamentary constituency of the United Kingdom elects one MP to the House of Commons using the first-past-the-post system, if one party obtains a majority of seats, then that party is entitled to form the Government. If the election results in no party having a majority. In this case, the options for forming the Government are either a minority government or a coalition government, the next boundary review is now set to take place in 2018, thus the 2015 general election was contested using the same constituencies and boundaries as in 2010. Of the 650 constituencies,533 are in England,59 in Scotland,40 in Wales and 18 in Northern Ireland, in addition, the 2011 Act mandated a referendum in 2011 on changing from the current first-past-the-post system to an alternative vote system for elections to the Commons
15.
Liberal Democrats (UK)
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The Liberal Democrats are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom. The party was formed in 1988 as a merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party, at the 2015 general election, the party was reduced to eight MPs. Nick Clegg resigned as leader and Tim Farron won the subsequent leadership election, the party currently has nine MPs, following the Richmond Park by-election. The Alliance was led by David Steel and Roy Jenkins, Jenkins was replaced by David Owen, the two parties had their own policies and emphases, but produced a joint manifesto for the 1983 and 1987 general elections. Following disappointing results in the 1987 election, Steel proposed to merge the two parties, although opposed by Owen, it was supported by a majority of members of both parties, and they formally merged in March 1988, with Steel and Robert Maclennan as joint interim leaders. The new party was initially named Social and Liberal Democrats with the short form The Democrats being used from September 1988. The name was changed to Liberal Democrats in October 1989. The new party logo, the Bird of Liberty, was adopted in 1989, the party is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and Liberal International. The then-serving Liberal MP Paddy Ashdown was elected leader in July 1988, at the 1989 European Elections, the party received only 6% of the vote, putting them in fourth place after the Green Party. They failed to gain a single Member of the European Parliament at this election, over the next three years, the party recovered under Ashdowns leadership. They performed better at the 1990 local elections and in by-elections—including at Eastbourne in 1990, Ribble Valley in 1991, the Lib Dems did not reach the share of national votes in the 1990s that the Alliance had achieved in the 1980s. At their first election in 1992, they won 17. 8% of the vote, in the 1994 European Elections, the party gained its first two Members of European Parliament. The election was, however, something of a point for the Liberal Democrats. Ashdown retired as leader in 1999 and the party elected Charles Kennedy as his replacement, the party improved on their 1997 results at the 2001 general election, increasing their number of seats to 52 and their share of the vote to 18. 3%. The party won seats from Labour in by-elections in Brent East in 2003 and Leicester South in 2004, under Kennedys leadership the majority of Pro-Euro Conservatives, a group of former members of the Conservatives, joined the Liberal Democrats on 10 December 2001. At the 2005 general election, the Lib Dems gained their highest share of the vote since the SDP–Liberal Alliance and won 62 seats. Many had anticipated that this election would be the Lib Dems breakthrough at Westminster, party activists hoped to better the 25% support of the 1983 election, or to reach 100 MPs. Much of the apparent lack of success resulted from the first-past-the-post electoral system, controversy became associated with the campaign when it became known that Michael Brown had donated £2.4 million to the Liberal Democrats
16.
Majority
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A majority is the greater part, or more than half, of the total. It is a subset of a set consisting of more than half of the sets elements, Majority can be used to specify the voting requirement, as in a majority vote. A majority vote is more than half of the votes cast, a majority can be compared to a plurality, which is a subset larger than any other subset considered. A plurality is not necessarily a majority as the largest subset considered may consist of less than half the sets elements and this can occur when there are three or more possible choices. In British English the term majority is also used to refer to the winning margin. Other related terms containing the majority have their own meanings. A majority is the part, or more than half. For example, say a group consists of 20 individuals, in this case, a majority would be 11 or more individuals. For this group, having 10 or fewer individuals would not constitute a majority, in parliamentary procedure, the term majority simply means more than half. As it relates to a vote, a majority vote is more than half of the votes cast, abstentions or blanks are excluded in calculating a majority vote. Also, the totals do not include votes cast by someone not entitled to vote or improper multiple votes by a single member, depending on the parliamentary authority used, there may be a difference in the total that is used to calculate a majority vote due to illegal votes. Illegal votes are votes which are cast for unidentifiable or ineligible candidates or choices, in this definition, illegal refers to the choices made on the ballot and does not refer to the persons who cast the votes. In Roberts Rules of Order Newly Revised, illegal votes are counted as votes cast, in The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure, illegal votes are not included in the total and a majority vote is defined as being more than half of all eligible votes cast. The issue of illegal votes does not exist when only two options are possible, such as when a majority vote is required to adopt a proposal, in this context, a majority vote is more yes votes than no votes. A majority vote is not the same as a vote of a majority of the present or a vote of a majority of the entire membership. For example, assume that votes are cast for three people for an office, Alice, Bob, and Carol, in Scenario 1, Alice received a majority vote. There were 20 votes cast and Alice received more than half of them, in Scenario 2, assume all three candidates are eligible. In this case, no one received a majority vote and this example also illustrates that half the votes cast is not a majority vote
17.
Shopping mall
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A shopping arcade is a specific form serving the same purpose. Many early shopping arcades such as the Burlington Arcade in London, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, however, many smaller arcades have been demolished, replaced with large centers or malls, often accessible by vehicle. Technical innovations such as lighting and escalators were introduced from the late 19th century. From the late 20th century, entertainment venues such as movie theaters, as a single built structure, early shopping centers were often architecturally significant constructions, enabling wealthier patrons to buy goods in spaces protected from the weather. In places around the world, the shopping centre is used, especially in Europe, Australia. Mall is a term used predominantly in North America, outside of North America, shopping precinct and shopping arcade are also used. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, malls are commonly referred to as shopping centres, the majority of British shopping centres are located in city centres, usually found in old and historic shopping districts and surrounded by subsidiary open air shopping streets. Large examples include West Quay in Southampton, Manchester Arndale, Bullring Birmingham, Liverpool One, Trinity Leeds, Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow and these centres were built in the 1980s and 1990s, but planning regulations prohibit the construction of any more. Out-of-town shopping developments in the UK are now focused on retail parks, planning policy prioritizes the development of existing town centres, although with patchy success. Bullring, Birmingham is the busiest shopping centre in the UK welcoming over 36.5 million shoppers in its opening year, there are a reported 222 malls in Europe. In 2014, these malls had combined sales of $12.47 billion and this represented a 10% bump in revenues from the prior year. One of the earliest examples of public shopping areas comes from ancient Rome, One of the earliest public shopping centers is Trajans Market in Rome located in Trajans Forum. Trajans Market was probably built around 100-110 CE by Apollodorus of Damascus, the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul was built in the 15th century and is still one of the largest covered shopping centers in the world, with more than 58 streets and 4,000 shops. Numerous other covered shopping arcades, such as the 19th-century Al-Hamidiyah Souq in Damascus, Syria, isfahans Grand Bazaar, which is largely covered, dates from the 10th century. The 10-kilometer-long, covered Tehrans Grand Bazaar also has a lengthy history, the oldest continuously occupied shopping mall in the world is likely to be the Chester Rows. Dating back at least to the 13th century, these covered walkways housed shops, with storage, different rows specialized in different goods, such as Bakers Row or Fleshmongers Row. The Marché des Enfants Rouges in Paris opened in 1628 and still runs today, the Oxford Covered Market in Oxford, England opened in 1774 and still runs today. The Passage du Caire was opened in Paris in 1798, the Burlington Arcade in London was opened in 1819
18.
Pub
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A pub, or public house, is an establishment licensed to sell alcoholic drinks, which traditionally include beer, ale and cider. It is a relaxed, social drinking establishment and a prominent part of British, Irish, New Zealand, Canadian, in many places, especially in villages, a pub is the focal point of the community. In his 17th century diary Samuel Pepys described the pub as the heart of England, Pubs can be traced back to Roman taverns, through the Anglo-Saxon alehouse to the development of the tied house system in the 19th century. In 1393, King Richard II of England introduced legislation that pubs had to display a sign outdoors to make them easily visible for passing ale tasters who would assess the quality of ale sold, most pubs focus on offering beers, ales and similar drinks. As well, pubs often sell wines, spirits, and soft drinks, meals, the owner, tenant or manager is known as the pub landlord or publican. The pub quiz was established in the UK in the 1970s and these alehouses quickly evolved into meeting houses for the folk to socially congregate, gossip and arrange mutual help within their communities. Herein lies the origin of the public house, or Pub as it is colloquially called in England. They rapidly spread across the Kingdom, becoming so commonplace that in 965 King Edgar decreed that there should be no more than one alehouse per village. A traveller in the early Middle Ages could obtain overnight accommodation in monasteries, the Hostellers of London were granted guild status in 1446 and in 1514 the guild became the Worshipful Company of Innholders. A survey in 1577 of drinking establishment in England and Wales for taxation purposes recorded 14,202 alehouses,1,631 inns, Inns are buildings where travellers can seek lodging and, usually, food and drink. They are typically located in the country or along a highway, in Europe, they possibly first sprang up when the Romans built a system of roads two millennia ago. Some inns in Europe are several centuries old, in addition to providing for the needs of travellers, inns traditionally acted as community gathering places. In Europe, it is the provision of accommodation, if anything, the latter tend to provide alcohol, but less commonly accommodation. Famous London inns include The George, Southwark and The Tabard, there is however no longer a formal distinction between an inn and other kinds of establishment. In North America, the aspect of the word inn lives on in hotel brand names like Holiday Inn. The Inns of Court and Inns of Chancery in London started as ordinary inns where barristers met to do business, traditional English ale was made solely from fermented malt. The practice of adding hops to produce beer was introduced from the Netherlands in the early 15th century, alehouses would each brew their own distinctive ale, but independent breweries began to appear in the late 17th century. By the end of the century almost all beer was brewed by commercial breweries, the 18th century saw a huge growth in the number of drinking establishments, primarily due to the introduction of gin
19.
The London Gazette
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The London Gazette claims to be the oldest surviving English newspaper and the oldest continuously published newspaper in the UK, having been first published on 7 November 1665 as The Oxford Gazette. This claim is made by the Stamford Mercury and Berrows Worcester Journal. It does not have a large circulation, in turn, The London Gazette carries not only notices of UK-wide interest, but also those relating specifically to entities or people in England and Wales. However, certain notices that are only of specific interest to Scotland or Northern Ireland are also required to be published in The London Gazette, the London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes are published by TSO on behalf of Her Majestys Stationery Office. They are subject to Crown Copyright, the London Gazette is published each weekday, except for Bank Holidays. The official Gazettes are published by The Stationery Office, the content, apart from insolvency notices, is available in a number of machine-readable formats, including XML and XML/RDFa via Atom feed. The London Gazette was first published as The Oxford Gazette on 7 November 1665. Charles II and the Royal Court had moved to Oxford to escape the Great Plague of London, the Gazette was Published by Authority by Henry Muddiman, and its first publication is noted by Samuel Pepys in his diary. The King returned to London as the plague dissipated, and the Gazette moved too, the Gazette was not a newspaper in the modern sense, it was sent by post to subscribers, not printed for sale to the general public. Her Majestys Stationery Office took over the publication of the Gazette in 1889, publication of the Gazette was transferred to the private sector, under government supervision, in the 1990s, when HMSO was sold and renamed The Stationery Office. In time of war, dispatches from the conflicts are published in The London Gazette. People referred to are said to have mentioned in dispatches. When members of the forces are promoted, and these promotions are published here. Man tally-ho, Miss piano, Wife silk and satin, Boy Greek and Latin, the phrase gazetted fortune hunter is also probably derived from this. Notices of engagement and marriage were also published in the Gazette. Gazettes, modelled on The London Gazette, were issued for most British colonial possessions
20.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
21.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
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It alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. Its head is the Sovereign of the United Kingdom and its seat is the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster, one of the boroughs of the British capital, the parliament is bicameral, consisting of an upper house and a lower house. The Sovereign forms the third component of the legislature, prior to the opening of the Supreme Court in October 2009, the House of Lords also performed a judicial role through the Law Lords. The House of Commons is an elected chamber with elections held at least every five years. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster in London, most cabinet ministers are from the Commons, whilst junior ministers can be from either House. The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Treaty of Union by Acts of Union passed by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The UK parliament and its institutions have set the pattern for many throughout the world. However, John Bright – who coined the epithet – used it with reference to a rather than a parliament. In theory, the UKs supreme legislative power is vested in the Crown-in-Parliament. However, the Crown normally acts on the advice of the Prime Minister, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1801, by the merger of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland under the Acts of Union. The principle of responsibility to the lower House did not develop until the 19th century—the House of Lords was superior to the House of Commons both in theory and in practice. Members of the House of Commons were elected in an electoral system. Thus, the borough of Old Sarum, with seven voters, many small constituencies, known as pocket or rotten boroughs, were controlled by members of the House of Lords, who could ensure the election of their relatives or supporters. During the reforms of the 19th century, beginning with the Reform Act 1832, No longer dependent on the Lords for their seats, MPs grew more assertive. The supremacy of the British House of Commons was established in the early 20th century, in 1909, the Commons passed the so-called Peoples Budget, which made numerous changes to the taxation system which were detrimental to wealthy landowners. The House of Lords, which consisted mostly of powerful landowners, on the basis of the Budgets popularity and the Lords consequent unpopularity, the Liberal Party narrowly won two general elections in 1910. Using the result as a mandate, the Liberal Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, introduced the Parliament Bill, in the face of such a threat, the House of Lords narrowly passed the bill. However, regardless of the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, the Government of Ireland Act 1920 created the parliaments of Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland and reduced the representation of both parts at Westminster
22.
Hansard
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Hansard is the traditional name of the transcripts of Parliamentary Debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard, a London printer and publisher, though the history of the Hansard began in the British parliament, each of Britains colonies developed a separate and distinctive history. Before 1771, the British Parliament had long been a highly secretive body, the official record of the actions of the House was publicly available, but there was no record of the debates. The publication of remarks made in the House became a breach of Parliamentary privilege, as the populace became interested in parliamentary debates, more independent newspapers began publishing unofficial accounts of them. Several editors used the device of veiling parliamentary debates as debates of fictitious societies or bodies, the names under which parliamentary debates were published include Proceedings of the Lower Room of the Robin Hood Society and Debates of the Senate of Magna Lilliputia. The Senate of Magna Lilliputia was printed in Edward Caves The Gentlemans Magazine, the names of the speakers were carefully filleted, for example, Sir Robert Walpole was thinly disguised as Sr. R―t W―le. In 1771 Brass Crosby, who was Lord Mayor of the City of London, had brought him a printer by the name of John Miller who dared publish reports of Parliamentary proceedings. He released the man, but was ordered to appear before the House to explain his actions. Crosby was committed to the Tower of London, but when he was brought to trial, several judges refused to hear the case and after protests from the public, Crosby was released. Parliament ceased to punish the publishing of its debates as harshly, partly due to the campaigns of John Wilkes on behalf of free speech, there then began several attempts to publish reports of debates. Among the early successes, the Parliamentary Register published by John Almon and John Debrett began in 1775, cobbetts avocation for the freedom of the press was severely punished by the British Government. On June 5,1810 William Cobbett stood trial for libel for an article he wrote against the British Government which was published by Thomas Curson Hansard. Cobbett was found guilty, upon the fullest and most satisfactory evidence, the sentence was described by J. C Trewin as vindictive. Cobbetts Parliamentary Debates became Hansard Parliamentary Debates, abbreviated over time to the now familiar Hansard, from 1829 the name Hansard appeared on the title page of each issue. Neither Cobbett nor Hansard ever employed anyone to take notes of the debates. For this reason, early editions of Hansard are not to be relied upon as a guide to everything discussed in Parliament. The last attempt at a rival was The Times which published debates in the 1880s. In 1878 a subsidy was granted to the Hansard press and at that point reporters were employed, despite hiring contract reporters there were still widespread complaints about the accuracy of the debates
23.
TheyWorkForYou
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It also helps create accountability for UK politicians by publishing a complete archive of every word spoken in Parliament, along with a voting record and other details for each MP, past and present. TheyWorkForYou does not publish original content, it scrapes from the sources, then presents debates. For example, TheyWorkForYou’s version of Hansard may be searched, and it also has a facility to alert users by email to speeches by an MP or specific words appearing in Hansard. In 2008, The Daily Telegraph rated it 41st in a list of the 101 most useful websites, TheyWorkForYou was not originally built by mySociety, but was adopted by them in 2006. As time passed, more features were added and more areas of Parliament were covered, such as debates, around the 2005 general election, Channel 4 used a branded version of TheyWorkForYou to supply their MP data. In summer 2006, the Department for Constitutional Affairs funded the creation of an API for the site so other sites could use the data from the site themselves. This has enabled a variety of uses, from MPs publishing out their most recent speeches onto their own websites, later that year, Matthew Somerville added the entire Northern Ireland Assembly Hansard and all MLAs to the site. As with most of other projects, TheyWorkForYou’s underlying code is open source. In April 2009, an Irish version of TheyWorkForYou was launched in beta form, called KildareStreet, it contains Irish parliamentary data from January 2004 to the present day. When the site launched, it did not have the right to reproduce Hansard, a licence was later given, and click-use licences for Parliamentary copyright information were created as a result. This led to a debate in the House of Commons on the increase in questions, the site removed absolute rankings and added some more explanatory text in response, and held a meeting at Parliament later in the year to discuss better metrics. In summer 2006, Jack Straw, Leader of the House of Commons also mentioned TheyWorkForYou as a site which seems to measure Members work in quantitative rather than qualitative terms, of a fair and accurate account of a debate in either House is protected
24.
Adam Afriyie
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Adam Afriyie is a British Conservative Party politician, and the Member of Parliament for Windsor. He was first elected in the 2005 General Election, and then re elected in the 2010 and 2015 elections. The son of an English mother and a Ghanaian father, Afriyie was born in Wimbledon, London and he was educated at Addey and Stanhope School and has a BSc, degree in agricultural economics from Wye College. Afriyie has seven half-siblings and one brother and he said of his upbringing, I never knew my father until I was much older and my mother, Gwen, brought us up alone. She was my rock, the gel at the centre of my life, Afriyie is chairman of Connect Support Services, an IT support company he set up in 1993. He owned two-thirds of DeHavilland, a monitoring company, which was sold to publishers Emap in 2005 for £18 million. He was also a regional finalist in the 2003 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the year awards and he was a Governor of the Museum of London, a trustee of the Museum in Docklands and a director of Policy Exchange, a centre-right policy body. Afriyie is a stakeholder of Axonn Media, a content marketing business which produces content for clients, the company incorporates brands such as Content Plus, NewsReach, DirectNews and ReelContent. Axonn turned over £9. 4m in 2011, and made a pre tax profit of £1. 3m. Afriyie is the largest shareholder of the firm, and he and his fellow directors split dividends of £2. 2m in 2010 and 2011, and shared directors pay of £3. 6m over the last five years. A member of the Conservative Party since 1990, Afriye in 1999 worked for Jeffrey Archer on his campaign to be the first directly elected Mayor of London. Afriyie was selected as candidate for the constituency of Windsor in October 2003. He was first elected at the 2005 General Election, with a share of the vote. He is the Conservative Partys first mixed-race MP, although he said in an interview with the Evening Standard that he considers himself not as black but post-racial. In the 2010 election, Afriyie was re-elected with a share of the vote. He made his speech on 23 May 2005. Since 2010 he has been the President of the Conservative Technology Forum and he has been the chair of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology since 2010. Afriyie voted against the Marriage Bill, stating fear for religious freedom and also that he thought that straight civil partnerships should be allowed, but the bill did not
25.
Steve Baker (politician)
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Steven John Baker is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Wycombe, having been elected in the 2010 general election and he has been a member of the executive of the 1922 Committee since May 2012. Baker served in the Royal Air Force as an engineer from 1989–99. After leaving the RAF, he studied for a degree in Computer Science at the University of Oxford, later becoming a software engineer. He chose to enter politics after witnessing the financial crisis in 2008 and he was elected MP for Wycombe in 2010. In June 2015, he became co-chairman of Conservatives for Britain and he co-founded The Cobden Centre, on which he sits on the advisory board. He established and chairs the all-party parliamentary group on Economics, Money and he sits on the Treasury Select Committee. He later studied at St Cross College, Oxford, where he earned an MSc in Computation, from 1989, Baker served ten years as an engineering officer in the Royal Air Force. He retired from the Air Force in 1999 as a flight lieutenant and he later worked as a consulting software engineer and manager. He was head of consulting and product manager with DecisionSoft Ltd in Oxford and he was appointed as Chief Technical Officer at BASDA Ltd, Great Missenden in 2002, a position he held until 2007. For a year from 2005 he was director of development at CoreFiling Ltd. He was the architect of global financing and asset service platforms at Lehman Brothers. He has been principal of Ambriel Consulting Ltd since 2001 and he is a founding member of The Cobden Centre, an educational charity promoting Austrian economics. He has been a consultant with the Centre for Social Justice since 2008. Baker was selected as the Conservative candidate for Wycombe on 31 October 2009, after former Conservative MP Paul Goodman stood down, Baker held the seat for the Conservative Party. He received 23,423 votes – a vote share of 48. 6%, in 2010, he was appointed to the Transport Select Committee. Baker is rated as one of the Conservatives top 10 most rebellious MPs of the 2010 intake and he was nominated as a Newcomer of the Year on ConservativeHome. He was named as the most authoritative Member of Parliament on Twitter in January 2011, in March 2011, Baker initiated an adjournment debate on the malicious prosecution of an operator of an independent mental health unit
26.
Richard Benyon
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Richard Henry Ronald Benyon PC is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the richest MP of the House of Commons, with a wealth of £110 million. Benyon was born on 21 October 1960 in Reading and he is the son of Sir William Benyon, a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1992, and is the great-great grandson of former Conservative Prime Minister Lord Salisbury. He was educated at nearby Bradfield College and the Royal Agricultural College, having attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he was commissioned into the Royal Green Jackets, British Army, as a second lieutenant on 8 August 1981. He was promoted to lieutenant on 8 August 1983, during his four years service, he was posted to Northern Ireland, the UK and the Far East. He transferred to the Regular Army Reserve of Officers on 8 August 1984, thereby ending his military career and he was elected in 1991 to Newbury District Council, and became Conservative group leader in 1994, in opposition to the then-ruling Liberal Democrats. He lost his seat in 1995. He contested Newbury at the 1997 General Election but lost heavily to the 1993 by-election incumbent Liberal Democrat David Rendel, Benyon and Rendel contested Newbury again at the 2001 General Election, and Rendel came out again as the victor with a reduced majority. It proved third time lucky for Benyon, when he and Rendel again contested Newbury at the 2005 UK general election and Benyon was elected with a majority of 3,460, replacing Rendel. Benyon made his speech on 20 May 2005 and served on the Home Affairs Select Committee from 2005 to 2007. He was the Shadow Minister for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2009 until the 2010 general election when he entered government and he was also one of the first 15 MPs to support David Camerons Conservative Party leadership bid. In May 2009, he was listed by the Daily Telegraph as one of the saints in the expenses scandal exposed by that newspaper and he was made Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the first Cameron Ministry. And remained in post until the junior and middle ranking Cameron reshuffle of October 2013, Benyon was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum. Benyon said that the estate was controlled by a family trust, in 2013 Benyon succeeded in preventing any cuts in fishing quotas. He claimed that if British fishermen had their quotas cut they would even more fish overboard, and the more fish they are allowed to catch. Back in 2004, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution proposed that 30% of the United Kingdom’s waters should become reserves preventing fishing or any kind of extraction. Also in 2013 Benyons policy relating to access to rivers and his role as an owner of fishing rights was criticised, in 2014, Benyons family firm was part of a property consortium that purchased New Era estate, one of the last affordable housing estates for working-class Londoners. The consortium increased the rents and announced plans to them further to match the rest of the market
27.
Crispin Blunt
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Crispin Jeremy Rupert Blunt is a British Conservative Party politician. In 2013, Blunt was himself deselected by the Constituency Executive Council, however, after a ballot of party members in Reigate, the decision was overturned by a margin of 5-1 and Blunt was reselected as the Conservative candidate for the 2015 general election. Blunt was born in Germany, one of three sons of English parents Adrienne and Major-General Peter Blunt, in 1991, he gained an MBA at the Cranfield School of Management. Blunt was commissioned as an Army Officer into the 13th/18th Royal Hussars, during the 1980s, he was stationed in Cyprus, Germany and Britain, serving as a Troop Leader, Regimental Operations Officer and Armoured Reconnaissance Squadron Commander. He resigned his commission as a Captain in 1990, Blunt contested his first Parliamentary seat at the 1992 general election, as the Conservative Party candidate in West Bromwich East. From 1991 to 1992, Blunt was a representative of the Forum of Private Business, in 1993, he was appointed as Special Adviser to Malcolm Rifkind the then-Secretary of State for Defence, and worked in the same capacity when Rifkind became Foreign Secretary between 1995 and 1997. Blunt was subsequently appointed to the House of Commons Defence Select Committee, in July 1997, he was elected as Secretary of the Conservative Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Committee and the Conservative Middle East Council. The new Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith appointed Blunt to the Opposition front bench as Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland in September 2001, in July 2002, he was appointed as deputy to Tim Yeo, Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. On 1 May 2003 he resigned his position on the front bench, Blunt timed his resignation so that it became public after the polls closed but before the results were declared. He accepted that no challenge for the party leadership would be immediately forthcoming, in November 2003 the challenge came and Michael Howard replaced Duncan Smith after a vote of no confidence. Blunt became a party whip under Howard, but on 9 June 2005 he took leave of absence from that role to support the leadership bid of Sir Malcolm Rifkind. Blunt is a joint chair of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding. When the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition formed the Government in 2010 and his responsibilities include, Prisons and probation, Youth justice, Criminal law and sentencing policy and Criminal justice. He is also a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group, in November 2013, Blunt was re-selected to stand in the 2015 general election for the Conservative Party having undergone a postal ballot of constituency members. The postal ballot was triggered when the council came to a vote with a majority decision not to endorse his candidacy. Having won the postal ballot Mr Blunt called for the council to consider their position. The lack of support from a majority of the council was partly attributed to the allegedly homophobic views of older Conservative voters in the area. In the letter, Newstead said, I do not know what motivated my executive colleagues, a number of lady members were very offended by the manner in which his marriage broke down
28.
Peter Bottomley
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Sir Peter James Bottomley is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as a Member of Parliament since 1975. He has represented the Worthing West constituency since 1997 and he was baptized at St Swithuns parish church at Cheswardine where his parents had married. His supervisor was James Mirrlees, who gained the Nobel prize for Economics. Before university he worked around Australia including three weeks teaching at Geelong Grammar School and unloading trucks in Melbourne docks, in between, he spent a week in Mt. Field with Tenzing Norgay and Jenny Smithies of Launceston Methodist Ladies College. After university, he became a driver and joined the Transport and General Workers Union before moving on to industrial sales. In the early 1970s he co-founded the Neighbourhood Council in South Lambeth, resulting in the creation of football pitches and his last job before entering Parliament was putting lights outside theatres and cinemas in Londons West End. Bottomley contested the Woolwich West parliamentary seat in the February and October general elections of 1974, Hamling died on 20 March 1975, and in the space of 18 months, Bottomley faced the electors of Woolwich West for a third time at the by-election on 26 June 1975. He was then elected as the Conservative MP for Woolwich West with a majority of 2,382, in 1978 he became the President of the Conservative Trade Unionists, a position he held for two years. Before the 1979 general election, Bottomley became a trustee with Christian Aid in 1978 until 1984 and he was for some years a member of the Conservative Monday Club despite disagreeing with their policies on immigration, race relations, Rhodesia and South Africa. He has been chairman of the Church of Englands Childrens Society and he served on the successor committee to the Archbishop of Canterburys commission Faith in the City and chaired the churches review group on the Churches Main Committee. He is a member of the Ecclesiastical Committee and has appointed the Parliamentary Warden at St. Margarets Church. He has led the United Kingdom delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and he is vice chair of WATCH, Women and the Church, supporting full equal acceptance of females. In 1982, he became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Peter Bottomleys seat of Woolwich West had minor boundary changes and a name change during 1982. Bottomley fought the new constituency of Eltham at the 1983 general election, following the election, Peter Bottomley became the PPS to the Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Security, Norman Fowler. In 1989 he moved again to the Northern Ireland Office. He was dropped by Thatcher in 1990, when he briefly became PPS to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and he has been a captain of the Parliamentary football team, participated in the parliamentary swimming competition and organised the annual dinghy sailing against the House of Lords. He was captain of the Commons eight, winning the first Thames rowing race in gigs against the Lords in 2007, since 1990 he has been a backbencher, described as a maverick, supporting a range of seemingly perverse causes. Bottomley decided not to re-contest Eltham after major boundary changes, Bottomley is in more Parliamentary groups than any other MP
29.
Steve Brine
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Stephen Charles Brine is a British Conservative Party politician and the Member of Parliament for Winchester. In the 2010 general election, he had a majority of 3,048 over the Liberal Democrat candidate Martin Tod and he was re-elected to the House of Commons in the 2015 general election with an increased majority of 16,914. Brine was educated at Bohunt School, Highbury College and Liverpool Hope University where he read History and he served a sabbatical year as President of the Students Union. While in Liverpool he created a new company called Liverpool Student Media, in his youth, Brine also joined Friends of the Earth, which he cited as one of the reasons which drove him into politics. Brine also spent a year working in Chicago with the Tribune Media Groups WGN Radio and he also worked as a business development consultant, and for a golf marketing and publishing business. Speaking to a newspaper about his vote, Brine said. That could have been done in a collegiate way instead of a non-consultation last year leading to a rushed Bill that has divided the entire country. I will be following the Bill extremely closely as it moves into committee, in 2013, Brine was made a PPS to Mike Penning, Minister of State at the Department for Work & Pensions and Minister for Disabled People. As a result, he worked closely with colleagues including Iain Duncan Smith and Steve Webb as the government sought to tackle many problems with welfare. In July 2014, Brine followed Mr Penning to a new Government role, within the Home Office, in May 2015, Brine was made Parliamentary Private Secretary to Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health. Brine was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum on the UKs membership of the EU, after the change of Prime Minister in July 2016, Steve became a Minister after being appointed by Theresa May as an Assistant Government Whip. Brine is a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur, his sports include skiing, tennis, golf and boules, Brine is married with two children, and his dog, Popcorn
30.
Rehman Chishti
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Atta-Ur-Rehman Chishti is a British Conservative politician who was elected MP for Gillingham and Rainham in the 2010 general election. He is the former Parliamentary Private Secretary to Jeremy Wright, the Attorney General for England, Chishti was born in Muzaffarabad, capital of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, on 4 October 1978. His father Abdul Rehman Chishti had been appointed Federal Adviser on religious affairs to the Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir in 1976 by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan. He left Pakistan in 1978 to take up a post as an Imam in the UK, soon after Bhutto was overthrown by a coup by General Zia-ul-Haq. Rehman Chishti did not see his father for the first six years of his life and he along with his mother and elder sister joined his father in 1984 in the UK at the age of six, and since then has lived in Gillingham and Rainham. Chishti attended Richmond Infant School, Napier Primary School, Fort Luton High School for Boys, Rainham Mark Grammar School Sixth Form and he was Head Boy at Fort Luton High School, and captain of the school cricket team. He also played football with Royal Princes Park youth team where he was given the award for player of the year, Chishti read law at University of Wales Aberystwyth, followed by Inns of Court School of Law where he did his Barristers vocational course. He had to supplement his studies by working at Tesco main store in Gillingham, Chishti was called to the Bar of England and Wales by Lincolns Inn in 2001. He undertook pupillage at Goldsmith Chambers and was taken on as a tenant, Chishti prosecuted and defended cases in the Magistrates and Crown courts. He has appeared in the Court of Appeal, R v R EWCA Crim 3312, Attorney Generals Reference and he is an Honorary Door Tenant at Red Lion Chambers. Chishti served as a Political Adviser from 1999–2007 to Benazir Bhutto and this included meetings with the then British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in 2005, and David Miliband in 2007. In 2001, in a note to Rehman Chishti in her biography, at the 2005 General Election, Chishti stood as the Labour Party candidate for the Horsham constituency. Chishti represented the Gillingham North Ward from 2003–2007 and the Rainham Central Ward since 2007 on Medway Council and he was appointed to the Medway Councils Cabinet in 2007 as the Member for Community Safety and Enforcement, becoming the youngest Cabinet Member in Medways history. He also served as an Adviser to Francis Maude on diversity when Maude was Chairman of the Conservative Party in 2006, Chishti was elected Member of Parliament for Gillingham and Rainham in 2010 at the age of 31. The New Statesman listed Chishti as among the 20 MPs under 40 who are the best of their generation, the Telegraph newspaper described him as a rising star of the party. In 2011, Chishti was listed by the BBC as one of the most frequent speakers in Parliament from the intake of 2010, the government agreed to increase the maximum custodial sentence to 10 years from the previous two. Chishti has campaigned for the release of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five who has accused of blasphemy in Pakistan. In December 2015, the Prime Minister announced in Parliament that, after the strong representations made by Chishti, Chishti has campaigned to improve care for people with mental health problems and has introduced two Private Members Bills in Parliament
31.
Greg Clark
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Gregory David Clark PC is a British Conservative Party politician who is the MP for Tunbridge Wells and Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Clark was born in Middlesbrough and studied Economics at Magdalene College, Cambridge and he then gained his PhD from the London School of Economics. Between July 2014 and May 2015, he held the post of Minister for Universities, Science, in July 2016, he was appointed as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy by new Prime Minister Theresa May. He is described as an economically liberal Conservative with a social conscience, greg Clark was born in Middlesbrough and attended St Peters Roman Catholic School in South Bank. His father and grandfather were milkmen running the business, John Clark and Sons. Clark read Economics at Magdalene College, Cambridge, Clark first worked as a business consultant before becoming special advisor to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Ian Lang, between 1996 and 1997. Subsequently, he was appointed the BBCs Controller, Commercial Policy, between 2002 and 2005 he was also a councillor on Westminster City Council, serving as Cabinet Member for Leisure and Lifelong Learning. Clark was elected at the 2005 General Election for the constituency of Tunbridge Wells. He also noted with pride that Royal Tunbridge Wells had elected the countrys first Jewish Member of Parliament, Clark was appointed to the front bench, in an minor reshuffle in November 2006 by David Cameron, becoming Shadow Minister for Charities, Voluntary Bodies and Social Enterprise. In October 2007, Clark campaigned to save Tunbridge Wells Homeopathic Hospital, in October 2008, Clark was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet, shadowing the new government position of Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. He was accused of hypocrisy, having staunchly opposed house-building while in opposition, however, since announcing the National Planning Policy Framework he has been praised by heritage NGOs and Simon Jenkins of the National Trust. From July 2011, he was responsible for cities policy since July 2011 as Minister for Cities, in this role he tried to promote the urban economies of the North, West and Midlands. In a cabinet reshuffle in September 2012, Clark was appointed Financial Secretary to the Treasury, on 15 July 2014 Clark was appointed to the role of Minister for Universities, Science and Cities, replacing David Willetts who was generally praised for his service in the post. The new portfolio combined the universities and science brief held by Willetts with the cities policy already handled by Clark and his appointment was met with concerns about securing future funding for universities and questions over his public support for homoeopathic treatments. Clark returned to the Department of Communities and Local Government as Secretary of State on 11 May 2015, Clark was appointed Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 14 July 2016, in Theresa Mays first cabinet. In October 2016, he appointed his predecessor as MP, Archie Norman, as Lead Non Executive Board Member for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. In February 2017, Clark travelled to Paris, in order to meet with executives from Peugeot, at the Privy Council meeting ratifying Mays cabinet appointments on 15 July 2016, Clark was mistakenly appointed as the President of the Board of Trade instead of Liam Fox. The error was corrected four days later and he and his wife Helen have three children
32.
Damian Collins
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Damian Noel Thomas Collins is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was elected as Member of Parliament for Folkestone and Hythe in the 2010 general election, on 10 September 2012, Collins was made PPS to Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers. He was president of the Oxford University Conservative Association in Hilary Term 1995, between 1999 and 2008, Collins worked for the M&C Saatchi advertising agency. In 2005, whilst still at M&C Saatchi, he set up Influence Communications within the group which specialised in issues based marketing campaigns, before joining M&C Saatchi he worked in the Conservative Research Department. In 2008 he joined Lexington Communications, where he was Senior Counsel, in 2002 he was the political officer of the centre-right think tank, the Bow Group and a contributor to its 2006 publication Conservative Revival. In the September 2007 edition of Esquire magazine, he was featured along with six other Conservative parliamentary candidates, in the 2005 general election he came second when standing in Northampton North. In May 2006 Collins was included on the A-list of Conservative parliamentary candidates, on 13 July 2006 he was selected as prospective parliamentary candidate for the Folkestone and Hythe constituency. He was the successor as Conservative candidate for this seat to Michael Howard, a former Home Secretary and latterly leader of Conservative party, in November 2007 he was included on The Observers Future 500 list as one of the 50 people to watch in British public life. He was also listed in Insight Public Affairs profiles of the Next Generation of MPs to watch and was interviewed by Sky News for its meet the new MPs series. Damian Collins made his speech in the House of Commons on 27 May 2010 in the debate on energy. He spoke about his support for a new power station at Dungeness in his constituency. In July 2010 he was elected as a member of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, Collins was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum. It was revealed Collins claimed £4,440.90 over three months in rent for a house in London, despite declaring that he owned a home in the capital. In September 2012 he came under fire for suggesting that jobless youths should work for less than minimum wage, damian and his wife Sarah have two children, a daughter Claudia and a son Hugo
33.
Caroline Dinenage
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Caroline Julia Dinenage is an English Conservative Party politician who was elected as Member of Parliament for Gosport at the 2010 general election. She was re-elected with an majority in 2015. In July 2014, she was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Women and Equalities, Nicky Morgan. In May 2015, Dinenage was appointed to the roles of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice and Minister for Women. In July 2016, Dinenage was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Women, Equalities, Dinenage was born on 28 October 1971, the daughter of television presenter Fred Dinenage. She has lived in South Hampshire for most of her life and she attended Oaklands RC Comprehensive School, Waterlooville, and then studied Politics and English at Swansea University. In 2010, Dinenage announced that she would sell her share in the business. In June 2015, Dinenage gave up her share in the business. Dinenage began her career in Winchester, where she was a member of the local council for five years. She stood as the Conservative Party candidate for Portsmouth South in the 2005 general election, Dinenage was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Gosport in the 2010 general election with a majority of 14,413. She was re-elected with a majority of 17,098, Dinenage sat on the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee between November 2012 and March 2015. In June 2013, she was appointed one of 12 small business ambassadors by the prime minister, Dinenage has taken an interest in defence issues, and has successfully campaigned in particular for a medal for the veterans of the Arctic convoys of World War II. She served as the vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Armed Forces for four years between 2010 and 2014 and she was selected by the foreign secretarys office as a member of the UKs NATO delegation, and elected as vice-chairman of a NATO Science and Technology Sub-Committee. In October 2013, Dinenage led a Parliamentary debate on adult literacy and numeracy, in 2014, she formed the All Party Parliamentary Group for Maths and Numeracy of which she is Co-Chair. In July 2014, she was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Women and Equalities, Nicky Morgan. In May 2015, Dinenage was appointed to the roles of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice and Minister for Women. In July 2016, Dinenage was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Women, Equalities, preventing same-sex couples from being allowed to marry takes nothing away from their relationship. On 5 February 2013, Dinenage voted against the Marriage Bill in the second reading debate, however, she did not vote against the Bill in subsequent votes
34.
Charlie Elphicke
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Charles Brett Anthony Elphicke is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament for Dover since the 2010 general election, Elphicke campaigned for the Port of Dover to become community-owned and for the construction of a hospital in Dover. He has been a campaigner for fathers rights, leading to government adopting his proposal to give children a right to know both of their parents. He became a Government whip, a Lord Commissioner or Lord of the Treasury following the 2015 general election, however, he stood down when Theresa May replaced David Cameron as Prime Minister. Before entering Parliament, Elphicke was a solicitor specialising in tax, born in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, Elphicke was educated at Felsted School in Essex, Cambridge Centre for Sixth-form Studies and at the University of Nottingham. Prior to entering parliament, Elphicke was a partner at law firm Hunton & Williams. He also had experience working in the research industry and running a small business. The report also showed that inequality in income had barely changed since 1996–1997, Elphicke was elected to London Borough Council of Lambeth in 1994, representing Gipsy Hill. His election saw the defeat of the Labour leader of Lambeth Council and he stood down in 1998 and became chairman of Dulwich & West Norwood Conservative Association. He served in that position until he was selected as the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for St Albans, in Hertfordshire in 1999. At the 2001 general election, Labour held the seat with a swing from the Conservatives of 0. 7% compared to a swing of 1. 7% to the Conservatives nationally and he was deputy chairman of the Cities of London and Westminster Conservative Association from 2002 to 2006. He was selected as the Conservative candidate for Dover in June 2007, Dover was the safest of Labours seven seats in Kent. Elphicke won with a 10. 4% swing, the 31st largest from Labour to Conservative, Elphicke made his maiden speech in a debate on European affairs on 3 June 2010. He was a finalist both in the usability and engagement categories and he became a PPS to Iain Duncan Smith, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in 2014. Elphicke served as one of 11 members of the Public Administration Select Committee from his election until his appointment as a Parliamentary Private Secretary in 2012, the Committee, which scrutinises the civil service, called for ministers to accelerate civil service reform. In one investigation, Elphicke looked at Ordnance Survey expenses for 2007–2010 totalling £8. 7m, items include a stay at a luxury hotel which cost over £3000 and a staff reward scheme which cost £32,100. OS said that the expenses involved sales staff, in October 2012 PASC reviewed the Charities Act 2006, which no longer assumed that advancement of religion was beneficial per se, but had to serve a public interest. They requested a test case to public benefit
35.
Michael Fallon
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Sir Michael Cathel Fallon KCB PC is a British Conservative politician and Member of Parliament for Sevenoaks. Since 2014, he has served as Secretary of State for Defence and he was previously Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party. Fallon was born in Perth to Dr Martin Fallon OBE, a surgeon and he was educated at Craigflower Preparatory School near Dunfermline and at Epsom College, an independent boys school in Surrey. He then read Classics and Ancient History at the University of St Andrews, as a student, Fallon was active in the European Movement and the Yes youth campaign in the 1975 referendum. After university he joined the Conservative Research Department, working first for Lord Carrington in the House of Lords until 1977, in 1979 he became Research Assistant to former MEP, Baroness Elles. In July 1982 he was selected as the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Darlington to fight the Darlington by-election on 24 March 1983, which was held after the Labour MP Ted Fletcher had died. Although he lost to Labours Ossie OBrien by 2,412 votes,77 days later he defeated OBrien by 3,438 votes in the 1983 general election. He remained MP for Darlington until the 1992 general election when he was defeated by Labours Alan Milburn by a margin of 2,798 votes. Thatcher appointed him Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department for Education and he remained in that office until his 1992-general election defeat. Between 1992–97, Fallon set up a chain of children’s nurseries called Just Learning with funding from the British Dragons Den star Duncan Bannatyne, from 1999 he was a member of the Treasury Select Committee, and chairman of its Sub-Committee. He also served as a 1922 Committee executive between 2005–07, in September 2012, he was sworn of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, upon his appointment as Minister for Business and Enterprise. Fallon has been a director at Tullett Prebon, a brokerage firm in the City of London. In January 2014, Fallon was appointed Minister for Portsmouth, subsequently being promoted to the Cabinet, on 15 July 2014, Fallon subsequently declined the opportunity to describe Miliband as a decent person and his comments embarrassed some Conservative supporters. An Election Communication posted to his constituents states that Fallon has taken a close interest in issues, voting against gay marriage. He works closely with local churches when moral matters come before Parliament, according to The Daily Telegraph, Fallon, Deputy Chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, claimed for mortgage repayments on his Westminster flat in their entirety. MPs are only allowed to claim for interest charges, between 2002 and 2004, Fallon regularly claimed £1,255 per month in capital repayments and interest, rather than the £700-£800 for the interest component alone. After his error was noticed by staff at the Commons Fees Office in September 2004, he asked and he repaid £2,200 of this over-claim, but was allowed to offset the remaining £6,100 against his allowance. Fallon has been married to Wendy Elisabeth Payne since 1986 and the couple have two sons, the family lives in Sundridge, Kent
36.
Nick Gibb
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Nicolas John Gibb is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton since 1997, Gibb was reappointed as Minister of State for Schools after the 2015 general election by Prime Minister David Cameron, having held the same post beforehand between May 2010 and September 2012. He replaced his successor, David Laws, having previously returned to government as Minister of State for School Reform in July 2014. Nick Gibb was born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire and was educated at Bedford Modern School, Maidstone Grammar School, Roundhay School in Leeds, and Thornes House School in Wakefield. He then attended the College of St Hild and St Bede at the University of Durham where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Law in 1981, Gibb was a member of the Federation of Conservative Students. At a time when they were influenced by radical libertarian ideas, in an interview regarding his education, Gibb spoke of how he believed Maidstone to be the best. What was good about it was that it was rigorous he told Teachers TV in 2006, every lesson was rigorous, even things like music, it was taught in the same way as chemistry. Wakefield, by contrast, was due to its lack of rigour. Upon leaving school he took a job as a handyman in a London hotel, in 1982, Gibb joined NatWest as a trainee accountant, before working on Kibbutz Merom Golan in 1983. In 1984 he joined KPMG as an accountant until his election to parliament. He is Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Gibb contested Stoke-on-Trent Central at the 1992 General Election but was defeated into second place some 13,420 votes behind the sitting Labour MP Mark Fisher. In 1994, Gibb was selected to contest the 1994 Rotherham by-election, caused by the death of James Boyce and he finished in third place,12,263 votes behind the winner Denis MacShane. Gibb was selected to stand as the Conservative candidate for the newly created West Sussex seat of Bognor Regis, Gibb won the seat with a majority of 7,321 and has remained the MP there since. He made his speech on 4 July 1997, in which he spoke of the visit of King George V in 1929 to Bognor Regis to take in the sea air. He recalled also the town of Felpham which was the home of poet William Blake, the following year, in 1998 he rejoined the frontbench as a spokesman on the treasury, moving back to trade and industry in 1999. Michael Howard brought him back to the following the Conservative Partys defeat in the 2005 General Election as a spokesman for Education. Shortly afterwards, the newly elected Conservative Party Leader, David Cameron and he left the Government at a ministerial reshuffle in September 2012, but returned to the same Department, again as a Minister of State, in July 2014. He was appointed to the Privy Council on 4 November 2016 and he is the brother of Robbie Gibb, a former PR consultant who is now editor of the BBCs political programmes, The Daily Politics and This Week
