Parliamentary Council

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

Rt Hon Lord Trimble – David Trimble was Member of Parliament for Upper Bann from 1990 to 2005. In 1998 he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with John Hume. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Trimble of Lisnagarvey in the County of Antrim in 2006. Lord Trimble was previously Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, and First Minister for Northern Ireland. His political interests include legal affairs, arts and culture and foreign affairs. Lord Trimble addressed the 2007 YBF Training Conference.

Rt Hon Lord Parkinson – Cecil Parkinson was a Member of Parliament from 1970 to 1992, whereupon he became Baron Parkinson of Carnforth in the County of Lancashire. A leading Thatcherite, Lord Parkinson has previous held the positions of Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Energy and Transport. Between 1981 and 83 and 1997 to 1999 Lord Parkinson was Chairman of the Conservative Party. He also served as Chairman of Conservative Way Forward.

The Earl of Stockton – Alexander Macmillan, 2nd Earl of Stockton, was a member of the European Parliament for South West England from 1999 to 2004. He inherited his peerage from his grandfather, the former Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan (1957 to 1963). Both his father Maurice Macmillan and his grandfather preceded him as Chairman of Macmillan Publishers Limited, the internationally renowned publishing house long owned by the Macmillan family.

Dr Liam Fox MP – Liam Fox is a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners. He worked as a Civilian Army Medical Officer and also worked in the voluntary sector as a divisional surgeon for St Johns before working as a GP in Buckinghamshire and Somerset. Liam Fox is the Shadow Secretary of State for Defence. He was educated at St Bride’s High School, East Kilbride and University of Glasgow where he studied medicine. He is a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners. He worked as a Civilian Army Medical Officer and also worked in the voluntary sector as a divisional surgeon for St Johns before working as a GP in Buckinghamshire and Somerset.

Bill Cash MP – Bill Cash was Member of Parliament for Stafford from 1984 until 1997, when he was elected Member of Parliament for Stone. Previous Parliamentary appointments include: Chairman of the Conservative Backbench Committee on European Affairs, Chairman of the All Party Committee on East Africa and Vice-President of the Conservative Small Business Bureau. He has also been a Member of the Select Committee on European Legislation, the Standing Committee on Financial Services, the Standing Committee on Banking and the Standing Committee on Broadcasting Bill. From 2001 to 2003, he served as Shadow Attorney General and has also been responsible for shadowing Constitutional Affairs in the House of Commons.

Gerald Howarth MP – Gerald Howarth is the MP for Aldershot. Since 2002 he has served as a Shadow Defence Minister with responsibility for defence procurement and the Royal Air Force. In addition to his frontbench duties Gerald is also Convenor (Chairman) of the all party RAF Group, an officer of the Parliamentary Aerospace Group, Chairman of the 92 Group of Conservative MPs, and an active member of the all-party Kashmir group. He is also a regular contributor to the all party Photography group’s annual exhibition. He is President of the Air Display Association and in 2006 became a trustee of the Vulcan To the Sky project which is restoring to flying condition a Vulcan bomber. Apart from defence, he takes a keen interest in home affairs issues, family issues, the media and industry.

Julian Lewis MP – Julian Lewis is the Conservative MP for New Forest East and, since November 2002, the Shadow Defence Minister with responsibility for the Royal Navy. From September 2004 until May 2005 he served as the Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, undertaking special projects in the run-up to the General Election. He read Philosophy and Politics at Oxford before specialising in Strategic Studies. He was awarded his doctorate in 1981 and a book based on his research, Changing Direction: British Military Planning for Post-war Strategic Defence 1942–47, was published in 1988. A second edition, based on newly-declassified archives, was published by Frank Cass in March 2003. He is a graduate of the Leadership Institute.

Nigel Evans MP – Nigel Evans was elected as MP for Ribble Valley in 1991. In June 1997, he was appointed Opposition Front Bench Spokesman for Constitutional Affairs. In May 1999, he was appointed as Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party. He also heads the Conservative Party’s Information Technology Committee. He was appointed leader of the Conservative Party 2001 General Election Campaign in Wales. From 2001 to 2003, he was Shadow Secretary of State for Wales. From 2004 to 2005, he was Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party, with specific responsibility for overseeing Conservatives Abroad and mobilising the Conservative vote overseas.

Greg Hands MP – Greg Hands has been MP for Hammersmith and Fulham since 2005, when he delivered a 7.35% from Labour. In Parliament, Greg is a member of two Select Committees, the Select Committee for Communities and Local Government, probing the work of Government in these key areas, and the European Scrutiny Committee, examining the work of the European Union and its steady flow of legislation affecting Britain. In foreign affairs, Greg is a specialist in Germany, Russia, Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Greg is Treasurer of the All-Party Russia Group in Parliament.

Daniel Hannan MEP – Dan Hannan was first elected MEP for the South East region in 1999. He is a member of the Fisheries Committee. After being Chairman of Oxford University Conservative Association, Oxford Campaign for an Independent Britain and the National Association of Conservative Graduates, Daniel was Special Adviser to the Rt Hon Michael Howard MP from 1997 to 1998, and Director of the European Research Group from 1994 to 1999. He has been a leader-writer for The Daily Telegraph since 1996, and writes a column for the German newspaper Die Welt. Born in 1971, Daniel is married with two young children. His publications include “A Treaty Too Far”, “The Euro: Bad for Business”, “The case for EFTA” and “What if Britain votes No?”.

Nirj Deva DL MEP - Nirj Deva was first elected MEP for the South East region in 1999 after a distinguished career in the House of Commons as MP for Brentford & Isleworth. In the European Parliament, he is Conservative Spokesman on Development and Cooperation. He is a Member of the Development Committee and a substitute member on Regional Policy, Tourism and Transport. He was a Special Advisor for Ethnic Affairs to the Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP.

Roger Helmer MEP – Roger Helmer was first elected to the European parliament in 1999, and has been kept very busy ever since representing the interests of his 4.1 million constituents from in the East Midlands.  In June 2004 he was re-elected for a second term, and currently sits on three committees: Unemployment, Petitions and the Temporary Committee on the CIA and Extraordinary Rendition. He has earned a reputation – and even the grudging respect of political opponents – for his clear, consistent and forthright approach to the question of Britain’s relationship with the EU.

Chris Heaton-Harris MEP – Chris Heaton-Harris is the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Daventry. Chris was first elected MEP for the East Midlands in June 1999. Chris is currently Spokesman on the Culture, Education and Sport Committee. Previously he was the Conservative spokesman on the Budgetary Control Committee, and was responsible for bringing the case of Marta Andreasen, the European Commission’s Chief Accountant, to public attention back in August 2002 and has been at the forefront of fighting fraud, mismanagement and waste within the European Commission and other European Institutions. He was the Chief Whip for the Conservatives in the European Parliament from 2001 to March 2004. He is a founder member of the “Campaign for Parliamentary Reform”, set up by nine younger MEPs in 2001 to attack the waste and bureaucracy within the European Parliament itself.