- James Arbuthnot
Infobox MP
honorific-prefix =
name = James Arbuthnot
honorific-suffix = MP
office = Shadow Secretary of State for Trade
and ShadowSecretary of State for Work and Pensions
term_start =6 November 2003
term_end =6 May 2005
leader =Michael Howard
predecessor =David Willetts (Pensions)Tim Yeo (Trade)
successor =David Willetts (Trade)Malcolm Rifkind (Pensions)
constituency_MP2 = North East Hampshire
Wanstead and Woodford (1987-1997)
parliament2 =
term_start2 =11 June 1987
term_end2 =
majority2 = 12,549 (26.5%)
predecessor2 = Patrick Jenkin
successor2 =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1952|08|04|df=yes
birth_place = DealKent
death_date =
death_place =
nationality = British
spouse = Emma Broadbent
party = Conservative
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater =Trinity College, Cambridge
occupation =
profession =
religion =
website =
footnotes =James Norwich Arbuthnot (born
4 August 1952 ) is a British Conservative Party politician. He is theMember of Parliament for Hampshire North-East.Early life
Arbuthnot was born in
Deal, Kent , the son ofSir John Arbuthnot, 1st Baronet and Margaret Jean Duff. [http://www.thepeerage.com/p12487.htm#i124867 The Peerage.com - Rt. Hon. James Norwich Arbuthnot] ] He was educated at Wellesley House School inBroadstairs ,Eton College andTrinity College, Cambridge , where he obtained a law degree in 1974. [citeweb|title=James Arbuthnot MP profile|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/vote2001/candidates/candidates/2/29601.stm|work=BBC News|accessdate=2008-07-17|date=]Arbuthnot was called to the Bar by
Lincoln's Inn in 1975 and became a practisingbarrister . An active member of the Chelsea Conservative Association, he was elected as a councillor to theRoyal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in 1978 and remained a councillor until his election as a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1987. [citeweb|title=Rt Hon James Arbuthnot MP profile|url=http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=people.person.page&personID=4744|work=Conservative Party|accessdate=2008-07-17|date=] In 1980 he became the vice-chairman of the Chelsea Conservative Association.Arbuthnot contested the Cynon Valley seat, in the Labour heartland of industrial
South Wales , at the 1983 general election and was defeated byIoan Evans . A year later in 1984, Evans died and Arbuthnot fought the resulting by-election, but he was again defeated by the Labour candidate,Ann Clwyd .Member of Parliament
At the 1987 general election Arbuthnot was chosen to contest the safe Conservative seat of Wanstead and Woodford as the sitting MP,
Patrick Jenkin , was standing down. Arbuthnot held the seat, increasing the Conservative majority by over two thousand to 16,412. [ [http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/ge87/i20.htm University of Keele - Political Science Resources - UK General Election results June 1987] ]In 1988 he became the
Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) toArchie Hamilton at the Ministry of Defence, and in 1990 became the PPS to theSecretary of State for Trade and Industry ,Peter Lilley . He entered theJohn Major government after the 1992 general election when he was made an assistant government whip. He was promoted in 1994 as theParliamentary Under Secretary of State at theDepartment of Social Security . The following year he was promoted toMinister of State at the Ministry of Defence, where he remain until the end of the Major government in 1997.Arbuthnot's seat of Wanstead and Woodford was abolished at the 1997 general election, and he found a new seat in the form of Hampshire North East. In opposition, he was a member of
William Hague 's Shadow Cabinet as the Party's Chief Whip until the 2001 general election when he returned to the backbenches. He was made a Member of the Privy Council in 1998.Arbuthnot returned to the Shadow Cabinet under
Michael Howard as Shadow Trade Secretary in 2003, but stood down after the 2005 general election. Since the election he has served as the chairman of the influentialDefence Select Committee .Arbuthnot stated that one of his proudest parliamentary achievements was "organising an all-party meeting with the prime minister for the exoneration of the pilots of the Chinook that crashed on the
Mull of Kintyre in 1994."cite web | author= | title=Ask Aristotle: James Arbuthnot profile| work=The Guardian | url=http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-110,00.html| accessdate=2008-07-17]Arbuthnot is the current Parliamentary Chairman of the
Conservative Friends of Israel . [ [http://www.cfoi.co.uk/articles.aspx?cid=1 Conservative Friends of Israel - About Us] ]Personal life
He is a direct descendant from
James V of Scotland and isheir presumptive to the baronetcy currently held by his older brother, Sir William Arbuthnot. On6 September 1984 , he married Emma Broadbent, daughter ofMichael Broadbent , Wine Director of Christie's, and has one son and three daughters.Arbuthnot is described in the "Almanac of British Politics" as "an austere, desiccated man with a voiced likened to that of a speaking clock, but with a
patrician accent redolent of his party some decades ago" [cite web | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=x4L4aQM4IVMC&pg=PA430&lpg=PA430&dq=%22james+arbuthnot%22+clock&source=web&ots=N0hcMn51kH&sig=yta9QVaslPwJNXu4GtuI_Tef1wc |title=Almanac of British Politics|author= Byron Criddle|coauthors= Robert Waller|year= 2002|publisher= Routledge] [cite web
url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19960508/ai_n14044663|title=Comic duo way off target on question of devolution|accessdate=2008-07-17|author=David Aaronovitch |date=8 May 1996|year=1996|month=May|work=The Independent ] whilstSimon Hoggart described his smile as being "like winter sunshine upon a coffin lid".cite web | author=Rod Liddle | title=The most interesting thing about James Arbuthnot, MP | work=The Guardian | url=http://politics.guardian.co.uk/redbox/comment/0,,794210,00.html| accessdate=2008-07-17]References
External links
* [http://www.jamesarbuthnot.com/type1.asp?id=43&type=1 James Arbuthnot MP] official website
* [http://www.nehants-conservatives.org.uk/ North East Hampshire Conservative Association]
* [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-110,00.html Guardian Unlimited: Politics: Ask Aristotle - James Arbuthnot MP]
* [http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpn=James_Arbuthnot&mpc=North+East+Hampshire The Public Whip - James Arbuthnot MP] voting record
* [http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/james_arbuthnot/north_east_hampshire TheyWorkForYou.com - James Arbuthnot MP]
* [http://www.kittybrewster.com/members/l.htm Arbuthnot family tree]
*rayment-hc
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