- Derek Conway
-
Derek Conway Member of Parliament
for Old Bexley and SidcupIn office
7 June 2001 – 6 May 2010Preceded by Sir Edward Heath Succeeded by James Brokenshire Member of Parliament
for Shrewsbury and AtchamIn office
9 June 1983 – 1 May 1997Preceded by New constituency Succeeded by Paul Marsden Personal details Born 15 February 1953
Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, EnglandNationality British Political party Conservative Spouse(s) Colette Elizabeth Mary Lamb Children 2 sons, 1 daughter Alma mater Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic Derek Leslie Conway TD (born 15 February 1953) is an English politician and television presenter. A member of the centre-right Conservative Party, Conway served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Old Bexley and Sidcup from 2001 to 2010.
He announced that he would stand down in January 2008 after a Commons standards committee adjudged that he had employed his son Freddie, a full-time student at Newcastle University, as a political researcher using public funds, despite there being no record of his son doing any work at Westminster.[1] As a result, Conservative Party leader David Cameron withdrew the whip from Conway, effectively expelling him from the Parliamentary Conservative group. He received considerable criticism from the press concerning the misuse of funds.[2]
He is currently employed as a presenter of Epilogue, a book review programme on Press TV, an English-language international television news channel funded by the Iranian government.[3]
Contents
Early life
Conway was born in Gateshead and was educated at Beacon Hill Comprehensive School in the town, Gateshead Technical College, and Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic.
Conway was elected as a councillor on the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead council, aged 21, in 1974 and was the Deputy Conservative Group Leader from 1974 until his election to Westminster in 1983. He remained a councillor at Gateshead, however, until 1987.
In 1977, he was also elected to the Tyne and Wear County Council and was the Conservative group leader from 1979 until 1982, stepping down from the county council in 1983.
At the October 1974 General Election, he contested the parliamentary constituency of Durham, but was defeated by the sitting Labour MP Mark Hughes by 18,116 votes.
Conway contested Newcastle upon Tyne East at the 1979 General Election and was again defeated, this time by the Labour MP Mike Thomas by 6,176 votes.
Member of Parliament
Derek Conway was elected to parliament at the 1983 General Election for Shrewsbury and Atcham following the retirement of the long serving Conservative MP for Shrewsbury John Langford-Holt. Conway secured a majority of 8,624 and held the seat until he was defeated at the 1997 General Election.
He became a member of the Agriculture Select Committee in 1985, and after the 1987 General Election he joined the Transport Select Committee until 1988 when he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Minister of State at the Wales Office Wyn Roberts until 1991.
Following the 1992 General Election he became the PPS to Michael Forsyth the Minister of State at the Department for Employment. Conway was promoted to serve in government by John Major in 1993 as an Assistant Government Whip, becoming a Lord Commissioner to the Treasury a 'full whip' in 1994. He was again promoted within the Whips' Office when he became the Vice Chamberlain of HM Household in 1996.
1997 general election defeat and return
Conway lost his Shrewsbury and Atcham seat at the 1997 General Election to Labour's Paul Marsden by 1,670 votes. After his defeat he became the chief executive at the Cats Protection charity.
In his book titled The Political Animal, Jeremy Paxman recounts Conway's reflections on his defeat: "'Had it not been for James Goldsmith's intervention I'd have won. He died of pancreatic cancer,' he [Conway] says, and then adds in the most chilling tone, 'I hear it's the most painful of deaths. I'm so pleased.'"[4]
Conway was out of the Commons until the general election, 2001 when he was elected as the MP for the south London seat of Old Bexley and Sidcup previously held by the former Prime Minister and Father of the House of Commons, Edward Heath. Conway defended Heath against accusations of homosexual behaviour.[5]
He retained the seat with a majority of 3,345 in 2005. Since his re-election he has been a member of the Defence Select Committee. He is a Eurosceptic (even voting against the Single European Act that had the backing of Margaret Thatcher's government), and supports the return of capital punishment.
Investigation and withdrawal of whip
Conway employed his son Freddie as a part-time researcher, while Freddie was on a full-time degree course at the University of Newcastle. Conway paid his son the part-time equivalent of a £25,970 salary, amounting to a sum in excess of £40,000[6] over three years, including pension contributions.
Conway was reported to the Committee on Standards and Privileges by former Metropolitan Police Inspector Michael Barnbrook, who had stood against him in the 2005 General Election as a UKIP candidate.[7] After an investigation, in January 2008 the Committee found there was "no record" of what work Freddie had done, and said the £1,000-plus a month he was paid was too high.[8] They recommended that the House order him to repay a sum of £13,000 and that he be suspended for 10 sitting days.[9] However, in a subsequent interview with the Mail on Sunday, Derek Conway disputed the allegation that Freddie Conway had rarely travelled from Newcastle to Westminster, instead stating that Freddie "would go up and down like a fiddler's elbow".[10] In light of the evidence, Conservative party leader David Cameron decided to withdraw the Conservative Party Whip, rendering Conway free of any Parliamentary Conservative constraints, effectively leaving him as an independent MP.[11]
Conway announced on 30 January 2008 that he would not fight the next general election, stating "I have concluded that it's now time to step down." He declared that he did not wish his "personal circumstances to be a distraction" from David Cameron's leadership.
The ruling did not involve the elder son, Henry Conway, as he was not the subject of the original complaint, but John Lyon, who had recently taken on the post of Parliamentary commissioner for standards, received complaints about similar payments to Henry while he was also a student and doing the "job" which Freddie took over.[11] Lyon decided a complaint from Duncan Borrowman merited investigation. On 29 January 2009, almost a year after the previous report, a further report was published by the House of Commons Standards and Privileges Committee into the employment of Mr Conway's elder son Henry.[12] There was some evidence of Henry working for his salary, but his father was ordered to pay back £3,758 which had been overpaid and to write a letter of apology to the chairman of the committee.
On 2 February 2009, Conway apologised in the House of Commons. Mr Conway told the Commons he accepted "without any reservation" that he had breached the rules of the House. He withdrew comments made previously in which he accused Labour of using his story to deflect attention from the row over money paid to peers. [13]
In May 2009 as part of its Disclosure of expenses of British Members of Parliament, the Sunday Telegraph revealed that Conway had claimed the Second Home Allowance on a house in Northumberland 330 miles from his constituency.[14]
Personal life
Conway has been married to Colette Elizabeth Mary Lamb since 1980 and they have two sons and a daughter.
Conway was commissioned into the 6th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (Territorial Army) in 1977. He was promoted Lieutenant in 1979 and Captain in 1981. In 1982 he transferred to 5th Battalion, The Light Infantry. He was promoted Major in 1987, was awarded the Territorial Decoration in 1990 and transferred to the Reserve in 1994. He has also been an executive for Granada Television, a Sunday school teacher and a charity organiser for the National Fund for Research into Crippling Diseases (1974–1983) and the Cats Protection League (chief executive from 1998 to 2003). He is a Freeman of the City of London.
References
- ^ 'I'm no crook,' says suspended MP. BBC News. 3 February 2008
- ^ Gerard, Jasper (2008-01-31). "Derek Conway: What were you thinking?". London: Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml;jsessionid=SWCIELQ3XPWQVQFIQMGCFF4AVCBQUIV0?xml=/portal/2008/01/31/ftconway131.xml&DCMP=ILC-traffdrv07053100. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
- ^ *Epilogue, Press TV "Review of 'A Suitable Enemy' with Derek Conway", 2010.
- ^ Jeremy Paxman (2003) The Political Animal: An Anatomy '. Penguin. ISBN 0140288473.
- ^ "Ex-PM Heath 'gay warning' denied". BBC News. 2007-04-25. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6590919.stm. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
- ^ "Tory whip withdrawn from Conway". BBC News. 2008-01-29. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7214573.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
- ^ "Michael White's political blog: January 31". The Guardian (London). 2008-01-31. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2008/jan/31/michaelwhitespoliticalblog78. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
- ^ "Conduct of Derek Conway". House of Commons Standards and Privileges Committee. 2008-01-28. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmstnprv/280/28002.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
- ^ "Tory MP Conway faces suspension". BBC News. 2008-01-28. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7212990.stm. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
- ^ "'I'm no crook,' says suspended MP". BBC News. 2008-02-02. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7224538.stm. Retrieved 2008-02-02.
- ^ a b "Tory whip withdrawn from Conway". BBC News. 2008-01-29. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7214573.stm. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
- ^ "Conduct of Derek Conway". House of Commons Standards and Privileges Committee. 2009-01-29. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmstnprv/207/20702.htm. Retrieved 2009-01-29.
- ^ "MP Conway apologises for payments". BBC News. 2009-02-03. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7866267.stm. Retrieved 2009-02-03.
- ^ "MP family expense claims revealed". BBC News. 2009-05-24. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8065520.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
Books containing references to Derek Conway
"The Political Animal" (2002) by Jeremy Paxman, pub. Michael Joseph/Penguin Books; see Chapter 10 "Being History" pages 259-263 Quote "I miss the pressures. I love living on the edge".
External links
Political offices Preceded by
Andrew MacKayVice-Chamberlain of the Household
1996 – 1997Succeeded by
Janet AndersonParliament of the United Kingdom New constituency Member of Parliament for Shrewsbury and Atcham
1983–1997Succeeded by
Paul MarsdenPreceded by
Edward HeathMember of Parliament for Old Bexley and Sidcup
2001–2010Succeeded by
James BrokenshireCategories:- 1953 births
- Living people
- Alumni of Northumbria University
- Conservative Party (UK) MPs
- Councillors in Tyne and Wear
- Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies
- Royal Regiment of Fusiliers officers
- The Light Infantry officers
- UK MPs 1983–1987
- UK MPs 1987–1992
- UK MPs 1992–1997
- UK MPs 2001–2005
- UK MPs 2005–2010
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