Geoffrey Clifton-Brown

Infobox MP
honorific-prefix =
name = Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
honorific-suffix =

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caption =
constituency_MP = Cotswold
Cirencester and Tewkesbury (1992-1997)
parliament =
term_start = 9 April 1992
term_end =
majority = 9,688 (20.5%)
predecessor = Nicholas Ridley
successor =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1953|03|23|df=yes
birth_place = Cambridge
death_date =
death_place =
nationality = British
spouse = Alexandra Peto-Shepherd
party = Conservative
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater = Royal Agricultural College
occupation =
profession =
religion =


website =
footnotes =

Geoffrey Robert Clifton-Brown (born March 23, 1953) British politician and farmer. He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for the Cotswold constituency.

Early life

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown was born in Cambridge and was educated at Tormore School, in Upper Deal, Kent and Eton College before attending the Royal Agricultural College where he qualified as a chartered surveyor in 1975. He began his career as a graduate estate surveyor at the Property Services Agency in Dorchester in 1975 and later in the year became an investment surveyor with Jones Lang Wootton (became [http://www.joneslanglasalle.co.uk Jones Lang LaSalle] in 1999). He has been the managing director of his own farming business since 1979. He became a Freeman of the City of London, which should come in handy should he wish to drive his sheep over London Bridge. He became the vice chairman of the Norfolk North Conservative Association in 1984, becoming its chairman 1986-1991.

Parliamentary career

He was selected to contest the safe Conservative parliamentary constituency of Cirencester and Tewkesbury following the retirement of the former Cabinet minister Nicholas Ridley. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown won the seat at the 1992 General Election with a majority of 16,058, and has remained an MP since. He made his maiden speech on June 12, 1992. [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199293/cmhansrd/1992-06-12/Debate-4.html] On his election, he became a member of the Environment Select Committee until 1995 when he was appointed the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Douglas Hogg. His constituency was abolished but he contested and won the newly drawn seat of Cotswold at the 1997 General Election, he returned to the backbenches whilst William Hague was the Leader of the Opposition, and returned under the leadership of Iain Duncan Smith became the shadow minister for Local and Devolved Government Affairs in 2002. Since the 2005 General Election he has been the Assistant Chief Whip. On the accession of David Cameron as Leader of the Conservative Party, he was appointed the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Investment.

Personal life

He is part of a Westminster dynasty going back to the 19th century and producing 7 MPs including two Speakers; Douglas Clifton Brown (1943-1951) and Harry Hylton-Foster (1959-1965) and incidentally, the speaker in between his two ancestors was William Morrison, who represented Cirencester and Tewkesbury - Geoffrey Clifton-Brown's original constituency. He enjoyed fox hunting and spoke passionately for its continuation. He owns thousands of acres in Norfolk, Gloucestershire and in Scotland. He married Alexandra Peto-Shepherd (daughter of Wing Commander Dennis Peto-Shepherd) in 1979 in Salisbury and they have a son, Edward (born September 1985) and a daughter, Jacqueline - who is known to be working as a modern foreign languages teacher in an all girls school in south east London. The marriage has subsequently been dissolved since 2004. He used to live in Moreton-in-Marsh.

External links

* [http://www.cliftonbrown.co.uk Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP] official site
* [http://www.epolitix.com/EN/MPWebsites/Geoffrey+Clifton-Brown/ ePolitix.com - Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP]
* [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-1003,00.html Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP]
* [http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/geoffrey_clifton-brown/cotswold TheyWorkForYou.com - Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP]
* [http://www.cotswoldconservatives.co.uk Cotswold Conservatives]
* [http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpn=Geoffrey_Clifton-Brown&mpc=Cotswold The Public Whip - Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP] voting record
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/162.stm BBC News - Geoffrey Clifton-Brown] profile 10 February, 2005

News items

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/3704591.stm Prisoners getting free dental treatment in May 2004]

Offices Held

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
title = Member of Parliament for Cirencester and Tewkesbury
years = 1992–1997
before = Nicholas Ridley
after = "Constituency Abolished"Incumbent succession box
title = Member of Parliament for The Cotswolds
start = 1997
before = "Constituency Created"