- Jacques Arnold
Jacques Arnold (born
27 August 1947 ) is a politician in theUnited Kingdom . He was Conservative Partymember of Parliament for Gravesham inKent from 1987, when he succeeded Tim Brinton, until he lost his seat in the landslide 1997 election. He is now a consultant and lecturer onLatin America n Affairs, and is the author of two book series on political and genealogical subjects.Unlike many of his fellow former Tory MPs, he refought the seat at the 2001 election - only to come second place to Labour's
Chris Pond . The Tories regained the seat in 2005 withAdam Holloway becoming the MP, the first time since the 1951 that the seat had not been held by the winning party.Biography
Jacques Arnold was educated at schools in
Brazil , before returning toEngland in 1968, to attend theLondon School of Economics , where he attained a B.Sc.(Econ)(Hons.) During that period he was Chairman of LSE Conservatives, the student society.Career
Jacques Arnold started his career with Hill Samuel & Co., merchant bankers, in the
City of London .Between 1976 and 1978 he lived in
São Paulo , where he established the Representative Office ofMidland Bank Limited, serving as the Deputy Representative.Returning to Britain, he was from 1978 to 1983 he was Regional Director of
Thomas Cook Bankers, with responsibilities forLatin America , Iberia andAfrica , setting up new operations inSão Paulo ,Buenos Aires ,Mexico City andCaracas , and running large established businesses inSpain ,Portugal ,South Africa ,Nigeria andLibya . He was then successively Assistant Trade Finance Director of Midland Bank, and a Director ofAmerican Express Europe Ltd.During that period he won the
Oundle division ofNorthamptonshire County Council, and served as County Councillor from 1981 to 1985. He was Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Coventry South East in 1983. He was Chairman of Hyde Park Tories, the Conservative team atSpeakers' Corner .He was a Parliamentary Private Secretary to
David Maclean , Minister of State for the Environment, and then at theHome Office , from 1992 to 1995. He was a Member of the Education and Treasury Select Committees. He was Chairman of the Conservative backbench committee on Constitutional Affairs, and Secretary of the Conservative backbench committee on Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs. He was a member of the executive committee of the British Group, Inter-Parliamentary Union. He also became Chairman of both theBrazil ian and Portuguese Parliamentary Groups, and Secretary of the British Latin American Parliamentary Group. He was an official parliamentary observer at the 1988Chile an plebiscite, and also for the first elections in bothAngola andMozambique . He addressed a committee of the Brazilian Congress inBrasilia during the constitutional crisis of 1992. He was a member of the Argentine British Conference, which brought the countries back together after theFalklands War . Since leaving the House of Commons he has been Adviser to a number of major companies with interests in Latin America, notablyBAE SYSTEMS , and FIRST Magazine. He also lectures on Latin America. He is the author of two series of books: “A History of Britain’s Parliamentary Constituencies”, and “The Royal Houses of Europe” a genealogical work.Jacques Arnold is married to Patricia, and they have a son and two daughters. He is a Grand Official of the Brazilian National Order of the Southern Cross.
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