Adrian Sanders | |
---|---|
Liberal Democrat Deputy Chief Whip | |
In office 10 March 2006 –1 June 2010 Servingwith Jenny Willott (2006-2007) | |
Succeeded by | Don Foster as Government Deputy Chief Whip |
Shadow Spokesperson for Communities and Local Government | |
In office 1 June 2001 –1 June 2002 | |
Opposition Whip | |
In office 1 May 1997 –1 June 2001 | |
Shadow Spokesperson for Environment,Food,Rural Affairs,Communities and Local Government | |
In office 1 May 1997 –1 June 2001 | |
Member of Parliament for Torbay | |
In office 1 May 1997 –30 March 2015 | |
Preceded by | Rupert Allason |
Succeeded by | Kevin Foster |
Personal details | |
Born | Paignton,Devon,England | 25 April 1959
Political party | Liberal Democrats |
Spouse | Alison Sanders [1] |
Residence | Torbay |
Profession | Politician |
Website | Adrian Sanders MP |
Adrian Mark Sanders (born 25 April 1959) is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Torbay in Devon from 1997 until his defeat in the 2015 general election.
Sanders is the son of the late John and Helen Sanders,an insurance official and nurse respectively. He went to primary schools in Paignton and Torquay then Torquay Boys' Grammar School. He worked briefly in a timber yard,then in the insurance industry for seven years,and then had a short spell of unemployment before finding work in the political arena.
Sanders joined the Liberal Party in 1979 and in 1985 was elected Vice President of the National League of Young Liberals. He was a Torbay Borough councillor 1984–86. From 1986 to 1989 he lived in Hebden Bridge,West Yorkshire,working for the Association of Liberal Democrat Councilors [2] before moving back to Paignton in 1990.
During 1992-93 Sanders worked in the office of Paddy Ashdown,the leader of the Liberal Democrats,and organised the 'Beyond Westminster' Tour. He then moved to become a policy officer at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (1993–94) and then the Southern Association of Voluntary Action Groups for Europe. [3]
Sanders stood unsuccessfully for the seat of Torbay 1992 general election,reducing the Conservative majority from 8,820 to 5,787. In the 1994 European Election,he unsuccessfully stood for the Devon and East Plymouth constituency,the loss was partly blamed on one of the candidates,Richard Huggett,standing with the description 'Literal' Democrat. [4]
At the 1997 general election Sanders stood in Torbay,successfully,defeating the Conservative incumbent Rupert Allason by 12 votes. At the 2001 general election,his majority was 6,708;at the 2005 general election,it was 2,029 and it was 4,078 at the 2010 general election. [5]
Following the 2001 election,Sanders was made the Liberal Democrat spokesman for tourism,and was subsequently moved to the position of Deputy Chief Whip of the Party in Parliament. [6] In the 2006 leadership contest Sanders nominated Menzies Campbell. In the December 2007 leadership election Sanders remained neutral by not publicly backing any candidate,citing his position as Deputy Chief Whip. He wrote afterwards that he had voted for Chris Huhne. [7]
Sanders was awarded the Diabetes UK 75th Anniversary Award at a ceremony in the House of Commons on Wednesday 21 January 2009. In July 2010,he received the League Against Cruel Sports’Parliamentarian of the Year Award. [8]
In April 2009,Sanders appeared in The Sunday Telegraph list of best value MPs. At the height of the expenses scandal,he opened his complete 'unredacted' expenses file to his local newspaper,the Herald Express.
In October 2011,he voted for a backbench motion to hold a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union,along with 110 other MPs in the House of Commons. He was the only Liberal Democrat MP to do so. Sanders said he was also probably the only supporter of the EU to do so,but believed it was "a liberal principle to trust the people" [9]
In May 2012,Sanders was the one Liberal Democrat on the Commons culture,media and sport select committee on phone hacking [10] and provided the swing vote on the release of a report. Sanders joined with the five Labour committee members and against the four Conservative members to support the report which said in part that Rupert Murdoch was "'not fit' to run an international company". [11]
In March 2015,Queen guitarist Brian May launched the "Common Decency" campaign,naming Sanders alongside six other candidates,saying:"We think you’re decent people,we think you represent your constituents and your conscience so we’re going to tell our people to try and cluster round and give you support." [12]
At the 2015 general election,Sanders lost his seat to the Conservative Party candidate Kevin Foster by a majority of 3,286. [13] [14]
On 5 November 2015,Sanders was elected as the Liberal Democrat councillor for the Clifton-with-Maidenway ward of Paignton,taking almost 70 per cent of the vote. [15]
Sanders is married to Alison and lives in Paignton. He has had Type 1 diabetes since 1990 and campaigns on issues relating to diabetes. He is a fan of rock music,and occasionally presents a rock show on local radio station Palm 105.5. He is also a supporter of Torquay United.
Torbay is unitary authority with a borough status in the ceremonial county of Devon,England. It is governed by Torbay Council,based in the town of Torquay,and also includes the towns of Paignton and Brixham. The borough consists of 24.27 sq mi (62.9 km2) of land around the east-facing Tor Bay,part of Lyme Bay on the English Channel. A popular tourist destination,Torbay's sandy beaches,mild climate and recreational and leisure attractions have given rise to its nickname of the English Riviera. The neighbouring districts are South Hams and Teignbridge.
Paignton is a seaside town on the coast of Tor Bay in Devon,England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the borough of Torbay which was created in 1968. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the English Riviera. Paignton has origins as a Celtic settlement and was first mentioned in 1086. It grew as a small fishing village and a new harbour was built in 1847. A railway line was opened to passengers in 1859 creating links to Torquay and London. As its population increased,it merged with the villages of Goodrington and Preston. Paignton is around 25 miles (40 km) north east of Plymouth and 20 miles (32 km) south of Exeter.
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Torbay is a constituency in Devon represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Kevin Foster,a Conservative. He defeated Adrian Sanders of the Liberal Democrats,who had held the seat since 1997.
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Nicholas David Bye,commonly known as Nick Bye,is a Conservative local politician in England. Bye was born in Paignton,Devon and graduated from Oxford University. He was Liberal candidate for Torbay in the 1987 election.
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Torquay was a county constituency in Devon,South West England,which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Devon and East Plymouth was a European Parliament constituency covering all of Devon in England,with the exception of the city of Plymouth. It was created in 1994 to replace the majority of Devon and a small part of Cornwall and Plymouth.
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Michael Bruce Crockart is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh West from 2010 to 2015.
Kevin John Foster is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Torbay since 2015. He served as Minister of State for Transport from September 2022 until October 2022. Foster served under Home Secretary Priti Patel as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safe and Legal Migration from 2019 until September 2022.
On 20 October 2016,a by-election was held in the UK parliamentary constituency of Witney. It took place on the same day as the Batley and Spen by-election. They were the fifth and sixth by-elections of the 56th UK Parliament.
The issue of misleading descriptions came to public attention in 1994 when Richard Huggett stood as the Literal Democrat candidate in the European Parliament elections in the constituency of Devon and East Plymouth