The subject of this article is standing for re-election to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom on 4 July, and has not been an incumbent MP since Parliament was dissolved on 30 May. Some parts of this article may be out of date during this period. |
Andrew Lewer | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament for Northampton South | |
In office 8 June 2017 –30 May 2024 | |
Preceded by | David Mackintosh |
Majority | 4,697 (11.5%) |
Member of the European Parliament for East Midlands | |
In office 1 July 2014 –8 June 2017 | |
Preceded by | Bill Newton Dunn |
Succeeded by | Rupert Matthews |
Leader of Derbyshire County Council | |
In office June 2009 –May 2013 | |
Preceded by | John Williams |
Succeeded by | Anne Western |
Member of Derbyshire County Council for Ashbourne | |
In office 5 May 2005 –7 May 2015 | |
Preceded by | R Caswell |
Succeeded by | Stephen Bull |
Personal details | |
Born | Burnley,Lancashire,England | 18 July 1971
Political party | Conservative |
Alma mater | Newcastle University |
Website | www.andrewlewer.com |
Andrew Iain Lewer [1] MBE (born 18 July 1971 in Burnley,Lancashire [2] ) is a British Conservative Party politician,who has been the Member of Parliament for Northampton South since the 2017 general election. He has previously served as Member of the European Parliament for the East Midlands from 2014 to 2017. [3]
He is the Chairman of 7 All Party Parliamentary Groups,including Motor Neurone Disease, [4] Venezuela, [5] Independent Education, [6] Devolution, [7] Publishing, [8] SME Housebuilders, [9] and the Private Rented Sector. [10] He is also a member of the Levelling Up,Housing and Communities Select Committee,as well as the Education Select Committee. [11] [12]
Lewer was born 18 July 1971 in Burnley,Lancashire. He attended Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Ashbourne,Derbyshire,before studying history at Newcastle University. [13] He then entered into a career in publishing. [14]
Living in Derbyshire,Lewer was elected as a Conservative Party Councillor to Derbyshire Dales District Council for the Ashbourne South ward in 2003 and then to Derbyshire County Council for the Ashbourne division in 2005. He became Group Leader in 2007. [15] The Conservatives took control of Derbyshire County Council in 2009,making Lewer the youngest county council leader in the country at the time. As Leader of the County Council,he also became Chairman of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site committee,the founding Chairman of the Health and Wellbeing Board and a founding director of the Local Enterprise Partnership for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. [16]
Although he was re-elected as a councillor,in the 2013 elections Labour regained control of Derbyshire County Council and Lewer lost his position as Council Leader. [17] He was awarded an MBE for services to local government in 2014. [18] At the conclusion of his four-year term of office as Leader of Derbyshire County Council,Andrew Lewer became vice-president of the Local Government Association (LGA),a position he retains to this day. [19]
Lewer was elected to the European Parliament representing the East Midlands in 2014,replacing the former Conservative MEP Roger Helmer,who had defected to UKIP. Lewer was appointed to the Regional Development Committee and the Culture Committee as spokesperson for the European Conservative and Reformists Group in 2014. [20] He supported Brexit,as he felt that David Cameron had failed to gain any meaningful concessions from his European counterparts. [21]
In May 2017,Lewer was selected to run as the new Conservative Party candidate for the Northampton South parliamentary constituency after the sitting Conservative MP David Mackintosh stood down. Although not from Northampton,Lewer represented Northamptonshire within his East Midlands region as an MEP. [22]
Lewer was subsequently elected Member of Parliament for Northampton South in the 2017 general election. [23] He won with 46.9% of the vote and a majority of 1,159. [24] Following his election win,he stood down as an MEP and was replaced by former author Rupert Matthews.
In February 2018,following the announcement that Northamptonshire County Council had brought in a section 114 notice,putting it in special measures following a crisis in its finances,Lewer was one of seven local MPs who released a statement expressing 'no confidence' in the council's leadership. [25] In August 2018,Lewer broke ranks with the other MPs and said that while mismanagement had fuelled the Northamptonshire crisis,the council was also a victim of underlying financial pressures affecting all local authorities with social care responsibilities. [26]
In March 2018,Lewer was criticised by local campaigners over cuts to library services in Northampton. Lewer responded that he had been far from silent on the issue and that he had been a long-standing critic of the leadership of the council. [27]
In Parliament,he served on the European Scrutiny Committee and the Housing,Communities and Local Government Committee,during his first mandate. [28]
During the meaningful vote period,Lewer voted against the government twice before voting for it a third time when faced with Theresa May reneging on her commitment to take the UK out of the EU on 29 March 2019. [29] During the subsequent leadership election,Lewer supported Esther McVey and then Boris Johnson. [30] [31]
At the 2019 general election,Lewer was re-elected with an increased vote share of 51.2% and an increased majority of 4,697. [32] Following the election,Lewer was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Home Office,having previously served after Boris Johnson was elected as PPS to the Northern Ireland Office,the Wales Office and the Scotland Office.
Following an interim report on the connections between colonialism and properties now in the care of the National Trust,including links with historic slavery,Lewer was among the signatories of a letter to The Telegraph in November 2020 from the "Common Sense Group" of Conservative Parliamentarians. The letter accused the National Trust of being "coloured by cultural Marxist dogma,colloquially known as the 'woke agenda'". [33]
In December 2020 Lewer was fired from his PPS post for supposedly leaking information to the press,although no evidence linking Lewer to the leak was produced. [34] [35] He said at the time "in nearly 20 years of elected office I have never leaked to the press". [36] Six weeks later,he was re-elected as a Member of the Levelling Up,Housing and Communities Select Committee. [37]
In January 2021 Lewer wrote an open letter to the Northamptonshire Chief Constable asking that the Police do not focus on 'soft targets' for Covid fines. [38]
In November 2021,as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Motor Neurone Disease,Lewer welcomed the fulfilment of the Group's 'United to End MND' campaign with the Government's commitment of £50 million towards the establishment of a Motor Neurone Disease Research Institute. [39]
In December 2021 Lewer backed the campaign to build a monument to commemorate the efforts of the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit,a former pilot of which,George Pritchard,lives in his Northampton South constituency. [40]
During the July 2022 Conservative Party leadership election,Lewer helped form the campaign team of Kemi Badenoch. [41]
In October 2022,Andrew Lewer was elected unopposed to the Education Select Committee. [42] Since his appointment he has questioned Secretary of State Rt Hon Gillian Keegan MP about her lack of support for new grammar schools but supported her defence of not levying VAT on independent school fees. [43]
Lewer led a Westminster Hall debate on 10 May 2023 on small and medium sized housebuilders,highlighting the reduction of their number in the last fifteen years. On 21 February 2024,he led a Westminster Hall debate opposing Labour proposals to levy VAT on independent schools,highlighting the risk to special schools in particular. [44] [45]
In December 2023 Lewer authored a report for the Centre for Policy Studies "Choices for Children" where he described the benefits of boarding schools for some children in local authority care. [46]
Lewer is married and has a young son. He is an honorary Alderman of the county of Derbyshire,where he was based before being elected as an MP. [47] He is the only person in the UK to have served as a Council Leader,MEP and MP. [48]
Sir Peter James Bottomley is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1975,and who currently represents Worthing West. First elected at a by-election in the former constituency of Woolwich West,he served as its MP until its abolition at the 1983 general election,and then for the Eltham constituency which replaced it,until 1997. He moved to his current constituency at the 1997 general election.
Clive James Charles Betts is a British Labour Party politician and former economist. He has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield South East since 2010. He was previously MP for Sheffield Attercliffe from 1992 to 2010.
Laurence Anthony Robertson is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tewkesbury since 1997. A member of the Conservative Party,he chaired the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee for seven years,from 2010 to 2017.
Northampton South is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Andrew Lewer,a Conservative.
East Midlands was a constituency of the European Parliament in the United Kingdom,established in 1999 with six members to replace single-member constituencies. Between 2009 and the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU on 31 January 2020 it returned five MEPs,elected using the D'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.
David John Barrington Burrowes is a British politician. He was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate from 2005 to 2017,is the co-founder of the Conservative Christian Fellowship. He has been the Chairman of the Equity Release Council since 2017
Brian Arthur Roland Binley was a British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Northampton South from 2005 to 2015.
The Conservative A-List,also called Priority List,was a list of United Kingdom candidates drawn up by Conservative Central Office at the behest of David Cameron following his election as party leader in December 2005,aimed as a means of broadening the number of Conservative Members of Parliament,potential peers and MEPs from minority groups and women as well as other preferred candidates for candidature. Where the preferred forums for selection were held,at least two members from the list were put to every open primary,and where these were not held the A-list were recommended directly,particularly to the top target seats.
Paul Christopher Blomfield is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Central from 2010 to 2024. A member of the Labour Party,he was a Shadow Minister for Exiting the European Union from 2016 to 2020 and Shadow Minister for Brexit and European Union Negotiations from 2020 to 2021.
Stephen Anthony McPartland is a British Conservative Party politician and business consultant. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stevenage from 2010 to 2024,briefly serving as a minister in 2022.
Andrew James Griffiths is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Burton from 2010 to 2019. A member of the Conservative Party,he was succeeded by his estranged wife,Kate Griffiths.
Mark Robert Timothy Garnier is a British Conservative Party politician and former banker. He was first elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wyre Forest at the 2010 general election. He was a junior minister at the Department for International Trade from July 2016 to January 2018.
Gareth Alan Johnson is a British Conservative politician and former lawyer who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dartford since 2010. He has served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Courts from September to October 2022. He previously served as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury from February to September 2022 and Assistant Government Whip from 2018 to 2019 and 2021 to 2022.
Sir Michael Tyrone Ellis is a British politician and barrister who served as Attorney General for England and Wales between September and October 2022,having previously served in the position from March to September 2021 during the maternity leave of Suella Braverman. A member of the Conservative Party,he previously served as Paymaster General from 2021 to 2022 and as Minister for the Cabinet Office from February to September 2022. Ellis served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Northampton North from 2010 to 2024.
John Philip Glen is a British politician and former management consultant who has served as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General since November 2023. A member of the Conservative Party,he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Salisbury in Wiltshire since 2010. Glen was formerly Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Arts,Heritage and Tourism from 2017 to 2018;Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister from January 2018 to July 2022;and Chief Secretary to the Treasury from October 2022 until November 2023.
Huw William Merriman is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bexhill and Battle in East Sussex from 2015 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party,he has served as Minister of State for Rail and HS2 since October 2022. He previously chaired the Transport Select Committee between January 2020 and October 2022. Prior to his parliamentary career,Merriman was a barrister and a local councillor.
David James Mackintosh is a British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Northampton South from the May 2015 general election to the 2017 general election. Prior to his election to Parliament,he worked as a political consultant in the European Parliament and the Conservatives before being elected to the County and Borough councils,rising to become Leader of Northampton Borough Council in 2011.
Mary Josephine Robinson is a British Conservative politician. She was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cheadle at the 2015 general election.
Sarah Elizabeth Dines is a British Conservative Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Derbyshire Dales since 2019. She served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding from October 2022 to November 2023. She served as Lord Commissioner of the Treasury from September to October 2022.
David Timothy Simmonds is a British Conservative politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ruislip,Northwood and Pinner since 2019. Simmonds was formerly a councillor on Hillingdon London Borough Council,having served from 1998 to 2022.
{{cite press release}}
: CS1 maint: others (link)