Adrian Sanders

Last updated

Adrian Sanders
AdrianSandersMP 2009.jpg
Sanders in 2009
Liberal Democrat Deputy Chief Whip
In office
10 March 2006 1 June 2010
Servingwith Jenny Willott (2006-2007)

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.

Political career

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]

Personal life

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.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torquay</span> Town in Devon, England

Torquay is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies 18 miles (29 km) south of the county town of Exeter and 28 miles (45 km) east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignton on the west of the bay and across from the fishing port of Brixham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paignton</span> Seaside town in Devon, England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin Breed</span> British Liberal Democrat politician (1947–2024)

Colin Edward Breed was a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South East Cornwall from 1997 until he stood down at the 2010 general election. He was also member of the parliamentary party's Treasury team.

Richard John Huggett is a British former teacher who has been a candidate in a number of elections, using descriptions which were similar to those of established political parties, leading to this practice being outlawed under the Registration of Political Parties Act 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Totnes (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1997 onwards

Totnes was a parliamentary constituency in Devon represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winchester (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1918 onwards

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torbay (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1974 onwards

Torbay is a constituency in Devon represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Steve Darling, a Liberal Democrat. He defeated Kevin Foster of the Conservative Party, who had held the seat since 2015.

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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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newton Abbot (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliament constituency in the United Kingdom, 2010 onwards

Newton Abbot is a constituency in Devon represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Martin Wrigley of the Liberal Democrats. It was previously represented since its 2010 creation by Anne Marie Morris, a Conservative.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Devon and East Plymouth (European Parliament constituency)</span> Former European Parliament constituency

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Williams (Torquay MP)</span> English politician

Charles Williams was a Conservative Party politician in England. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for constituencies in Devon from 1918 to 1922, and from 1924 to 1955.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Wollaston</span> British Liberal Democrat politician

Sarah Wollaston is a British former Liberal Democrat politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Totnes from 2010 to 2019. First elected for the Conservative Party, she later served as a Change UK and Liberal Democrat MP. She was chair of the Health Select Committee from 2014 to 2019 and chair of the Liaison Committee from 2017 to 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Marie Morris</span> British Conservative politician

Anne Marie Morris is a former British Conservative politician and lawyer, who represented Newton Abbot as a Member of Parliament (MP) between May 2010 and May 2024. During her 14 year term in office, she twice lost the party whip for a period of nine months between July and December 2017, and then again between January and May 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Foster (politician)</span> British Conservative politician

Kevin John Foster is a British Conservative Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Torbay from 2015 to 2024. 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.

Stephen Matthew Darling is a British Liberal Democrat politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Torbay since 2024. He has been a member of Torbay Council since 1995 and was the leader of the council from 2019 to 2023. Darling is registered blind and has a guide dog named Jennie.

References

  1. The Register of Members' Financial Interests: Part 2 As at 24 January 2011 UK Parliament
  2. Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors
  3. Savage Europe Archived 17 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Research Paper, The Registration of Political Parties, Bill 188 of 1997-1998" (PDF). UK Parliament. 1 June 1998. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 November 2006. 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
  5. "Election 2010 - Torbay". BBC News. 7 May 2010. Archived from the original on 27 April 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  6. "Mr Adrian Sanders". Parliament UK. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  7. How I Voted Adrian Sanders Blog, Myspace, 19 December 2007
  8. West Country MP wins animal welfare award Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine League Against Cruel Sports, 3 July 2010
  9. Sanders, Adrian (26 October 2011). "EU referendum: I believe in Europe – which is why I rebelled". Guardian. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  10. "Phone hacking report: see how the select committee voted on each amendment", The Guardian Datablog, 1 May 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  11. Fenton, Ben, and Jim Pickard, "Clegg backs MPs’ criticism of Murdoch", Financial Times, 2 May 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  12. "Brian May Is On A Mission To Save British Democracy" . Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  13. "Torbay Parliamentary constituency". BBC. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  14. "General Election 2015: Tories oust Devon Lib Dems". BBC. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  15. "Adrian Sanders, former Lib Dem MP, elected to Torbay Council". BBC News. 5 November 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Torbay
19972015
Succeeded by