Gary Streeter

Last updated

Janet Stevens
​
(m. 1978)​
Sir
Gary Streeter
Official portrait of Sir Gary Streeter MP crop 2.jpg
Official portrait, 2020
Shadow Secretary of State
for International Development
In office
1 June 1998 –18 September 2001
Children2
Alma mater King's College London
ProfessionSolicitor
Website garystreeter.co.uk

Sir Gary Nicholas Streeter (born 2 October 1955) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for over 30 years, representing South West Devon from 1997 to 2024, and previously holding the nearby seat of Plymouth Sutton between 1992 and 1997. During the Fifty-fifth Parliament, Streeter had been the longest-serving MP representing a constituency in the county of Devon.

Contents

Early life

Streeter attended Tiverton Grammar School, Tiverton, Devon, where he was head boy from 1972 to 1973, then King's College London, where he gained a first-class honours law degree. From 1984 to 1998, he was a solicitor and partner at Foot and Bowden (now called Foot Anstey) in Plymouth, where he specialised in company and employment law. In 1998 Streeter was fined £1,000 by the Law Society for conduct unbecoming a solicitor due to a conflict of interest when dealing with a business merger in 1991 while with Foot Bowden Limited. [1]

Streeter's initial political experience was as a councillor on Plymouth City Council, where he represented Mount Gould ward from 1986 to 1992. Having been elected to serve as a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), in January 1988 he defected to the Conservative Party. [2] Reflecting on his career in an interview with the Plymouth Evening Herald years later, Streeter attributed his initial party allegiance to the influence of David Owen, then SDP leader and MP for Plymouth Devonport, but explained that by 1988 he had come to "believe strongly in individual responsibility, in the family, the nation, enterprise. I thought to myself 'I am a natural Conservative, what am I doing in the SDP?' So I crossed over." [2]

Parliamentary career

Streeter served as a junior minister in the Lord Chancellor's Department under Prime Minister John Major from 1996 until the defeat of the Major Government in 1997, and was Shadow Secretary of State for International Development in the Shadow Cabinet of William Hague [3] from 1998 until the new Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith returned him to the backbenches in 2001.

He is currently a member of the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission and is the member of the committee responsible for answering oral questions in Parliament on behalf of the Electoral Commission. He assumed the role after Sir Peter Viggers stepped down during the MPs' expenses scandal. His own expenses for 2008/09 were £162,719, ranking 158th out of 647 MPs.

In March 2012, Streeter was one of three MPs who signed a letter to the Advertising Standards Authority asking it to reverse its decision to stop the Christian group "Healing on the Streets of Bath" from making explicit claims that prayer can heal. The letter called for the ASA to provide "indisputable scientific evidence" that faith healing did not work. Another signer, Tim Farron of the Liberal Democrats, later wrote that the letter was not "well-worded" and that he should not have signed it "as it was written". [4]

In 2013, Streeter referred to the "familiar glint in the swivelled eyes of the purists" within his own party in an article attacking the divisions caused by those activists who were calling for a referendum on EU membership. [5] The remark followed allegations that senior members of the government had characterised Eurosceptic activists as "swivel-eyed loons". Streeter argued that the result of party infighting over the issue would be "a Labour-led government bend[ing] the knee to Brussels". [5]

Streeter was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum. [6] In November 2018, Streeter announced his support for Theresa May's Brexit agreement. [7]

In December 2018, it was announced that Streeter would receive a knighthood in the 2019 New Year Honours List. [8] Streeter told the Press Association that he hoped his honour reflected, in part, his work over the past decade as chairman of the all-party group on Christians in Parliament and supporting new MPs once they had arrived at Westminster. [9]

Streeter was a supporter of Esther McVey during the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election and one of the proposers of her nomination. McVey was eliminated in the first round of voting. In later rounds he backed Sajid Javid, who was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer by eventual victor Boris Johnson later that year. [10]

Streeter was reelected at the 2019 general election with an increased majority. He briefly acted as Second Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means at the start of the 2019 Parliament. On 2 February 2022, Streeter announced that he had submitted a letter to the chairman of the 1922 committee, seeking a motion of no confidence in the prime minister, Boris Johnson, stating that "I cannot reconcile the pain and sacrifice of the vast majority of the British Public during lockdown with the attitude and activities of those working in Downing Street". [11] [12]

Following the resignation of Boris Johnson in July 2022, Streeter announced his support for Rishi Sunak in the subsequent July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election. [13] He became the seventh MP to publicly call for the resignation of Prime Minister Liz Truss on 20 October. [14]

On 25 November 2022, he announced that he would not seek re-election at the 2024 general election. [15] [16]

Personal life

Streeter married Janet Stevens in 1978 in Barnstaple; the couple have a son and daughter, live near Plympton in Devon. He is a committed Christian. [17]

In the 2015 election, his son Gareth was the Conservative candidate for Rother Valley in South Yorkshire. He polled third, behind incumbent Sir Kevin Barron and Cllr Cowles of UKIP. [18] In 2023, Gareth Streeter was selected prospective parliamentary candidate for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport for the 2024 general election. [19] [20]

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References

  1. ↑ "UK Shadow cabinet member fined £1,000".
  2. 1 2 'MP who followed God's call prays voters have faith in Tories', Evening Herald, 24 November 2004. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  3. ↑ Hamilton, Chris (20 March 2001). "Gary Streeter: Development spokesman". BBC News Online . Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  4. ↑ "Tim Farron: 'Prayer can heal' letter was a mistake". Huffington Post UK . 29 March 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  5. 1 2 Wright, Oliver (21 May 2013). "Jeremy Paxman reveals he has heard senior Tories calling activists 'swivel-eyed loons'". The Independent . Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  6. ↑ Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 2 May 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  7. ↑ Premier (15 November 2018). "Christian MPs react to Theresa May's Brexit plans". Premier. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  8. ↑ "No. 62507". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 2018. p. N2.
  9. ↑ "Redwood knighted for service to politics". BBC News. 28 December 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  10. ↑ Hope, Christopher; Mikhailova, Anna (17 June 2019). "Tory leadership latest news: Rivals face MPs for final hustings ahead of second round of votes". The Telegraph. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  11. ↑ Simons, Ned (2 February 2022). "Tory Grandee Submits Letter Of No Confidence In Boris Johnson". Huffington Post . Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  12. ↑ Penna, Dominic (2 February 2022). "Boris Johnson latest news: Gary Streeter becomes third Tory MP to submit letter of no confidence today". The Telegraph . Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  13. ↑ House, Coffee. "Who's backing who? Mordaunt takes second | The Spectator". www.spectator.co.uk. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  14. ↑ Robertson, Kirsten (20 October 2022). "Tory MP Crispin Blunt calls on Liz Truss to resign 'today'". Metro. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  15. ↑ "Sir Gary Streeter will not stand in next general election". BBC News. 25 November 2022. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  16. ↑ "Conservative MPs Dehenna Davison and Sir Gary Streeter to step down at next election". Sky News. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  17. ↑ Robbins, Martin (26 March 2012). "Hapless MPs defend faith healers". The Guardian . Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  18. ↑ "Rother Valley (Constituency) 2015 results". UK Parliament.
  19. ↑ Atkinson, William (24 April 2023). "Streeter selected as parliamentary spokesman for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport". Conservative Home. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  20. ↑ Churm, Philip (26 April 2023). "Tories announce potential candidate taking on Luke Pollard". PlymouthLive. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Plymouth Sutton
1992–1997 		Succeeded by
New constituency Member of Parliament
for South West Devon
1997–2024 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Shadow Secretary of State
for International Development
1998–2001		Succeeded by
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