Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds MP)

Last updated

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown

FRICS MP
Official portrait of Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP crop 2.jpg
Member of Parliament
for The Cotswolds (2010–)
Cotswold (1997-2010)
Cirencester and Tewkesbury (1992-1997)
Assumed office
9 April 1992
Preceded by Nicholas Ridley
Majority20,214 (33.0%)
Personal details
Born (1953-03-23) 23 March 1953 (age 68)
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England
Nationality British
Political party Conservative
Spouse(s)
Alexandra Peto-Shepherd
​
​
(m. 1979;div. 2004)​
ChildrenJacqueline, Edward, Robert
ResidenceGloucestershire
Alma mater Royal Agricultural College
OccupationMember of Parliament
ProfessionPolitician and Surveyor
Website cliftonbrown.co.uk

Sir Geoffrey Robert Clifton-Brown FRICS (born 23 March 1953) [1] is a British Conservative Party who is currently the Member of Parliament (MP) for The Cotswolds. He also serves as Vice-President of the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists and as Treasurer of the 1922 Committee.

Contents

Early career

Clifton-Brown, the son of Robert and Elizabeth Clifton-Brown and a descendant of James Clifton Brown, was born in Cambridge. He was educated at Tormore School, in Upper Deal, Kent and then Eton College, before attending the Royal Agricultural College where he qualified as a chartered surveyor in 1975. He began his career as a graduate estate surveyor at the Property Services Agency in Dorchester and, later in 1975, became an investment surveyor with Jones Lang Wootton. He became the vice chairman of the Norfolk North Conservative Association in 1984. He was elected as Constituency Chairman in 1986, a position he held until he resigned in 1991 in order to stand for election as a Conservative candidate.

Parliamentary career

During 1991, Clifton-Brown was selected as the candidate for the then Conservative parliamentary constituency of Cirencester and Tewkesbury, following the retirement of the former Cabinet minister Nicholas Ridley. He retained the seat at the 1992 general election, with a majority of 16,058, and made his maiden speech on 12 June 1992. [2]

When newly elected he became a member of the Environment Select Committee, where he remained until 1995. Clifton-Brown was then appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Douglas Hogg, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Later his constituency was abolished, but he contested and was elected for the newly drawn constituency of Cotswold at the 1997 general election and returned to Parliament as a backbencher, whilst William Hague was the Leader of the Opposition. After Iain Duncan Smith became leader of the Conservative Party, Clifton-Brown became the Shadow Minister for Local and Devolved Government Affairs in 2002. [3]

After the 2005 general election, he retained the seat of Cotswold and returned to Westminster as assistant Chief Conservative Whip. On the accession of David Cameron as Leader of the Conservative Party, he was appointed the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Investment. [3]

After the 2010 election and the formation of the subsequent Coalition Government, Clifton-Brown returned to the back benches, also making overseas visits in his role as Chairman of the Conservative Party's International Office. At this time he became the Parliamentary Chairman of the Conservative Friends of the Chinese. [3] In 2014, he received critical attention in the media following a visit to China paid for by the Chinese authorities. [4] In a 2015 interview with CNN, Clifton-Brown stated that his family has been doing business in China since the 1920s. [5] Clifton-Brown has remained engaged in dialogue with Chinese authorities. [6] [7]

During the United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal in 2009 Clifton-Brown switched his main residence from his house in the Cotswolds to a London flat. [8] [9] [10] The Cotswolds Conservative Party Association said that Clifton-Brown had acted within the rules. [11]

In 2018 he was honoured as a Knight Bachelor for political and public service. [12]

In 2019, Clifton-Brown was asked to leave the Conservative Party Conference being held in Manchester, after a dispute with security staff who prevented him from entering a meeting room with a guest who did not have a relevant identification pass. According to a BBC Online report, he later apologised and described the incident as a "minor verbal misunderstanding". [13]

Political heritage

Clifton-Brown is related to seven other previous members of Parliament, including Geoffrey Benedict Clifton-Brown, also Douglas Clifton Brown and Harry Hylton-Foster who both became Speaker of the House of Commons. Howard Clifton Brown was elected as member of Parliament on several occasions. [14]

Personal life

Clifton-Brown married Alexandra Peto-Shepherd in 1979. They have two sons Edward (35) and Robert (13) and one daughter, Jacqueline (37). They divorced in 2004. [15] He is now married to Kym Erlich. He has an interest in UK-China relations and is chair of the Conservative Friends of the Chinese. [16] He is a Freeman of the City of London. [17]

Related Research Articles

Alan Haselhurst, Baron Haselhurst British Conservative politician and life peer

Alan Gordon Barraclough Haselhurst, Baron Haselhurst, is a British Conservative politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Saffron Walden from 1977 to 2017, having previously represented Middleton and Prestwich from 1970 to 1974. Haselhurst was Chairman of Ways and Means from 14 May 1997 to 8 June 2010, and later Chairman of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association between 2011 and 2014. He was the oldest Conservative MP when he and stood down at the 2017 general election. In May 2018, he was appointed as a life peer, and currently sits in the House of Lords as Baron Haselhurst.

Peter Bottomley British politician

Sir Peter James Bottomley is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1975. He has represented the Worthing West constituency since 1997.

Henry Bellingham, Baron Bellingham

Henry Campbell Bellingham, Baron Bellingham, is a British Conservative politician who sits in the House of Lords and former barrister. He was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Norfolk in 1983. He lost his seat in 1997, but regained it in 2001 and retained it until standing down in 2019.

Graham Brady British Conservative politician

Sir Graham Stuart Brady is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Altrincham and Sale West since 1997. A member of the Conservative Party, Brady has served as Chairman of the 1922 Committee since 2020, and previously from 2010 to 2019.

Nigel Evans British politician

Nigel Martin Evans is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ribble Valley constituency in Lancashire since 1992. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Joint Executive Secretary of the 1922 Committee from 2017 to 2019. He served as First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means, one of the Speaker's three deputies, from 2010 to 2013. He was elected as Second Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means in 2020.

Richard Ottaway British Conservative politician

Sir Richard Geoffrey James Ottaway is a British Conservative politician and most recently, was the Member of Parliament for Croydon South from 1992 to 2015. He was previously MP for Nottingham North (1983–87).

James Gray (British politician) British politician

James Whiteside Gray, is a British politician who has been the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for North Wiltshire since 1997.

Eleanor Laing British Conservative politician

Dame Eleanor Fulton Laing, is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Epping Forest constituency since 1997. A member of the Conservative Party, she has served as Chairman of Ways and Means and Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons since 2020.

Anne McIntosh British Conservative politician

Anne Caroline Ballingall McIntosh, Baroness McIntosh of Pickering is a British Conservative Party politician and life peer.

Hugo Swire

Sir Hugo George William Swire is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Devon from 2001 until 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he has had several ministerial roles, most recently as Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, a role he held until July 2016. Swire is currently the Deputy Chairman of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council. He retired at the 2019 general election.

The Cotswolds (UK Parliament constituency) Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1997 onwards

The Cotswolds is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 1997 creation by Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, a Conservative.

James Duddridge British Conservative politician

James Philip Duddridge is a British Conservative politician and former banker who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rochford and Southend East since 2005.

Cirencester and Tewkesbury was a parliamentary constituency in Gloucestershire which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 1918 general election and abolished for the 1997 general election when it was partly replaced by the new constituencies of Cotswold and Tewkesbury.

Edgeworth, Gloucestershire Human settlement in England

Edgeworth is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Gloucestershire. It is located east of Stroud, west of Cirencester and south of Cheltenham.

Simon Hart British Conservative politician, Welsh Secretary

Simon Anthony Hart is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Wales since 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he was first elected in the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, defeating the previous Labour MP Nick Ainger who had represented the constituency and its predecessor since 1992. He was reelected in 2015, 2017 and 2019.

Gareth Johnson British Conservative politician, MP for Dartford

Gareth Alan Johnson is a British Conservative Party politician and former lawyer. He was first elected at the 2010 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dartford, winning the seat from Labour. He has been supportive of Leave Means Leave, a Eurosceptic pressure group.

Iain Stewart (politician) British politician

Iain Aitken Stewart is a British Conservative Party politician and former accountant. He has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Milton Keynes South since 2010.

The Conservative Friends of the Chinese is a membership organization which engages with the British Chinese community and on UK - China relations. It is linked to the Conservative Party in the UK and actively campaigns for the Party in the British Chinese community.

Luke Hall (politician) British Conservative politician

Luke Anthony Hall is a British Conservative politician and former retail manager who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Thornbury and Yate since 2015.

Paul Scully British Conservative politician

Paul Stuart Scully is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sutton and Cheam since 2015. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as its deputy chairman from 2019 to 2020 and as its vice chairman for the London region from 2017 to 2019, having replaced Stephen Hammond who had the Conservative whip withdrawn for rebelling against the government over the EU withdrawal bill.

References

  1. ↑ "Edward Robert Clifton-Brown". thepeerage.com. Archived from the original on 16 December 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  2. ↑ "Hansard report. Cirencester and Tewkesbury 1992". publications.parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 5 December 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 "Geoffrey Clifton-Brown biography". parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 16 December 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  4. ↑ McFadden, Brendan (6 June 2014). "Cotswold MP defends trip to China paid for by Chinese communists". Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  5. ↑ "U.K. aims to be 'China's best' trade partner in the West". CNN. 20 October 2015. Archived from the original on 28 October 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  6. ↑ "Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Speaks about BRI". British Chamber of Commerce in China | Beijing. 7 August 2018. Archived from the original on 25 August 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  7. ↑ "Guo Yezhou Exchanges Views with Chairman of the Conservative Parliamentary China Group of the U.K. via Videolink". International Liaison Department of the Communist Party of China . 31 July 2020. Archived from the original on 23 August 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  8. ↑ Tilley, Emma (20 May 2009). "Cotswold MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown is latest to be embroiled in expenses scandal". Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard. Archived from the original on 13 February 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  9. ↑ Watt, Holly (16 May 2009). "Geoffrey Clifton-Brown 'flips' to £2.7m house: MPs' expenses". Telegraph. Archived from the original on 14 February 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  10. ↑ "MPs' expenses in detail". BBC News. Archived from the original on 28 November 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  11. ↑ "Cotswold M.P is the latest to be embroiled in expenses scandel". wiltsglosstandard.co.uk. Archived from the original on 27 January 2020. Retrieved 20 May 2009.
  12. ↑ "No. 62150". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2017. p. N2.
  13. ↑ "Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: MP kicked out of Tory conference after clash". BBC News. 1 October 2019. Archived from the original on 1 October 2019. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  14. ↑ Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 293. ISBN   0-900178-06-X.
  15. ↑ Clifton-Brown, Sir Geoffrey. UK Who's Who. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U11232. ISBN   978-0-19-954088-4. Archived from the original on 25 August 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  16. ↑ "Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown". Conservative Friends of the Chinese. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  17. ↑ "Clifton-Brown, Geoffrey". politics.co.uk. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Nicholas Ridley 		Member of Parliament for Cirencester and Tewkesbury
1992–1997 		Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament for The Cotswolds
1997–present		Incumbent
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.