John Greenway (British politician)

Last updated

John Greenway

MP
Member of Parliament
for Ryedale
In office
11 June 1987 12 April 2010
Preceded by Elizabeth Shields
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born (1946-02-15) 15 February 1946 (age 75)
Northwich, Cheshire, England
NationalityBritish
Political party Conservative
Spouse(s)Sylvia Ann Gant

John Robert Greenway (born 15 February 1946) is a former British politician who sat as the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Ryedale from 1987 until the constituency's abolition in 2010.

Contents

Early life

John Greenway was born in Northwich, Cheshire and was educated locally at the Sir John Deane's Grammar School and The College of Law, London. He joined Midland Bank in 1964 before joining the Metropolitan Police Service in 1965, after his Hendon Police College training he worked in the West End of London, leaving the force in 1969 to sell life insurance for Equitable Life. He joined National Provident in 1970, before setting up his own insurance and finance company in 1971. He was a financial journalist at Post Magazine (Post Weekly), and still writes for financial publications.

Parliamentary career

He was the treasurer of the Ryedale Conservative Association for two years from 1984 and was elected to the North Yorkshire County Council in 1985 for two years. He was the vice-chairman of the North Yorkshire Police 1986–7. He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1987 general election, when he regained the seat for the Conservatives from the Liberal MP Elizabeth Shields who won the seat at the 1986 Ryedale by-election. Greenway won the seat with a majority of 9,740 and remained the MP until the seat's abolition for the 2010 general election.

He served in parliament as a member of the home affairs select committee 1987–97, and was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Jean Trumpington for a year from 1991. He was promoted to the frontbench by William Hague in 1997 as a spokesman on home affairs, before being moved in 2000 as a spokesman for culture, media and sport where he remained throughout the leadership of Iain Duncan Smith until he was sacked by Michael Howard in 2003. He was briefly a member of the education and skills select committee in 2005 before the general election. He was the chairman of the all party opera group. He introduced the Bill for the Ragwort Control Act 2003. [1]

He maintained a strong interest in the financial services sector and chaired the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Insurance and Financial Services.

In boundary changes agreed in 2006, Greenway's constituency was enlarged and renamed Thirsk and Malton, taking in a large part of the divided Vale of York constituency. Unexpectedly on 18 November 2006, the Thirsk and Malton Conservative Association selected Anne McIntosh (sitting MP for Vale of York) over Greenway as their candidate for the next general election.

He was criticised in some quarters for his poor attendance record in the House of Commons. According to the theyworkforyou website, he attended only half of Parliamentary votes, and contributed to very few debates. In the scandal concerning MP's expenses it was alleged Mr. Greenway claimed £500 for petunias and fuchsia for his London flat.

Personal life

He was married to Sylvia Ann Gant in 1974. They have two sons and a daughter. He now lives in Chiswick with divorcee Hanneke Dannhorn (born 1953), mother of Emily and Mark Dannhorn, and managing director of the Brook Green UK travel group, since 2004.

A horse racing enthusiast, he won an animal welfare award in 2003, and is the president of York City F.C. As a former police officer he has called for the death penalty for police murders, specifically mentioning Winston Silcott, after narrowly avoiding being shot. Greenway fought for an amendment to the Criminal Justice Act 1991 to provide for capital punishment for the murder of a police officer. He later tried to sponsor a similar bill commanding that "A person aged 18 years or above who is convicted of the murder of a police officer acting in the execution of his duty shall on conviction be sentenced to death." Both attempts were soundly defeated. [2]

Related Research Articles

Jonathan Evans (politician)

Jonathan Peter Evans FRSA is Chairman of the British Insurance Brokers Association since 1 January 2020.

Andrew Hartley Dismore is a British Labour politician who has been the Member of the London Assembly for Barnet and Camden since 2012, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hendon from 1997 until 2010.

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).

Oliver Heald British Conservative politician

Sir Oliver Heald is a British barrister and Conservative Party politician, who currently serves as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Hertfordshire. He was first elected in the 1992 general election.

John Healey (politician) British Labour politician

John Healey is a British Labour Party politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wentworth and Dearne since 1997 and Shadow Secretary of State for Defence since 2020.

Anne McIntosh British Conservative politician

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

Adrian Sanders

Adrian Mark Sanders 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.

Ryedale (UK Parliament constituency) Former parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom

Ryedale was a constituency in North Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It was created in 1983 and abolished in 2010.

Vale of York (UK Parliament constituency)

Vale of York was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Thirsk and Malton (UK Parliament constituency) Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom

Thirsk and Malton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Kevin Hollinrake, a Conservative.

Elizabeth Shields

Elizabeth Lois Shields is a British politician.

Malton, also called New Malton, was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England in 1295 and 1298, and again from 1640, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885. It was represented by two Members of Parliament until 1868, among them the political philosopher Edmund Burke, and by one member from 1868 to 1885.

Robin Turton, Baron Tranmire

Robert Hugh Turton, Baron Tranmire, was a British Conservative Party politician.

The Ryedale by-election took place on 8 May 1986. The election was held on the same day as the 1986 local elections and the West Derbyshire by-election

Lewis Payn Dawnay was an English Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1880 to 1892.

The Thirsk and Malton by-election, 1915 was a parliamentary by-election held on 12 February 1915 for the British House of Commons constituency of Thirsk and Malton in the North Riding of Yorkshire.

David Mowat

David John Mowat is a former Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Warrington South, and was first elected at the 2010 general election. He was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Care and Support at the Department of Health in July 2016. He lost the seat to Labour at the 2017 election.

Kevin Hollinrake British politician

Kevin Paul Hollinrake is a British Conservative politician and businessman. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Thirsk and Malton since May 2015.

Thirsk and Malton (UK Parliament constituency 1885–1983)

Thirsk and Malton was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament between 1885 to 1983. The constituency was revived in 2010.

Luke Graham (politician)

Luke Patrick Graham is a British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Ochil and South Perthshire from 2017 to 2019. From September 2018, Graham served in the role of Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Cabinet Office. He was later made PPS to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. He held both positions concurrently until the end of the Second May Ministry.

References

  1. Hansard (House of Commons) Second Reading. 21 March 2003. At this time the Bill was called the Equine Welfare (Ragwort Control) Bill. It later became the Ragwort Control Bill.
  2. "PUNISHMENT FOR MURDER OF a POLICE OFFICER (Hansard, 21 February 1994)".

News items

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Elizabeth Shields
Member of Parliament for Ryedale
19872010
Constituency abolished
see Thirsk & Malton