She served as Deputy Leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament between 2001 and 2002. She also served as a member of the governing board of the Conservative Party during this period.
Member of Parliament
In 2003,following Sir Sydney Chapman's announcement that he would retire at the following election,Villiers was selected as the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Chipping Barnet. Although Chapman's majority at the 2001 general election had only been 2,701 votes,the party viewed Chipping Barnet to be quite a "safe" Conservative seat,and Villiers held it at the 2005 general election with an increased majority of 5,960 votes,which she increased again to 11,927 in 2010. Her majority dropped to 7,656 in 2015,and was reduced to just 353 in 2017. However,Villiers' majority rose to 1,212 in the 2019 general election,despite her percentage share of the vote going down slightly.[8]
Upon her election to the House of Commons in 2005,she resigned from her seat in the European Parliament;it went to Syed Kamall,the next candidate on the Conservatives' regional list for London. Villiers now lives at Arkley in her constituency.
In July 2021,Villiers was one of five Conservative MPs found by the Commons Select Committee on Standards to have breached the code of conduct by trying to influence a judge in the trial of former Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke,who was eventually found guilty of three counts of sexual assault and sentenced to two years in prison. Villiers was one of three of the group recommended for a one-day suspension by the committee.[10]
Villiers was appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in September 2012. Her time in Northern Ireland gained mixed reviews.[12] She made a speech in February 2016 defending the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the British Army,which had been accused of colluding with loyalist murderers in the Loughinisland massacre. The Police Ombudsman who investigated the murders,Michael Maguire,later stated with regard to law enforcement authorities colluding with the murderers:"I have no hesitation in unambiguously determining that collusion is a significant feature of the Loughinisland murders".[13]
Villiers had said that "a pernicious counter-narrative" of the Troubles was emerging whereby responsibility for acts of terrorism was being shifted onto the security forces "through allegations of collusion,misuse of agents and informers or other forms of unlawful activity".[14]
Villiers was one of the six cabinet ministers who came out in support of Brexit during the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. As the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland at the time,she was pressed to explain her view of the problems her position could cause the province. In April 2016,she gave a speech saying those raising concerns about Brexit's impact on Northern Ireland were "scaremongering".[15] Following the referendum,on 14 July 2016,Villiers resigned from her position as Northern Ireland Secretary[4] after stating that new Prime Minister Theresa May had offered her a post in the Cabinet which was "not one which I felt I could take on".[16] During the referendum,62.2% of voters in her constituency (based on a 72.1% turnout),voted to remain in the European Union.[17][clarification needed] After the referendum,Villiers continued to support leaving the EU.[18]
In June 2020 The Times newspaper reported that the delay in the formation of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament since the 2019 United Kingdom general election had been due to Villiers appointment having been dismissed by the Prime Minister for her defiance of the Government's whip on a vote where she supported an amendment which would have banned the import of chlorinated chicken products from the US in upcoming post-Brexit trade negotiations.[19]
Parliamentary expenses and second home
She also has a house in Arkley in her North London constituency of Chipping Barnet. The house,a semi-detached property that she bought for £296,500 in May 2004,is an eight-minute drive away from High Barnet tube station,from which commuters can reach Westminster in about forty-five minutes.[20]
On 19 July 2018 she was the only MP of any party to attend a rally of about 200–300 Jewish and other persons called by the "Campaign Against Antisemitism" (CAA) in Parliament Square,London,to protest against Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party.[23] She has,on previous occasions,attended CAA protests similar to that of 19 July 2018 against anti-semitism within Labour.[24]
Together with Matthew Offord,she spoke out publicly in support of Iranian resistance to the Iranian regime at an event in Paris in 2017,organised by the National Council of Resistance of Iran. They protested against human right abuses and executions in Iran.[25]
Since September 2008,Villiers has dedicated a considerable proportion of her public announcements to aviation policy,specifically the expansion of airports in the South East of England. Villiers underlined that despite differences of opinion,the Coalition government's policy was opposed to a third runway at Heathrow airport.[26]
She has also spoken out against Boris Johnson's favoured proposal for a new London airport to be built in the Thames Estuary,and alternative expansions at Gatwick and Stansted airports,arguing that airlines should make greater use of the UK's regional airports,though some regional airports themselves have expressed concern about being adversely affected by capacity shortages in the South East.[27] Villiers favours construction of a high-speed rail link from London to Birmingham and Manchester,arguing that flyers could use capacity at airports such as Birmingham International and Manchester International Airport.[citation needed]
In May 2017,Villiers announced that she fundamentally supports the ban on hunting of wild animals with dogs but suggested that there remains scope for reform of the Hunting Act 2004.[28]
In 2022,Villiers spearheaded opposition to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's plan to set housebuilding targets for councils to alleviate the housing shortage in the United Kingdom.[30] In a 2023 interview,Villers said that denser housing,such as the apartment buildings proposed to be built near the Cockfosters station on the Piccadilly line would turn the London suburbs into "East Berlin."[31][32] She argued that dense housing construction would not be "positive for the environment or for social cohesion."[31] Critics have called her the "nimby queen" of British politics,to which she responded that the term NIMBY is "term of abuse rather than engaging in a debate about how we deliver the homes we need in a sustainable way".[31]
Controversies
In August 2023,it was revealed that Villiers had failed to declare she held shares worth over £70,000 in the oil and gas company,Shell,whilst serving as Secretary of State for Environment,Food and Rural Affairs.[33]
Personal life
Villiers married fellow barrister Sean Wilken KC in 1997,and the following year they co-wrote a book on matters of contract and quasi-contract law,which was published by a major publishing house.[34] They are now divorced.[35]
Publications
Theresa Villiers & Sean Wilken (29 April 1998). Law of Estoppel, Variation and Waiver. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN0-471-96921-4.
Related Research Articles
Theresa Mary, Lady May, is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretary from 2010 to 2016. She has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidenhead since 1997. May is the second female UK prime minister, after Margaret Thatcher, and the first woman to hold two of the Great Offices of State. Ideologically, May is a one-nation conservative.
Dame Caroline Alice Spelman is a British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Meriden in the West Midlands from 1997 to 2019. From May 2010 to September 2012 she was the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in David Cameron's coalition cabinet, and was sworn as a Privy Counsellor on 13 May 2010.
Gregory William Hands is a British politician serving as Minister for London and Minister of State for Trade Policy since November 2023. He has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chelsea and Fulham, previously Hammersmith and Fulham, since 2005. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as its Chairman from February to November 2023. Hands has served as Minister of State for Trade Policy under four prime ministers, holding the office on four occasions, and also served as Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth from 2021 to 2022.
Chipping Barnet is a constituency created in 1974 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Theresa Villiers of the Conservative Party. It is part of the London Borough of Barnet, on the border with Hertfordshire.
Shailesh Lakhman Vara is a Ugandan-British politician, who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from July to September 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Cambridgeshire since 2005.
Elizabeth Rebecca Scott Harris is a British Conservative Party politician who was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Castle Point. She is the incumbent Comptroller of the Household. In that role, she took part in the 2023 Coronation.
Samuel Phillip Gyimah is a British politician and banker who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Surrey from 2010 to 2019. First elected as a Conservative, Gyimah rebelled against the government to block a no-deal Brexit and had the Conservative whip removed in September 2019. He subsequently joined the Liberal Democrats and stood unsuccessfully for them in Kensington at the 2019 general election. Gyimah now serves on the board of Goldman Sachs International.
Julian Richard Smith is a British politician who served as Government Chief Whip from 2017 to 2019 and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2019 to 2020. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Skipton and Ripon since 2010.
Sir Alec Edward Shelbrooke is a British Conservative politician who has been Member of Parliament for Elmet and Rothwell since 2010. He served as Minister of State for Defence Procurement in the Truss ministry from September to October 2022.
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Social Care since October 2022, and previously from 2020 to 2021. She also served as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury from 2021 to 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Faversham and Mid Kent since 2015.
Maria Colette Caulfield is a British politician and nurse serving as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Mental Health and Women's Health Strategy and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Women since October 2022.
James Roger Cartlidge is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Suffolk since 2015, and has been serving as Minister of State for Defence Procurement since 2023. He served as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury from 2022 to 2023 and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice between 2021 and 2022.
Heidi Suzanne Allen is a British businesswoman and former politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Cambridgeshire from 2015 to 2019. Initially elected as a Conservative, she resigned from the party in February 2019, joining and later serving as leader of Change UK. She resigned from Change UK in June of the same year, and joined the Liberal Democrats in October 2019. She announced on 29 October of that year that she would not stand for re-election at the next general election.
The 2016 Conservative Party leadership election was held due to Prime Minister David Cameron's resignation as party leader. He had resigned after losing the national referendum to leave the European Union. Cameron, who supported Britain's continued membership of the EU, announced his resignation on 24 June, saying that he would step down by October. Theresa May won the contest on 11 July 2016, after the withdrawal of Andrea Leadsom left her as the sole candidate.
Vote Leave was a campaigning organisation that supported a "Leave" vote in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. On 13 April 2016 it was designated by the Electoral Commission as the official campaign in favour of leaving the European Union in the Referendum.
Theresa May's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 13 July 2016 when she accepted an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to form a government after the resignation of her predecessor David Cameron in the aftermath of the European Union (EU) membership referendum, and ended upon her resignation on 24 July 2019. As prime minister, May served simultaneously as First Lord of the Treasury and as Minister for the Civil Service. May's premiership was dominated by Brexit, terrorist attacks in Westminster, the Manchester Arena and London Bridge, the Grenfell Tower fire, and the Salisbury poisonings.
Brexit was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020. As of 2020, the UK is the only member state to have left the EU. Britain entered the predecessor to the EU, the European Communities (EC), on 1 January 1973. Following this, Eurosceptic groups grew in popularity in the UK, opposing aspects of both the EC and the EU. As Euroscepticism increased during the early 2010s, Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a speech in January 2013 at Bloomberg London, in which he called for reform of the EU and promised an in–out referendum on the UK's membership if the Conservative Party won a majority at the 2015 general election. The Conservatives won 330 seats at the election, giving Cameron a majority of 12, and a bill to hold a referendum was introduced to Parliament that month.
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.
