Derek Conway: Difference between revisions

Derek Leslie Conway, TD (February 15, 1953) is a British politician, and Member of Parliament for Old Bexley and Sidcup. He became involved in controversy in January 2008, after it emerged that he had employed his son, a full-time student at Newcastle University, as a political researcher, with his wages paid from public funds. On January 29th, Conservative party leader David Cameron withdrew the whip from Conway, effectively expelling him from the Parliamentary Conservative group.

Biography

Conway was born in Newcastle upon Tyne and was educated at the Beacon Hills Boys' School in the city, Gateshead Technical College, and the Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic.

Council career

Conway was elected as a councillor on the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead council, aged 21, in 1974 and was the Deputy Conservative Group Leader from 1974 until his election to Westminster in 1983, he remained a councillor at Gateshead, however until 1987.

In 1977 he was also elected to the Tyne and Wear County Council and was the Conservative group leader from 1979 through 1982, stepping down from the county council in 1983. At the October 1974 General Election he contested the parliamentary constituency at Durham, but was comfortably defeated by the sitting Labour M.P. Mark Hughes by 18,116 votes. Conway contested Newcastle-upon-Tyne East at the 1979 General Election and was again defeated this time by the soon to be SDP defecting Labour MP Mike Thomas by 6,176 votes.

Shrewsbury and Atcham

Derek Conway was elected to parliament at the 1983 General Election for Shrewsbury and Atcham thanks to the retirement of long serving Conservative MP for Shrewsbury John Langford-Holt. Conway secured a majority of 8,624 and held the seat until he was defeated at the 1997 General Election.

He became a member of the Agriculture Select Committee in 1985, and after the 1987 General Election he joined the Transport Select Committee until 1988 when he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Minister of State at the Wales Office Wyn Roberts until 1991.

Following the 1992 General Election he became the PPS to Michael Forsyth the Minister of State at the Department for Employment. Conway was promoted to serve in government by John Major in 1993 as an Assistant Government Whip, becoming a Lord Commissioner to the Treasury a 'full whip' in 1994. He was again promoted within the Whips' Office when he became the Vice Chamberlain of HM Household in 1996.

Old Bexley and Sidcup

Conway lost his Shrewsbury and Atcham seat at the 1997 General Election to Labour's Paul Marsden by 1,670 votes, after his defeat he became the chief executive at the Cats Protection charity. Conway was not out of parliament long and was re-elected as an MP for the south London seat of Old Bexley and Sidcup made vacant by the retirement of the former Prime Minister and Father of the House of Commons, Edward Heath.

He held the seat with a majority of 3,345 and has remained an MP there since. Since his re-election he has served on many select committees, and since the 2005 General Election has been a member of the Defence Select Committee. Conway has also denied allegations of homosexual conduct by his predecessor.^[1]

He is a Eurosceptic (even voting against the Single European Act that had the backing of Margaret Thatcher's government), and supports the return of capital punishment.

Controversy

Conway employed his son Freddie as a researcher, while Freddie was on a full time degree course at the University of Newcastle. Conway paid his son the part time equivalent of a £25,970 salary, amounting to a sum in excess of £40,000^[2] over three years, including pension contributions.

After an investigation, in January 2008 the Committee on Standards and Privileges found there was "no record" of what work Freddie had done, and said the £1,000-plus a month he was paid was too high. They recommended that the House order him to repay a sum of £13,000 (some £27,000 less than the money which was paid to his son Freddie) and be suspended for 10 sitting days.^[3]

Following the ruling, Labour MP John Mann said he would make a formal complaint to the Commons Standards Commissioner about similar payments to elder son Henry Conway while he was also a student, the job which Freddie took over.^[4]

Other newspapers and media sources have since suggested that Conway previously paid similar payments to his Wife and eldest son, with the whole matter referred to the Metropolitan Police by a member of the Liberal Party. In light of the evidence, Conservative party leader David Cameron decided to withdraw the Conservative Party Whip, rendering Conway free of any Parliamentary Conservative constraints, effectively leaving him as an independent MP.^[5]

Other occupations

Conway reached the rank of Major in the Territorial Army and was awarded the Territorial Decoration. He has also been an executive for Granada Television, a Sunday school teacher and a charity organiser for the National Fund for Research into Crippling Diseases (1974-1983) and the Cats Protection League (Chief executive from 1998-2003). He is a Freeman of the City of London.

Personal life

Conway has been married to Colette Elizabeth Mary Lamb since 1980 and they have two sons and a daughter.

References

External links

• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Derek Conway MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Derek Conway MP