Chris Heaton-Harris

Chris Heaton-Harris
MP
Member of Parliament
for Daventry
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded by Tim Boswell
Majority 19,188 (37.1%)
Member of the European Parliament
for East Midlands
In office
1 May 1999 – 4 June 2009
Preceded by Position established
Succeeded by Emma McClarkin
Personal details
Born (1967-11-28) 28 November 1967
Epsom, Surrey, England
Nationality British
Political party Conservative
Alma mater Wolverhampton Polytechnic
Website http://www.heatonharris.org.uk/

Christopher Heaton-Harris, (born 28 November 1967), is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Daventry since May 2010, and was previously a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East Midlands from 1999 to 2009.

Early life and education

Born in November 1967, Heaton-Harris attended the Tiffin Grammar School for Boys in Kingston upon Thames, before studying at Wolverhampton Polytechnic (now Wolverhampton University).[1]

He went to work in the family business at New Covent Garden Market, before taking over from his father as Chairman of What4 Ltd, until his election to the European Parliament.

Political career

In the 1997 general election he stood in Leicester South, a safe seat for Labour. He was the Conservative party's candidate for that seat in the 2004 Leicester South by-election and came third to the Liberal Democrat Parmjit Singh Gill.

European Parliament

Heaton-Harris was elected to the European Parliament in 1999 as MEP for the East Midlands, and was re-elected in 2004.

Heaton-Harris sat on the Internal Market Committee, responsible for "co-ordination at Community level of national legislation in the sphere of the internal market and of the customs union" as well as the Central America Delegation and the Bulgaria Delegation.

He was a founding member of the Campaign for Parliamentary Reform, a cross-national, cross-party group of MEPs that campaigns for reforms within the parliament. Its manifesto includes creating one seat for the parliament (in Brussels), cleaning up the system for MEPs' expenses, and improving debate within the parliament.

Heaton-Harris was also responsible for bringing the case of Marta Andreasen, the European Commission's Chief Accountant, to public attention back in August 2002 and has been involved in fighting fraud, mismanagement and waste within the European Commission and other European institutions.

He was the Chief Whip for the Conservatives in the European Parliament from 2001 to March 2004.

Immediately prior to his retirement in 2009, Heaton-Harris was the President of the Sports Intergroup, a group of approximately 40 MEPs who have an interest in sport and sporting issues.

From May 2006 he sought support within the EU legislature for a letter to FIFA demanding that the Iranian national football team be thrown out of the 2006 World Cup because of the Iranian President's comments about the Holocaust being a lie.[2]

Chris Heaton-Harris is also a fierce eurosceptic.

Member of Parliament

Chris Heaton-Harris was a member of the Conservative A-List and was selected to succeed Tim Boswell as candidate for the safe Conservative seat of Daventry in June 2006.[3] He won the seat in the 2010 general election, with a majority of 19,188.

In March 2012, Heaton-Harris was reported as being one of the Conservative MPs to have spoken critically of Party Co-Chairman Sayeeda Warsi at a meeting of the 1922 Committee, following Warsi's handling of Roger Helmer MEP's defection to UKIP.[4]

Climate change controversy

In November 2012, secretly filmed clips of Chris Heaton-Harris discussing the role of James Delingpole in the Corby by-election were published on the Guardian website. The film, recorded by Greenpeace, appeared to show the MP's support for Delingpole's independent, anti-windfarm candidacy, at a time when Heaton-Harris was engaged by the Conservatives to run the unsuccessful campaign of their own candidate, Christine Emmett.

Heaton-Harris indicated that this was linked to a plan by core members of the Conservative Party to emasculate the Climate Change Act by making its commitments advisory rather than mandatory.[5] After Heaton-Harris apologised for the impression he gave in the video, Home Secretary Theresa May said he was guilty only of silly bragging, while Labour's Michael Dugher MP urged Prime Minister David Cameron to show leadership and punish him.[6] The Corby by-election was subsequently lost by the conservatives with a swing to Labour of 12 points.

Personal life

Heaton-Harris is married and has two children. He is a Grade 5 qualified football referee, signed into the profession by his father's friend Ray Lewis. Heaton-Harris is also a regular "Tweeter", frequently posting puns and political commentary on Twitter.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Chris Heaton-Harris MEP", City of Leicester Conservative Association, accessed 1 June 2008
  2. ↑ EU Member wants Iran out of World Cup
  3. ↑ The 18 of the original 100 A-listers selected for Conservative seats
  4. ↑ Tories give Warsi both barrels Archived 10 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ Tory MP running Corby campaign 'backed rival in anti-windfarm plot'
  6. ↑ Tory MP escapes discipline over anti-windfarm comments
  7. ↑ Heaton-Harris, Chris. "CHH Calling". Twitter. Retrieved 8 November 2013.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Tim Boswell		 Member of Parliament for Daventry
2010–present 		Incumbent
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