Ian Liddell-Grainger

Ian Richard Peregrine Liddell-Grainger^[1] (born 23 February 1959) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bridgwater between the 2001 general election and 2010 and the Bridgwater and West Somerset constituency from 2010. He is a great-grandson of HRH Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, who died when he was 21, making him a great-great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria.

Early life

Liddell-Grainger was born in Edinburgh to David Liddell-Grainger and Anne Liddell-Grainger.^[2] He was educated at Wellesley House School in the coastal town of Broadstairs in Kent and Millfield School in the town of Street in Somerset, before gaining a National Certificate of Agriculture at the South Scotland Agricultural College in Edinburgh.^[2] Before entering Parliament he ran a 250-acre (1.0 km²) farm in the Scottish Borders from 1980-85^[2] before becoming the managing director of his family's property management and development company.^[2]

He was commissioned as a Major in the Territorial Army with the 6th Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers,^[2] commanding the machine-gun Platoon and then X Company of the Battalion in Newcastle upon Tyne.

After serving on Tynedale District Council from 1989 to 1995, Liddell-Grainger contested the seat of Torridge and West Devon at the 1997 general election, coming second to the Liberal Democrat candidate John Burnett.^[2]

Parliamentary career

Liddell-Grainger was elected to parliament at the 2001 general election for the safe Conservative seat of Bridgwater in Somerset, succeeding former cabinet minister Tom King. He held the seat at the 2005 general election before boundary changes created the new seat of Bridgwater and West Somerset which he retained with a nominally reduced share of the vote at the 2010 general election.^[2][3]

Liddell-Grainger chairs the All-Party Energy group, the All-Party Pharmaceuticals group, the All-Party Dyslexia group, and the All-Party Tax group, and is also a member of the All Parliamentary Armed Forces Scheme with the Royal Air Force and the all Parliamentary Radio Group. Formerly, he was a member of the Public Administration Committee and the Environmental Audit Committee in the House of Commons. Liddell-Grainger was previously on the DEFRA select committee and the Scottish Committee as well as the Crossrail Bill. He is also a member of the Cornerstone Group, a ginger group within the Conservative Party, which seeks to promote socially conservative values. His interests include the economy, taxation, treatment for dyslexia, constitutional affairs, rural matters and he has also spoken out in favour of making Herceptin available for early-stage breast cancer sufferers.

Liddell-Grainger is a member of the 18-strong British delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and currently heads one of the five political groups in the Assembly, the European Conservatives Group. He supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum.^[4]

Energy issues

The Hinkley Point nuclear power stations are located in Liddell-Grainger's constituency. He considers that "the nuclear power industry has truly embraced the energy future of our country", and also that "nuclear energy plays an important role in my constituency and is behind the creation of numerous jobs and training opportunities".^[5] He supported the decision in March 2013 to allow planning permission to build a third nuclear power station at the site.^[6] He has voiced opposition to wind power schemes in his constituency, including plans to build two wind turbines at Wiveliscombe in 2012.^[7]

Building schools for the future in Bridgwater

The cancellation of plans to build new school buildings in Bridgwater in 2010 led Liddell-Grainger to threaten to "march" on Downing Street in protest.^[8] The cancellation of the Building Schools for the Future projects was one of the first acts by the newly elected coalition government's Minister for Education Michael Gove. Liddell-Grainger claimed that Bridgwater's schools were in need of rebuilding and that the plans, which had cancelled projects in three of the town's six schools, were actually all under one project heading and had been working effectively.^[8][9] Gove was forced to apologise for a number of errors in the cancellation of the project nationally^[10] and the Bridgwater project was reconsidered by the government after Liddell-Grainger met with Gove and it became apparent that Gove "wasn't aware of all the facts to do with the Bridgwater scheme".^[11]

Expenses claims

Liddell-Grainger claimed a total of £166,109 in expenses, including for office, staffing and travelling costs, during 2007–8.^[12] Under revised regulations, during 2010-11 he claimed the reduced sum of £147,004 for expenses, the sixth highest of all MPs in that year.^[13] Liddell-Grainger has registered his wife as a parliamentary assistant^[14] and in 2010 included both his wife and his two eldest children on his list of staff, the only MP to do so at the time.^[15]

Emails

In 2006, Liddell-Grainger was disqualified from the WriteToThem league table after faking e-mails and replies to himself to improve his "responsiveness rating" on a website which helps people contact their elected representatives. Liddell-Grainger's spokesman commented that the e-mails had been sent to test the data that the website was judging him on.^[16]

At the 2010 general election Liddell-Grainger refused to attend any election hustings or to take part in the BBC's election coverage.^[17][18] A Facebook group was set up asking "Where's Ian Liddell-Grainger?"^[17] Liddell-Grainger said that he was busy canvassing and dealing with casework.^[17]

Views on the environment

According to the former minister Richard Benyon, Liddell-Grainger opposes bodies such as Natural England as a "default position". In 2010, Liddell-Grainger criticised plans by the Environment Agency and Natural England to create a wetland habitat at Steart on the Severn estuary as part of a realignment of coastal flood defences.^[19] The project, which he said the nation "should not and must not afford", went ahead in 2012 ^[20] in order to meet EU Habitats Directive obligations.^[21]

In February 2014, in the context of flooding on the Somerset Levels, Liddell-Grainger called the chairman of the Environment Agency, Baron Smith of Finsbury a "little git", and a "coward". He claimed he would "stick his head down the loo and flush".^[22] The floods took place after exceptionally bad weather, but Liddell-Grainger placed the blame for them on the Environment Agency's policy of not dredging the local rivers,^[23] and said that he would be consulting with Dutch hydrological experts.^[24]

Personal life

Liddell-Grainger is a great-great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria, as his great-grandmother was Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, and he is thus in the line of succession to the British Throne.^[25] His great-grandfather, the Earl of Athlone, was great-grandson of King George III and brother of Queen Mary, consort of King George V. He is also a great-grandson of the 12th Earl of Lindsey. Liddell-Grainger, like his father, is a Knight of St John.

Liddell-Grainger married Jill Nesbit in 1985, she is now his parliamentary secretary.^[26] The couple have three children.^[2]

Ancestry

References

External links

• Ian Liddell Grainger MP official site
• Profile at the Conservative Party
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record