Caroline Spelman: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 17:09, 12 May 2010
Caroline Spelman | |
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 | |
| Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | |
| Assumed office 12 May 2010 | |
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | Hilary Benn |
| Succeeded by | n/a |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government | |
| In office 19th January 2009 – 12th May 2010 | |
| Leader | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | Eric Pickles |
| Succeeded by | TBC |
| Chairman of the Conservative Party | |
| Member of Parliament for Meriden | |
| In office 2nd July 2007 – 19th January 2009 | |
| Preceded by | Francis Maude |
| Succeeded by | Eric Pickles |
| Assumed office 1 May 1997 | |
| Preceded by | Iain Mills |
| Majority | 7,009 (15.1%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | caption Spelman during the 2009 Conservative Party Conference 4 May 1958 Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire |
| Died | caption Spelman during the 2009 Conservative Party Conference |
| Resting place | caption Spelman during the 2009 Conservative Party Conference |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | Mark Spelman |
| Parent |
|
| Alma mater | Queen Mary, University of London |
| Profession | Politician |
Caroline Alice Spelman (née Cormack; born 4 May 1958) is a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Meriden in the West Midlands since 1997. In January 2009 she replaced Eric Pickles as Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in a Shadow Cabinet reshuffle by David Cameron.
Early life
Born in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, Spelman attended Herts and Essex High School for Girls (now called The Hertfordshire and Essex High School), in Warwick Road, Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, and received a BA First Class in European Studies from the University of London's Queen Mary College.
She was Sugar Beet commodity secretary for the National Farmer's Union from 1981-4. She was deputy director of the International Confederation of European Beet Growers (officially known as La Confédération Internationale des Betteraviers Européens - CIBE) in Paris from 1984-9, then a research fellow for the Centre for European Agricultural Studies (part of the University of Kent and since 2000 known as the Centre for European Agri-Environmental Economics) from 1989-3. She co-owns Spelman, Cormack & Associates, a food and biotechnology business, with her husband.[1] Based in Dorridge (her constituency is in the borough of Solihull).
Parliamentary career
Before entering Parliament in 1997, she stood unsuccessfully in the Bassetlaw constituency in Nottinghamshire at the 1992 general election.
In 2001, Iain Duncan Smith appointed Spelman Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, a post she maintained until Duncan Smith's departure as Conservative Party leader. Duncan Smith's successor, Michael Howard, opted for a streamlined Shadow Cabinet and omitted Spelman; however, he later appointed her as a front bench spokeswoman on Environmental Affairs working for Theresa May. In March 2004, Spelman re-entered the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Local and Devolved Government Affairs, succeeding David Curry. Under David Cameron's leadership of the Conservative Party, in 2007 she was promoted further to become Conservative Party Chairman. In 2009 she was moved in another reshuffle to the role of Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.
"Nannygate" controversy
On 6 June 2008, Spelman was the subject of controversy when it was suggested that for around twelve months from May 1997 she paid her child's nanny, Tina Haynes, from her parliamentary staffing allowance, contrary to the rule governing such allowances and fears of the misuse of them. Spelman claims that her nanny also acted as her constituency secretary and was paid from the public taxpayers' purse for this aspect of her further employment. Haynes confirms that occasionally she would answer phone calls and post documents but initially she denied such happenings when interviewed on BBC Two's Newsnight via telephone. The accusations came at a time when Conservative Party leader David Cameron had tasked Spelman with reviewing the use of parliamentary allowances by Conservative MPs and MEPs in the wake of the Derek Conway affair.[2] The allegation against Spelman came shortly after two Conservative MEPs, Giles Chichester (Leader of the Conservatives in the EU Parliament) and Den Dover (Conservative Chief Whip in the EU Parliament), were forced to resign amid claims they misused their parliamentary allowances. However, Spelman was not urged to resign by party leader, David Cameron. She referred the matter pertaining to herself, her nanny and parliamentary funds to John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.[3] Senior Conservative colleagues including former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis confederated support for Spelman in a bid to dispel the allegation that she abused her parliamentary allowance.[4]
New revelations were exposed on the BBC's Newsnight programme that nine years previously Mrs Spelman's secretary, Sally Hammond, complained to the Conservative Party leadership that she was using Parliamentary allowances to pay her nanny and that the arrangement with the nanny was over a two year period and not one. [5]
In March 2009, the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee ruled Mrs Spelman had misused her allowances to pay for nannying work in 1997 and 1998.
Expenses
In 2009, during the expenses crisis it was reported that Spelman had received £40,000 for cleaning and bills for her constituency home, this was despite her husband claiming it was their main home, and in 2008 she reportedly over-claimed hundreds of pounds towards her council tax.[6]
Personal life
She married Mark Spelman, a senior partner at Accenture, on 25 April 1987 in south-east Kent. They have two sons and a daughter. Her husband stood as a Conservative candidate in the 2009 European elections for the West Midlands region.
The couple own a constituency home, a London townhouse and a villa in Algarve, Portugal,[7]
She is a trustee of the Conservative Christian Fellowship.
See also
References
- ^ "The new ruling class". NewStatesman. Retrieved October 11th, 2009.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Tory MP paid nanny from expenses, BBC
- ^ Tory chairman Caroline Spelman to meet standards commissioner over nanny expenses, Daily Telegraph 7 June 2008
- ^ Tories rally round Spelman Yahoo! News 8 June 2008
- ^ "MPs call for Spelman to be sacked". BBC News. 26 June 2008. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
- ^ "The new ruling class". NewStatesman. Retrieved October 11th, 2009.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Worden, Tom (15 March 2009). ""Nannygate" Tory Caroline Spelman's properties worth nearly £5million". Sunday Mirror. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
External links
- Caroline Spelman MP official constituency website
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
- Website at ePolitix.com
- Profile: Caroline Spelman BBC News, 16 October 2002
- BBC Politics page
- Audio clips
- Video clips
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