Charles Hendry
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Charles Hendry (born May 6, 1959, Cuckfield) is a British politician and the Conservative Member of Parliament for Wealden. In September 2006, Charles became a Patron of the Tory Reform Group.
The son of a stockbroker, Hendry was educated at Rugby School, Warwickshire and the University of Edinburgh where he was awarded a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Business Studies in 1981. He was the president of the Edinburgh University Conservative Association in 1979. He worked as an account manager with Ogilvy and Mather PR for six years from 1982, and from 1988 he worked for two years as a special adviser for the successive Secretaries of State for Social Security John Moore and Tony Newton. He became a senior consultant with Burston-Marsteller in 1990, where he remained until his election to parliament. During his interregnum from parliament he served as the chief of staff to the Leader of the Opposition William Hague.
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[edit] Political career
Hendry was the vice-chairman of the Scottish Federation of Conservative Students in 1980 and was elected as the vice-chairman of the Battersea Conservative Association for two years in 1981.
He unsuccessfully contested the Central Scotland seat of Clackmannan at the 1983 general election where he was beaten into third place, finishing some 9,988 votes behind the sitting Labour MP Martin O'Neill. He contested the Nottinghamshire seat of Mansfield at the 1987 general election where he was narrowly defeated by Alan Meale, who won by just 56 votes: this was the joint closest constituency in the whole election.
[edit] Parliament
Hendry was elected to the House of Commons at the 1992 general election for the Derbyshire seat of High Peak following the retirement of the Conservative MP Christopher Hawkins. Hendry held the seat with a majority of 4,819, but lost his Peak District-based seat at the 1997 general election when he was defeated by Labour's Tom Levitt by 8,791 votes. He was re-elected to parliament at the 2001 general election for the East Sussex seat of Wealden following the retirement of the veteran Conservative MP Geoffrey Johnson Smith. Hendry won with a majority of 13,772 and has remained the MP there since.
In Parliament he was a member of the procedure select committee for three years from 1992 and he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Minister of State at the Department of Social Security William Hague in 1994 for a year, and also served briefly as the PPS to the Secretary of State for Education and Employment Gillian Shephard in 1995. He also served on the Northern Ireland select committee 1994–1996. He was appointed as the vice chairman of the Conservative Party in 1995 by John Major, in which capacity he remained until he lost his seat in 1997.
On his re-election in 2001, he was appointed an Opposition Whip by Hague, and was appointed as a spokesman on Education and Skills in 2003 under the leadership of Iain Duncan Smith. However, he was moved a few months later under Michael Howard to again become a vice-chairman of the Conservative Party before serving as a spokesman on trade and industry since early 2005. He served briefly as a member of the culture, media and sport select committee in 2004. He also serves as the vice chairman of the all party groups on endometriosis, Internet and management.
He married Sallie Moores in July 1995 in Westminster and he has two sons and two stepchildren. In 2003, he called for the introduction of first time voter packs to help to engage young people in the political process.[1] In January 2008 he was appointed as a Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of UK Youth Parliament. He had served as Co-Chair from late 2006 but governance changes dissolved the Co-Chair system in favour of a sole Chair.
[edit] External links
- Charles Hendry MP official site
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Charles Hendry MP
- TheyWorkForYou.com - Charles Hendry MP
- Wealden Conservatives
- The Public Whip - Charles Hendry MP voting record
- BBC News - Charles Hendry profile 30 March, 2006
[edit] News items
- Calling for more funding for Gatwick Airport in August 2006
- Recruiting younger Conservatives in 2003
- Contacting eighteen year olds in 2002
[edit] Video clips
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Christopher Hawkins |
Member of Parliament for High Peak 1992–1997 |
Succeeded by Tom Levitt |
| Preceded by Geoffrey Johnson Smith |
Member of Parliament for Wealden 2001 – present |
Incumbent |
