Leigh has a reputation at Westminster for his independence of mind as a "serial rebeller",[3] who is prepared to vote against his own political party if it conflicts with his own principles.[4] He was one of the original Maastricht Rebels and was reportedly sacked for organising Euro-rebels among ministers.[4] In 2003 Leigh opposed military intervention in Iraq;[5] he has since called for those who voted for the Iraq War, and are still seeking to justify their support for it, to be held to account.[6]
Leigh is a prominent Roman Catholic politician and a former[8] president of the Catholic Union of Great Britain. He has edited and authored three books: Right Thinking (1988); The Nation That Forgot God (2008);[9] and Monastery of the Mind (2012).[10]
Leigh is a descendant of the family of the Roman Catholic martyr Blessed Richard Leigh who was hanged at Tyburn during the Reformation in 1588 for being a Catholic priest, and beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1929.[11]
His maternal grandfather, Colonel Cyril Denzil Branch, was a nephew of Prince Nikolai Golitsyn, the last Prime Minister of Imperial Russia.[12]
Leigh was elected to Parliament as MP for Gainsborough and Horncastle at the 1983 general election, winning with 50.9% of the vote and a majority of 5,067.[17] He was re-elected as MP for Gainsborough and Horncastle at the 1987 general election with an increased vote share of 53.3% and an increased majority of 9,723.[18][19]
A strong supporter of Margaret Thatcher, Leigh visited 10 Downing Street with fellow MP Michael Brown on the morning of Thatcher's resignation as Prime Minister in 1990 to try to persuade her to carry on.[20] Although Charles Powell advised them it was a forlorn task, they were nonetheless granted access to the Cabinet which was in process at the time. Leigh and Brown departed 10 Downing Street and walked down Whitehall back to the House of Commons reputedly with "tears in their eyes". After Thatcher resigned, in the ensuing leadership election, Leigh supported Michael Heseltine, under whom he had served at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), preferring to support someone who had stabbed Thatcher in the front to those who had stabbed her in the back.[21]
At the 1992 general election, Leigh was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 54% and an increased majority of 16,245.[22]
Leigh's constituency of Gainsborough and Horncastle was abolished prior to the 1997 general election, and replaced with the new constituency of Gainsborough. At this election Leigh was elected, winning the seat with 43.1% of the vote and a majority of 6,826.[23] He was re-elected as MP for Gainsborough at the 2001 general election with an increased vote share of 46.2% and an increased majority of 8,071.[24]
From 2001 until 2010, Leigh served as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, the principal parliamentary body auditing the Budget, investigating government waste and seeking value for money in public expenditure. During his two terms as chairman, the PAC took evidence on 420 separate government projects and programmes and was responsible for saving the taxpayer over £4 billion.[25]
At the 2005 general election, Leigh was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 43.9% and a decreased majority of 8,003.[26]
Leigh was President of the socially conservative Cornerstone Group representing the views of over 40 Conservative Members of Parliament and was author of the group's inaugural pamphlet Faith, Flag and Family in 2005.[27]
In October 2006, Leigh was vocal in stating that after David Cameron had become leader of the party, core supporters were drifting away from voting Conservative.[28] Nonetheless, his effective chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee led to the rejuvenation of his parliamentary career.[29]
Early in 2008, as Chairman of the PAC, Leigh was embarrassed by relying on flawed Department for Transport (DfT) statistics to attack motorcyclists for tax evasion. He accused 38% of motorcyclists of evading vehicle excise duty. He later apologised for this following the admission by the DfT that 95.5% of motorcycles are entirely legal.[30]
At the 2010 general election, Leigh was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 49.3% and an increased majority of 10,559.[31][32]
From 2010 to 2011, Leigh served as an Independent Financial Advisor to HM Treasury, appointed by George Osborne to bring external challenge to the development and implementation of a new financial management strategy for central government. He stood down in 2011, but was then reappointed to report directly to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on improving Parliament's financial scrutiny of the Budget. He was a member of the Treasury Financial Reporting & Advisory Board and, in 2010, Leigh became a delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, speaking regularly and serving on the Culture, Science, Education and Media Committee.[33] Leigh also supported Boris Johnson's call to George Osborne in 2011 for lowering the rate of taxation in the UK so as to assist its economic recovery following the credit crunch.[34]
In 2012, Leigh, together with a record number of fellow Conservative MPs, including numerous Privy Counsellors, successfully voted against the Coalition Government's attempted railroading of House of Lords reform by limiting time for meaningful parliamentary debate on this major constitutional issue.[38]
In September 2014, Leigh criticised the Government's decision to allow mitochondrial replacement therapy to prevent the birth of the children with incurable diseases such as muscular dystrophy. These diseases affect up to 1 in 6,500 babies which Leigh stated could lead to people being "harvested for their parts" and a divide between what he referred to as "the modified and the unmodified". The Department for Health asserted no genetic modification is involved.[39]
Leigh was again re-elected at the 2015 general election with an increased vote share of 52.7% and an increased majority of 15,449.[41][42]
In March 2016, he joined three other Conservative MPs in "talking out" a Bill introduced by Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, which aimed to reverse moves to privatise the NHS. By filibustering for three and a half hours, Lucas was left with just 17 minutes to present her Bill, which was subsequently shelved without a vote.[43]
Leigh was again re-elected at the snap 2017 general election with an increased vote share of 61.8% and an increased majority of 17,023.[44]
Leigh was one of 21 MPs who, in March 2019, voted against LGBT-inclusive sex and relationship education in English schools.[45][46]
At the 2019 general election, Leigh was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 66.4% and an increased majority of 22,967.[47]
On 1 March 2022, Leigh praised Home Secretary Priti Patel's 'proportionate response' over admission of refugees into the UK from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Speaking in Parliament, Leigh also urged Patel, "To listen to the voices of people from, for instance in Lincolnshire, where we feel we have done our bit in terms of migration from eastern Europe where we are under extreme pressure in terms of housing and jobs." Leigh was criticised for these remarks by Labour councillors on Lincolnshire County Council.[49]
He defended Section 28 and opposed the Civil Partnership Act 2004, voting against it in Parliament at its Second Reading. Leigh later proposed an amendment to extend the property and pension rights afforded by civil partnerships to siblings who had lived together for more than 12 years. This was opposed by many backers of the initial Bill, such as fellow Conservative MP Sir Alan Duncan, who dubbed it a wrecking amendment.[58][59] He voted against recent amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill which has made permanent the permission for at-home medical abortions to take place.[60]
Following an interim report on the connections between colonialism and properties now in the care of the National Trust, including links with historic slavery, Leigh was among the signatories of a letter to The Telegraph in November 2020 from the "Common Sense Group" of Conservative Parliamentarians. The letter accused the National Trust of being "coloured by cultural Marxist dogma, colloquially known as the 'woke agenda'".[61]
Leigh identifies as a socially Conservative Thatcherite and believes in "free enterprise, deregulation, low taxation and a smaller state". In June 2018 he suggested reforming the National Health Service, stating: "I personally feel we have to look at social insurance, which they have in France and Germany, because there is no room for increases in general taxation."[62]
During the COVID lockdown, Leigh advocated for keeping churches open for worship, arguing that there was no scientific evidence to justify a total ban on public worship.[63]
On a number of occasions Leigh has voted against the leadership of his party where it conflicts with his personal principles.[4] In 2003, Leigh rebelled against the leadership of his own party and the Labour government to oppose military intervention in Iraq in 2003.[5] He was one of only 15 Conservative rebels who opposed it at the time.
In October 2017, the House of Commons overwhelmingly passed an Opposition motion to delay the introduction of Universal Credit and iron out problems with the system first. Leigh strongly criticised the Government decision to ignore the vote, stating: "the road to tyranny is paved by executives ignoring parliaments."[66]
Leigh ran for the Speakership of the House of Commons in 2019 after Speaker John Bercow retired; he stated that, if elected Speaker, he would be fair to all sides and assume a traditional role.[69] He was eliminated after receiving 12 votes in the first ballot.
Leigh married Mary Goodman in London on 25 September 1984; the granddaughter of Countess Maria von Carlow and great-granddaughter of Duke Georg Alexander of Mecklenburg-Strelitz through her mother, and the great-grandchild of the Arts patron Lady Ottoline Morrell and British politician Philip Morrell, through her father.
Sketch comedy web series This article uses bare URLs, which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot. Please consider converting them to full citations to ensure the article remains verifiable and maintains a consistent citation style. Several templates and tools are available to assist in formatting, such as reFill (documentation) and Citation bot (documentation). (August 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) This article may contain an excessive amount of intricate ...
Sam Huff Sam Huff, 1955 Position:Linebacker Trikotnummer:70 geboren am 4. Oktober 1934 in Edna Gas, West Virginia gestorben am 13. November 2021 in Winchester, Virginia Karriereinformationen NFL Draft: 1956 / Runde: 3 / Pick: 30 College: West Virginia University Teams: New York Giants (1956–1963) Washington Redskins (1964–1969) Karrierestatistiken Spiele 168 Touchdowns 5 Interceptions 30 Statistiken bei NFL.com ...
2010 single by BeniHeaven's DoorSingle by Benifrom the album Jewel B-sideI Like ItReleasedAugust 11, 2010 (2010-08-11)Recorded2010GenrePop, R&BLabelNayutawave RecordsSongwriter(s)Kiyoshi Matsuo, Daisuke KawaguchiBeni singles chronology Yurayura/Gimme Gimme (2010) Heaven's Door (2010) 2Face (2010) Heaven's Door is Beni's ninth single under the label Nayutawave Records. Heaven's Door is a happy feeling mid-tempo wedding track.[1][2] With this single came the p...
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Consumer electronics brand PlextorIndustryComputer hardwareFounded1985; 38 years ago (1985) Chiyoda, Tokyo, JapanHeadquartersTaipei, TaiwanProductsSSDs, optical disc drives, networking toolsWebsitewww.goplextor.com Plextor (styled PLEXTOR) (Chinese: 浦科特; Japanese: プレクスター) is a Taiwanese (formerly Japanese) consumer electronics brand, best known for solid-state drives and optical disc drives. Company The brand name Plextor was used for all products manuf...
The Righteous Men UK Paperback CoverAuthorSam Bourne (Also known as Jonathan Freedland)CountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglishGenreReligion, Thriller, Crime, Mystery novelPublisherHarperCollins (UK)Publication date18 March 2006 (U.S.) & 1 July 2006 (UK)Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)Pages448 pages (UK Hardback), 568 pages (UK Paperback)ISBN0-06-113829-0OCLC65820439Dewey Decimal823/.92 22LC ClassPR6102.O92 R54 2006 The Righteous Men is a novel written by Sam Bourne, a pse...
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South McLean Territorio no organizado South McLeanUbicación en el condado de McLean en Dakota del Norte Ubicación de Dakota del Norte en EE. UU.Coordenadas 47°20′05″N 100°56′20″O / 47.3347, -100.939Entidad Territorio no organizado • País Estados Unidos • Estado Dakota del Norte • Condado McLeanSuperficie • Total 976.43 km² • Tierra 959.8 km² • Agua (1.7%) 16.63 km²Altitud • Media 580 m s....
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