Francis Maude
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| The Rt Hon. Francis Maude MP | |
| Chairman, Conservative Party | |
|---|---|
| In office | |
| December 6, 2005 – present | |
| Succeeded by | Incumbent |
| Born | 4 July 1953 Oxfordshire, England |
| Constituency | Horsham |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Children | Alastair, Lydia, Harry, Cecily and Julia |
| Website: francismaude.com | |
Francis Anthony Aylmer Maude PC (born 4 July 1953) is a British politician, the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Horsham, Chairman of the Conservative Party and a member of the Privy Council.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
The son of former Conservative minister Angus Maude, Francis Maude was educated at Abingdon School, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and the College of Law and practised criminal law. He was a councillor for the City of Westminster 1978–84.
He was MP for North Warwickshire from 1983 to 1992, serving as a junior minister in a variety of posts until he lost his seat at the 1992 general election to the Labour candidate, Mike O'Brien.
Maude worked in banking as Managing Director of Morgan Stanley & Co Ltd while outside parliament, but returned to politics, and was elected in the 1997 general election to the different and safer seat of Horsham (a town with which he had few links). In his second spell in Parliament he has served as Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Shadow Foreign Secretary.
Following the 2001 election he managed Michael Portillo's unsuccessful bid for the Conservative leadership. After the election of Iain Duncan Smith, he declined to make himself available to serve in the Shadow Cabinet, and returned to the backbenches. He is considered to be a 'moderniser', and is Chairman of the think tank "Conservatives for Change".
He continued with his liberal agenda and claimed in The Daily Telegraph (24 June 2002) that the Conservative Party's electoral problems had been caused by their failure to "look and sound like modern Britain". He was subsequently attacked in the same newspaper on 27 June by Michael Keith Smith, chairman of the Conservative Democratic Alliance, who said that "Voters deserve a real alternative to Blairism and his 'straight kinda guy' chicanery. Mr.Maude and his CCHanging[1] Tories are incapable of providing it."
Norman Tebbit's secretary, Beryl Goldsmith, also sneered at Maude on the same day asking "How many male, white, straight Conservative MPs currently passionately campaigning for the selection of more women, and more men and women from ethnic minorities, would voluntarily relinquish their own seats in order to encourage local associations to follow the policy line they preach from their own smug, safe base? Precious few I would guess — including Mr Francis Maude."
In the post-election 2005 reshuffle, Maude returned to the Shadow Cabinet as Chairman of the Conservative Party. He remained in that position after David Cameron's reshuffle.
In 2006, he told the gay news website (PinkNews.co.uk) that the homophobic attitude of the Thatcher government contributed to the death of his brother from AIDS [2].
[edit] Outside politics
On the eve of the 2006 conservative party conference, Recess Monkey revealed that Jubilee Trust, a company which Maude is non-executive Chairman, held 21% of American porn star Jill Kelly's adult DVD business. This was at a time when Maude was pushing a pro-female agenda, including additional selection of women candidates [3]
He has also been linked by the Observer to the company behind controversial advertisements, which some people have complained are linked to binge drinking. The commericals - for WKD alcohol - have since been banned.[1]
[edit] Personal life
Maude is father of five: Alastair, Lydia, Harry, Cecily and Julia
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ CCHange is an abbreviation used by "Conservatives for Change" http://www.cchange.org.uk/
- ^ http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-449.html
- ^ http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17851468%26method=full%26siteid=94762%26headline=true%2dblue%2dtory-name_page.html
[edit] External links
- Francis Maude MP official site
- Conservative Party — Rt Hon Francis Maude MP official biography
- Guardian Unlimited Politics Ask Aristotle — Francis Maude MP
- They Work For You — Francis Maude MP
- The Public Whip — Francis Maude MP voting record
- BBC Politics — Francis Maude profile 10 February 2005
[edit] Offices held
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: (new constituency) |
Member of Parliament for Warwickshire North 1983–1992 |
Succeeded by: Mike O'Brien |
| Preceded by: Peter Hordern |
Member of Parliament for Horsham 1997 – present |
Incumbent |
| Political Offices | ||
| Preceded by: Peter Lilley |
Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1990–1992 |
Succeeded by: Stephen Dorrell |
| Preceded by: Liam Fox |
Chairman of the Conservative Party 2005 – present |
Incumbent |
Categories: 1953 births | Living people | Current British MPs | Current members of the United Kingdom Parliament from English constituencies | Conservative MPs (UK) | Councillors in Greater London | Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom | Natives of Oxfordshire | Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge | Old Abingdonians | UK MPs 1983-1987 | UK MPs 1987-1992 | UK MPs 1997-2001 | UK MPs 2001-2005 | UK MPs 2005-
