Charles Hendry

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change
In office
12 May 2010 – 4 September 2012[1]
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byJoan Ruddock
Succeeded byJohn Hayes
Member of Parliament
for Wealden
In office
7 June 2001 – 30 March 2015
Preceded byGeoffrey Johnson-Smith
Succeeded byNus Ghani
Member of Parliament
for High Peak
In office
9 April 1992 – 8 April 1997
Preceded byChristopher Hawkins
Succeeded byTom Levitt
Personal details
Born (1959-05-06) 6 May 1959 (age 64)
Cuckfield, Sussex, England
Political partyConservative
SpouseSallie Moores
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh

Charles Hendry

PC (born 6 May 1959 in Cuckfield, Sussex) is a British Conservative Party politician. Formerly the member of parliament for High Peak between the 1992 and 1997 general elections, he was returned as the MP for Wealden in 2001. In May 2010 he was appointed Minister of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change and served until 2012. He stood down at the 2015 general election
.

Early life

The son of a

Leader of the Opposition William Hague
.

Political career

Early political activities

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 came third, finishing 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 vote in the whole election.

In parliament

Hendry (centre) during his time as MP for High Peak

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.

In

Geoffrey Johnson Smith
. Hendry retained his new seat for his party with a majority of 13,772.

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. In June 2003, he called for the introduction of "first time voter packs" to help to engage young people in the political process.[3] However, he was moved in July 2003 under Michael Howard to again become a vice-chairman of the Conservative Party before serving as a spokesman on trade and industry from early 2005. He served briefly as a member of the culture, media and sport select committee in 2004. He also served as the vice-chairman of the all-party groups on endometriosis, Internet and management
.

Hendry speaking in 2013

In September 2006, Hendry became a Patron of the

Committee on Climate Change
.

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.

In May 2010 he took his share of the vote to the 30th largest of the Conservatives' 307 seats, on an absolute majority of votes at 56.6%.[5] Since November 2012, he has been the Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.[6]

In March 2013, Hendry announced he would stand down as MP at the 2015 general election.[7]

In July 2013, it became known that Hendry had secured a job as adviser to the Atlantic Supergrid Corporation which plans to import power to the UK via an undersea cable from Iceland. Hendry had signed an energy pact with Iceland while he was Minister of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change.[8]

In March 2015, he was appointed to the

Privy Council of the United Kingdom and therefore granted the title The Right Honourable.[9]

Hendry was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to UK trade and investment.[10]

Personal life

Hendry married Sallie Moores, who had first married into the

Moores family of the Littlewoods company, in July 1995 in Westminster and has two sons and two stepchildren. In 2011 they sold their London home for £4.75 million and bought Blair Castle in Ayrshire.[11]

Hendry was a director of London Oil & Gas, which borrowed £129 million from London Capital & Finance. Following the collapse of LC&F, administrators named Hendry as one of thirteen people they were intending to sue in order to recoup £178 million of investors funds.[12]

References

  1. ^ "John Hayes replaces Charles Hendry as energy minister". The Guardian. 5 September 2012. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022.
  2. ^ "People of Today: Charles Hendry". Debrett's. Retrieved 4 February 2016.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ Stone-Lee, Ollie (11 June 2003). "First time voter packs mooted". BBC News.
  4. ^ http://www.forewind.co.uk/news/64/34/Charles-Hendry-appointed-as-chairman.html Charles Hendry appointed as Chairman
  5. ^ General Election Results from the Electoral Commission
  6. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 March 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ^ "SussexLive - Latest news, sport & what's on from Sussex". sussexlive. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  8. ^ "Former Tory minister Charles Hendry takes job with party donor". The Guardian. 29 July 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  9. ^ "Privy Council appointments: March 2015". Press release. Prime Minister's Office. 12 March 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  10. ^ "No. 62666". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 June 2019. p. B23.
  11. ^ Tim Walker (18 November 2011). "Tory minister Charles Hendry spends millions on Blair". Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  12. ^ "Thirteen sued for £178m over alleged fraud". Financial Times. 4 September 2020. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2020.

External links

News articles
Video clips
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for High Peak
1992–1997 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Wealden
2001–2015 		Succeeded by
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