David Heath (politician)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Mark Robinson
Succeeded byDavid Warburton
Personal details
Born (1954-03-16) 16 March 1954 (age 70)
Westbury-sub-Mendip, Somerset, England
Political partyLiberal Democrat
Spouse
Caroline Netherton
​
(m. 1987)​
[1]
Children2
Alma materSt John's College, Oxford
OccupationMP

David William St John Heath

optometrist and Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Somerton and Frome from 1997 to 2015. He served as the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food from September 2012 to October 2013 in the Cameron–Clegg coalition government
.

Early life

Heath was born in

City University
, London.

Early career

Heath worked as a practising

optometrist for seventeen years from 1979. He is also an honorary fellow of the College of Optometrists. He became a parliamentary consultant to the World Wide Fund for Nature in 1990, before joining Age Concern
in the same capacity in 1991. He has worked for various other charities as a consultant since 1995.

Political career

He was elected as a

Somerset County Council
in 1985, becoming the leader of the council 1985–1989. At the age of 31, he was the youngest ever leader of a county council. He remained as the Liberal Democrat group leader until 1991 and stood down from the council in 1997.

Westminster career

He unsuccessfully contested

Mark Robinson by 4,341 votes. He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1997 General Election when he ousted Robinson at Somerton and Frome by just 130 votes and remained the MP until standing down in 2015. He made his maiden speech on 21 May 1997.[2]

In Parliament he served on the

Science and Technology Select Committee. In 2003 he was appointed party spokesman on home affairs before moving to speak on the office of the Leader of the House of Commons and the Department for Constitutional Affairs in 2005, and then the Ministry of Justice in 2007. Heath was also a member of the Select Committee on the Modernisation of the House of Commons
from 2005 to 2006.

Heath ran for the deputy leadership of the Liberal Democrats in 2006 and came third in the first round.

In March 2008 Heath was one of three Liberal Democrat spokesmen to defy the party whip and vote in favour of a referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon, for which he was sacked from his frontbench role.[3] In October 2008 he was given a partial reprieve when he was chosen to lead a Liberal Democrat commission on privacy in the UK,[4] and in January 2009 he was reappointed as spokesman on the office of the Leader of the House of Commons.[5] In 2010, he was re-elected as MP for Somerton and Frome.[6]

He was the vice-chairman of the all party groups on United Nations, Romania and the group on eye health and visual impairment. He was also the treasurer of the pharmacy group.

After over three years of service in the coalition government, Heath was sacked as a minister in a reshuffle and returned to the back benches, making his first appearance as back-bencher on 10 October 2013 during the business statement in which The Leader of the House of Commons, Andrew Lansley paid tribute to him for his service in the Government. Later that same week, he announced his intention to step down at the next UK General Election.[7]

In March 2015, he was appointed to the

Privy Council of the United Kingdom and therefore granted the title The Right Honourable.[8]

Personal life

CBE ribbon

He married Caroline Netherton in May 1987 in Somerset and they have a daughter (born May 1988) and a son (born May 1991); they live in the constituency at

Avon and Somerset Police Authority for three years from 1993. He became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire
in 1989 and he used to breed pigs.

References

  1. ^ "House of Commons – The Register of Members' Financial Interests – Part 2: Part 2". parliament.uk.
  2. ^ "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 21 May 1997 (pt 5)". parliament.uk.
  3. ^ "Senior Lib Dems quit over EU vote". BBC News. 5 March 2008. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
  4. ^ "Lib Dem EU rebels win back jobs". BBC News. 7 October 2008. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
  5. ^ "Clegg reshuffles top Lib Dem team". BBC News. 8 January 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
  6. ^ "BBC NEWS – Election 2010 – Somerton & Frome". BBC News.
  7. ^ "David Heath MP to step down at general election". BBC News. 11 October 2013.
  8. ^ "Privy Council appointments: March 2015". Press release. Prime Minister's Office. 12 March 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Mark Robinson
 Member of Parliament for Somerton and Frome
1997–2015 		Succeeded by
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