David Maclean, Baron Blencathra

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

David John Maclean, Baron Blencathra , PC (* 16th May 1953 in Cromarty , Ross and Cromarty , Scotland ) is a British politician of the Conservative Party and Life Peer . He was a Member of the House of Commons from 1983 to 2010 and has been a member of the House of Lords since 2011 .

life and career

Maclean attended Fortrose Academy at Fortrose , The Black Isle , Highland and the University of Aberdeen . He is the director of Two Lions Consultancy Ltd , an agency that advises on general public affairs.

MacLean has had multiple sclerosis since 1996 .

Membership in the House of Commons

In 1983 Maclean followed William Whitelaw as MP for the constituency of Penrith and The Border in the House of Commons, after he was named a peer and moved to the House of Commons. He was referred to as a Thatcherite ; He said of beggars: "I will always give them something - I give them a part of my mind."

Under the reign of Margaret Thatcher , Maclean was initially a Government Whip . From 1989 to 1992 he was State Secretary ( Parliamentary Secretary ) at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. After the 1992 general election , he became Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and in 1993 moved to the post of Minister of State at the Home Office , an office he held until the Conservative Party was defeated in the 1997 general election held. In 1995 he turned down an offer to move to cabinet - possibly as Minister of Agriculture - with the statement that he was "A round peg in a round hole."

During the opposition period under the leadership of William Hague , Maclean was a " backbencher ". After 2001 Iain Duncan Smith became the new party chairman, was appointed as Chief Whip Maclean ( Chief Whip ). When Smith lost a vote of confidence in 2003, Maclean offered to resign but was reappointed by the new chairman, Michael Howard . He returned to the back benches when David Cameron was elected chairman.

During and since the 2005 general election , he worked extensively with the pro-hunting group Vote-OK , aiming to return a Conservative government to repeal the 2004 Hunting Act . He was a member of the House of Commons Commission in 2006 . In 2007, MacLean hit the headlines when he introduced a Private Members Bill that would have exempted the two houses of Parliament from the Freedom of Information Act . The bill turned out to be controversial, with unofficial support from the government. MacLean said, "My bill is necessary to give an absolute guarantee that correspondence from Members of Parliament to an agency in the interests of the electorate and others will remain confidential." The bill was approved by the House of Commons on May 18, 2007, but has not yet found a sponsor in the House of Lords . A report by the House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution , published June 20, 2007, said the bill "does not meet the requirements of due diligence and adequacy in making legislation of constitutional importance." In its report, Constitutional Affairs said Committee in the House of Commons: "We have not been able to find any evidence to suggest that such an exception is necessary or that existing protections for voter correspondence are insufficient." Gordon Brown's Green Paper on Constitutional Reform, 'The Governance of Britain ', includes the statement "It is right that Parliament should be affected by the Act ", indicating that the main proposal of the bill will not become law.

Maclean served on several Select Committees . In 2006 he was Chair of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments .

On June 26, 2009, he announced to the Conservative Party in his constituency that he would not run for the 2010 general election because of his worsening multiple sclerosis .

Membership in the House of Lords

Maclean was named a Life Peer as Baron Blencathra, of Penrith in the County of Cumbria on February 28, 2011 . Its official introduction to the House of Lords took place on March 10, 2011 with the assistance of David Waddington and Michael Howard . He gave his inaugural address on April 27, 2011.

Despite his poor health, Maclean is regularly present on meeting days.

criticism

The Daily Telegraph reported that Maclean was drawing more than £ 20,000 to work on his farmhouse under the Additional Costs Allowance (ACA) before selling it for £ 750,000. He obtained the money by declaring the house as a second home to the competent authority in the House of Commons, but he still did not pay any capital gains tax because the tax office had accepted it as his main residence. MacLean was one of 98 MPs who voted to keep their expense details secret.

His role in the Cayman Islands mission led to discussions in April 2012 about whether he had broken parliamentary rules.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ David Maclean Profile on BBC News October 17, 2002
  2. ↑ David Maclean: Electoral history and profile ( Memento April 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Profile of the Guardian , accessed June 10, 2012
  3. ↑ Cumbrian MP David Maclean to step down at General Election ( Memento of the original from February 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Article in News and Star dated June 27, 2009  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.newsandstar.co.uk
  4. ↑ 10 Mar 2011: Column 1749 Minutes of the House of Lords meeting of 10 March 2011
  5. ↑ House of Lords: Members 'expenses Members' expenses on the House of Lords website , accessed April 8, 2012
  6. ↑ MPs' expenses: cash secrets of MPs who tried to stop you seeing their expenses Telegraph article , May 16, 2009
  7. ↑ Watchdog set to investigate Lord Blencathra over lobbying for Cayman Islands Independent article from April 18, 2012
  8. ↑ Fury over Scottish Tory peer who works for haven that helps the rich avoid paying their taxes Article of the Daily Record of April 18, 2012
personal data
SURNAME Maclean, David, Baron Blencathra
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maclean, David John, Baron Blencathra (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British politician (Conservative Party)
DATE OF BIRTH May 16, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Cromarty , Ross and Cromarty , Scotland