Jill Knight, Baroness Knight of Collingtree

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Joan Christabel "Jill" Knight, Baroness Knight of Collingtree , DBE (born Christie , born July 9, 1923 , according to other sources in 1927 in London ) is a British politician ( Conservative Party ).

life and career

Jill Christie attended the King Edward Grammar School for Girls in Birmingham . She served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) during World War II . On January 14, 1947, she married James Montague (Monty) Knight, an optician in Northampton . They had two sons. From 1956 to 1966 she was Councilor on Northampton Borough Council , where she was Whip . In the general election in 1959 and the general election in 1964 , she stood unsuccessfully for the constituency of Northampton for the Conservative Party .

Membership in the House of Commons

She was elected MP for the Birmingham Edgbaston constituency in 1966 , which she successfully defended and held in the subsequent elections until 1997. Knight was a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee ( Parliamentary Select Committee ) to race relations and immigration ( On Race Relations and Immigration ) 1969-1972, the Special Committee for the Euro Council ( Select Committee for the Council of Europe ) from 1977 to 1988 and from 1999, Chairman ( Lady Chairman ) of the All Party Child and Family Protection Group in 1978, in 1982 the Conservative back-bench Health and Social Services Committee and secretary ( secretary ) of the 1922 Committee from 1983 to 1987. from 1980 to 1984 and from 1992 to 1997 she was Member of the Home Affairs Select Committee . From 1992 to 1997 she was Deputy Chair there . She was a member of the Standards Select Committee from 1993 to 1997 .

Knight was Chair ( Lady Chairman ) of the Western European Union Relations with Parliaments Committee from 1984 to 1988. She was a member of the Council of Europe from 1977 to 1988 and was Chair ( Chairman ) of the British Inter-Parliamentary Union from 1994 to 1997, after 1992 to 1997 was a member of the Executive Committee.

She was President of the West Midlands Conservative Political Center from 1980 to 1983.

Political positions

Northern Ireland

Knight was an active member of the Conservative Monday Club for over 20 years and was an outspoken opponent of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA). After the 1972 attack in Aldershot by the OIRA, it called on parliament to ban the IRA and attacked supporters and sympathizers on the continent. In September 1973 she repeated her call for an IRA ban, which in her view was “at open war with Great Britain ”. In December 1973 she declared that "it is the first duty of any government to protect its citizens."

In June 1974, Knight protested the "arrogant IRA march" that took place in London . She said it was "a scandal and an insult to the British people". She was supported by other MPs who belonged to the Monday Club. These included its chairman John Biggs-Davison , who made proposals to the Home Secretary under the Public Order Act , and the conservative politician John Heydon Stokes . Also in June, she filed a formal complaint with Home Secretary Leonard Carr, Baron Carr of Hadley, about the Terrorist International Rally that was being held in Northern Ireland . She said it was "highly insulting that international terrorists are meeting in Britain and plotting against us." The IRA was banned in 1977.

In October 1974 Sir Keith Joseph spoke in Knight's constituency , expressing admiration for Knight; she was "a brave woman who spoke her mind when others prefer discretion in public and only express their opinion in private in camera." She replied: "I believe that my electorate sent me to Parliament to speak my mind and not to shut up".

In November 1974 she called for the reintroduction of the death penalty for the IRA and all terrorists and called on then Interior Minister Roy Jenkins to step up measures against the IRA. Knight said she had "received more than 8,000 letters calling for the death penalty for terrorist acts and only 115 against it." John Biggs-Davison and Knight protested in Parliament when the government decided to pay £ 42,000 in compensation to the relatives of Pay men who were shot dead by the British Army on Bloody Sunday 1972. She added, “These payments would open a new level of debt. What compensation will the relatives of the victims of the IRA killers in Birmingham receive? "

Right to strike

In December 1974, Knight protested in the House of Commons that single men on strike were receiving benefits, those receiving benefits for rent and hire purchase contracts during a strike. The following month she supported Harold Wilson's decision to intervene in the British Leyland strike by appealing to workers.

Homosexuality and abortion

Jill Knight, along with David Wilshire , also a member of the Conservative Party , was responsible for introducing the addition to Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 , which forbade local authorities to “advertise” homosexuality .

She was also an opponent of abortion and supported successful attempts to shorten the period of time in which the operation could be legally performed.

Membership in the House of Lords

Knight was raised to Life Peeress on September 23, 1997 as Baroness Knight of Collingtree , of Collingtree in the County of Northamptonshire . She gave her inaugural address at the House of Lords on February 4, 1998.

On the website of the House of Lords , she lists health care , social security, childcare , economic policy , the Council of Europe and the WEU as topics of political interest . She names the USA , Cyprus and Taiwan as states of interest . Since 2004 she has been President ( Chairman ) of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Northern Cyprus .

She spoke up in the House of Lords on the subjects of school policy and the university system, the peace talks in Cyprus and European integration .

Knight attended meetings of the House of Lords regularly. She also speaks up there regularly. Knight is one of the members of the House of Lords who have had very high attendance rates continuously since 2001. Knight attended an average of over 80 meeting days each year during the session. In 2008 she spoke in a total of 21 debates, an unusually high number for the House of Lords. On March 24, 2016, she retired under the provisions of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014 and left the House of Lords.

Other offices

From 1990 to 2002 she was director of Computeach International Ltd . From 1999 to 2002 she was director of Heckett Multiserv . She has served as a lecturer and broadcaster as well as Vice-President of the Board of the Fluoridation Society since 1994. From 2002 to 2006 she was Vice-Chair of the Association of Conservative Peers .

Knight has served as Chairman of the Board of the Sulgrave Manor Trust since 2007 .

Honors

In 1964 she was named a member of the Order of the British Empire . In 1985 she was ennobled as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. The Aston University she recorded in 1998 with the honorary degree of Doctor of Science from (Hon DSc).

Publications

literature

  • Robert Copping : The Monday Club - Crisis and After , Current Affairs Information Service, Ilford, Essex, May 1976, pps: 5, 9, 16-18, 21-22; ISBN unknown
  • Dod's Parliamentary Companion 1973 , 160th edition, Sell's Publications Ltd., Epsom, Surrey, ISBN unknown
  • Dod's Parliamentary Companion 1990 , 171st edition, London, ISBN 978-0-905702-16-2
  • Black, A & C, Who's Who 2009 , London. (various editions), ISBN 978-1-4081-0248-0

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Times House of Commons 1966. London: The Times Office. October 1966. p. 41.
  2. ↑ Stenton, Michael; Lees, Stephens (1981). Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume IV, 1945–1979. Brighton: The Harvester Press. P. 207. ISBN 0-85527-335-6 .
  3. ↑ JILL KNIGHT, BARONESS KNIGHT OF COLLINGTREE (PDF; 40 kB) Biography (Official website of Baylor University)
  4. ↑ IRA DEMONSTRATION (LONDON) parliamentary debate of the House of the Hansard of June 10, 1974
  5. ↑ Hard boots in: Der SPIEGEL of September 10, 1973
  6. ↑ Speech at Edgbaston Text of Sir Keith Joseph's speech on October 10, 1974
  7. ↑ TERRORISM parliamentary debate in the House of Commons at Hansard's on November 25, 1974
  8. ↑ Supplementary Benefit (Industrial Disputes) parliamentary debate of the House of Commons at Hansard on December 10, 1974
  9. ↑ PROHIBITION ON PROMOTING HOMOSEXUALITY BY TEACHING OR BY PUBLISHING MATERIAL. Parliamentary debate in the House of Commons at Hansard's on March 9, 1988
  10. ↑ Councils should NOT be spending your money on promoting homosexuality Article of the Daily Mail of July 2, 2009
  11. ^ Abortion (Amendment) Bill parliamentary debate of the House of Commons at Hansard on January 22, 1988
  12. ↑ House of Lords: Members 'expenses Members' expenses on the House of Lords website , accessed September 8, 2011
  13. ↑ A Visit by Baroness Knight of Collingtree  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Article on the Charleston Mercury website dated November 18, 2008@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / charlestonmercury.com  
personal data
SURNAME Knight, Jill, Baroness Knight of Collingtree
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Knight, Joan Christabel; Christie, Jill
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British politician (Conservative Party)
DATE OF BIRTH July 9, 1923 or 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH London