Michael Fallon

Michael Fallon (2014)

Sir Michael Cathel Fallon MP , KCB (born May 14, 1952 in Perth , Scotland ) is a British Conservative Party politician . He was the United Kingdom Secretary of Defense from July 2014 to November 2017 .

Life

Fallon during the 52nd MSC 2016

Fallon was born in 1952 to surgeon Martin Fallon. He attended the Craigflower School in Dunfermline and Epsom College in Surrey . He then studied Classical Antiquity and Ancient History at the University of St Andrews and graduated with a Masters in 1974.

Even as a student, Fallon was active in the European Movement International and campaigned for the United Kingdom to join the European Community . After graduating, Fallon worked for Peter Carington in the House of Lords until 1977 and then as a consultant at the EC until 1979. In 1979 he became an advisor to MEP Diana Elles .

In July 1982, he was elected as a Conservative Party candidate for the House of Commons by-elections in the Darlington constituency after the Labor MP died. Fallon lost the election to Oswald O'Brien , but won the seat for Darlington only a few months later in the June 1983 general election. In 1992 he lost his seat of parliament, but was able to gain a seat in the constituency of Sevenoaks in 1997 and moved back into the lower house.

Fallon was 1987 parliamentary state Minister of Energy Cecil Parkinson and 1988, Thatcher to Assistant Whip . In 1990 he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary in the Treasury. In 1990, Thatcher appointed him Parliamentary State Secretary for the Ministry of Education and Science.

During his time outside Parliament, he was CEO of Just Learning from 1992 to 1997 , which he co-founded.

After his re-election to the British House of Commons, Fallon became opposition spokesman for trade and industry in 1997 and then Financial Secretary to the Treasury . When he fell ill in 1998, he retired from this position and remained a simple MP until he became deputy chairman of the Conservative Party.

From 1999 he was a member of the committee that oversees the UK Treasury HM Treasury and was chairman of the subcommittee from 2001 to 2010. In September 2012 he became a member of the Privy Council , and Minister for Commerce and Enterprise. In 2013 he also took over the Ministry of Energy.

In January 2014, Fallon became the newly created Minister for Portsmouth . On July 15, 2014, Cameron appointed him Secretary of Defense . Fallon also held this post in the first and second government cabinets of Cameron's successor Theresa May . Fallon was named Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath as part of former Prime Minister Cameron's resignation honors .

Controversy over resignation from the ministerial office

In October 2017, reports of sexual harassment and abuse by British politicians were published. In this context, Fallon was accused of molesting journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer on the sidelines of a party conference in 2002 by repeatedly placing his hand on her knee. Fallon confirmed the allegation and said he apologized to Hartley-Brewer immediately after the incident. Notwithstanding this, he submitted his resignation as Defense Minister on November 1, 2017. He did not meet the high standards that are otherwise applied to the armed forces . The journalist concerned expressed herself from astonishment to amusement and published a photo of her knee with the signature that it was "still intact". She finds it “bizarre” that this incident made her suddenly on the front pages of the newspapers 15 years ago. She denied it was sexual abuse or abuse of power, called the whole fuss a "Westminster witch hunt" and suggested that Fallon had in fact resigned for other reasons. Two days later, it was revealed that Fallon's cabinet colleague Andrea Leadsom had complained to Prime Minister May about him shortly before his resignation after making suggestive remarks to Leadsom.

Gavin Williamson was appointed as the new Secretary of Defense on November 2, 2017.

Web links

Commons : Michael Fallon  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website
• official page

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{a b} London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 61678, HMSO, London, August 16, 2016, p. RH3 ( PDF , accessed August 29, 2016, English).
2. ↑ bbc.com: Sir Michael Fallon resigns, saying his conduct 'fell short
3. ^ FAZ.net: British Defense Minister resigns
4. ↑ Tiffany Holland: Profile: Michael Fallon, Minister for business . retail-week.com. September 14, 2012. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
5. ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9520858/Michael-Fallon-becomes-business-minister.html
6. ↑ BBC.com: [1]
7. ↑ Theresa May's cabinet: Who's in and who's out? BBC News, July 13, 2016, accessed July 14, 2016 . 
8. ↑ Jessica Elgot and Rowena Mason: Sexual harassment claims still not being taken seriously, say MPs . The Guardian , October 27, 2017.
9. ↑ Michael Fallon 'apologized for touching journalist's knee' . BBC News , October 31, 2017.
10. ↑ British Defense Minister resigns after allegations of harassment . Spiegel Online , November 1, 2017.
11. ↑ Martin Robinson, Kate Ferguson: 'Both my knees are still intact. Get a grip, people ': Journalist whose knee was touched by Defense Secretary Michael Fallon insists she's not a victim - and threatened to punch him in the face if he did it again. TheDaily Mail, October 31, 2017, accessed November 2, 2017 . 
12. ↑ Robert Mendick, Jack Maidment: "Michael Fallon resigned after allegedly telling Andrea Leadsom: 'Cold hands? I know where you can put them'" The Telegraph of November 3, 2017
13. ↑ Michael Fallon 'apologized for touching journalist's knee'. BBC News, October 31, 2017, accessed November 2, 2017 .