Quentin Davies

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John Quentin Davies, Baron Davies of Stamford (born May 29, 1944 in Oxford , England ) is a British politician ( Labor Party ).

life and career

Davies was born in Oxford to a doctor who served in the Royal Air Force . He attended the local Quaker Leighton Park School in Reading and then studied history at Gonville and Caius College of the University of Cambridge , where he in 1966 as a Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction. He was a Frank Knox Fellow at Harvard University .

Davies graduated with a diploma in diplomacy and then served in the diplomatic service. From 1967 to 1969 he was Third Secretary of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office , from 1969 to 1972 Second Secretary at the Embassy in Moscow . From 1973 to 1974 he was one of several first secretaries in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In 1974 he left the diplomatic service.

In the following years , Davies worked for Morgan Grenfell . From 1974 to 1978 he worked as Assistant Director , from 1978 to 1981 as Director-General and President of Morgan Grenfell France . From 1981 to 1987 he was Director of the Main Board and Chairman ( Head ) of the European Cooperation Fin . From 1987 to 1993 he was a consultant ( Consultant active).

Membership in the House of Commons

Davies first appeared in 1977 for the Birmingham Ladywood constituency for the Conservative Party , but was defeated by John Sever . In 1987 he was elected to the House of Commons for the constituency of Stamford and Spalding with a majority of 13,991 votes and represented this constituency until 1997. After its dissolution, he represented the newly formed constituency of Grantham and Stamford .

Davies held several positions as Parliamentary Secretary of State . From 1988 to 1990 he held this position under Minister Angela Rumbold in the Department of Education and Science and from 1990 to 1991 in the home office .

In 1996, Davies received the Guardian magazine's Parliamentarian of the Year Award . That same year, BBC Radio 4 named him Backbencher of the Year .

After the Conservatives ceased to be in government, he was given several shadow offices . From 1998 to 1999 he was Shadow Minister for Pensions , from 1999 to 2000 Shadow Paymaster General , Shadow Minister for Defense from 2000 to 2001 and Opposition Spokesman for Defense again from 2008, from 2001 to 2003 Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland ( Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland ).

Davies served on several special committees in the House of Commons: Standards and Privileges 1995 to 1997 and 1997 to 1998, Treasury 1997 to 1998, European Scrutiny 1998, and International Development from 2003 to 2007. He was a member of the Joint Committee on Tax Law Rewrite Bills Special Committee from 2007 until 2009 and has been a member of the Regulatory Reform Special Committee since 2007 . He also belonged to several other committees on: Finance ( Finance ) from 1991 to 1997, Trade and Industry ( Trade and Industry ) from 1991 to 1995, and from 1995 to 1998 he was deputy chairman of the Conservative Party Committee for Trade and Industry . From 1996 to 1998 he was a member of the Standards and Privileges Committee . From 1997 to 1998 he was a member of the Euro Legislation Committee . From 2006 to 2007 he was chairman of the Conservative Group for Europe .

Davies was promoted to government on October 5, 2008. He was Parliamentary Secretary ( Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State ) of the Defense Equipment and Support in the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense . Davies replaced Ann Taylor, Baroness Taylor of Bolton , as both Secretary of State and Defense Procurement Minister .

On the side of the House of Commons, Davies names defense policy , trade and industry, finance, agriculture, health policy, animal welfare , state pension insurance and pension payments and development aid as his political interests . He mentions the other EU countries as well as the USA and Russia as countries of particular interest .

Working in public

Change from the Conservative Party to the Labor Party

Davies left the Conservative Party on June 26, 2007 and joined the Labor Group on the eve of Gordon Brown's assumption of office as Prime Minister .

Davies made his decision public in a letter to Tory Chairman David Cameron in which he wrote: “Under your leadership, it seems to me that the Conservative Party has collectively stopped believing in or advocating anything. She has no foundation. It exists on quicksand. A sense of mission has been replaced with a PR agenda. "Davies continued," I look forward to joining another party that has just got a leader whom I have always admired. He has remained very simple in my opinion and has done an outstanding job and has a clear vision for the future of our country which I fully share. "He accused David Cameron of" superficiality, unreliability and an apparent lack of clear convictions. " He said "these qualities would exclude him from the intended national leadership role."

Two years before his transfer, he described Gordon Brown in a speech in the House of Commons as “extremely incompetent”, “careless”, “exceptionally naive” and concluded: “I trust and believe that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has something unpleasant about the election results the near future. He has no one to blame for this other than himself. "

Expense scandal

In 2009, during the UK Parliamentarians' expense scandal, the Sunday Mirror alleged that Davies was claiming £ 10,000, taxpayer money, on window frame repairs in his second home, an 18th-century property, while he was in lived in his main house in Westminster . Notably, the accusation against a Labor MP appeared in a newspaper known for supporting the Labor Party. Davies became the figurehead for the expense scandal in 2009. In fact, in 2008 Davies' expense reports submitted to the Labor Party attempted to claim £ 20,700 as an additional reimbursement for repairs to the clock tower of his Frampton Hall home, valued at £ 5 million . The total was later changed to £ 5,376. Davies' MP expenses were often above average.

Criticism of the Ministry of Defense's spending policy

Less than a month after assuming responsibility for the Defense Equipment and Support organization, Davies came under pressure when Major Sebastien Morley, Commander of the Special Air Service in Afghanistan , resigned due to "chronic underfunding" of the force's military equipment. He called the government's behavior in examining deficiencies in military equipment "carefree at best, criminal at worst." Morley had resigned after four soldiers under his command were killed while stationed in "Snatch" -type land rovers, which were only are lightly armored and offer no protection against roadside bombs; the Land Rovers of the model "Snatch" were described by the soldiers as "mobile coffins". The government has now requested new armored transport vehicles to increase safety and prevent deaths. Davies added that it was not the government's intention to disparage the lives of British soldiers and said it was "very surprising and sad" to hear the former commander's statements. During his troop visit to Afghanistan, the soldiers he spoke to said they were satisfied with the equipment delivered. He said: "Obviously there are situations where, in retrospect, a commander chose the wrong equipment, the wrong vehicle for a patrol or for a threat that needed to be met, which resulted in casualties."

Membership in the House of Lords

Davies was named a Life Peer as Baron Davies of Stamford , of Stamford in the County of Lincolnshire on July 8, 2010 , and was officially inducted into the House of Lords on the same day. He was supported by Peter Temple-Morris, Baron Temple-Morris and Giles Radice, Baron Radice . He gave his inaugural address at the House of Lords on July 27, 2010.

He lists Defense Policy , Trade and Industry, Finance , Agriculture , Healthcare , Public Welfare, Pensions and Overseas Developments as his political interests on the House of Lords website . He names the other EU states as well as the USA and Russia as states of particular interest .

Further offices and honors

Davies was a director of Dewe Rogerson International from 1987 to 1996 . From 1999 to 2000 he was director of Société Générale d'Entreprise SA (SGE). Since 2003 he has been the director of Vinci SA and Vinci Public limited Company .

He also fulfills several functions as a consultant. He has been advising the Chartered Institute of Taxation since 1993 . In 1993 he became a member of the Chartered Institute of Transport ( MCIT ). From 1993 to 2000 he worked for NatWest Markets and from 2000 to 2003 for Royal Bank of Scotland Global Markets . In 2004 he was a member of the Board of Directors ( Council ) of Lloyd's of London .

Davies is the Freeman of the City of London . He is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths .

family

Davies married Chantal Tamplin, daughter of Lt. Col Richard Tamplin, in Irnham Church in 1983 . She is his parliamentary assistant. They have two sons together. They live on the Frampton Hall estate in Frampton .

Davies has a brother, Richard, a successful financier, whose daughter Jessica Davies was sentenced by a French court to 15 years in prison for murder .

Publications

  • 1996: Britain and Europe: A Conservative View , London Conservative Group for Europe

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quentin Davies, Esq, MP Debretts (available online)
  2. ↑ Quentin Davies Parliamentary Biography on the House of Commons page
  3. ↑ Conservative MP defects to Labor BBC News, June 27, 2007
  4. ↑ Why I am defecting to Labor Original wording of the letter in: The Guardian of June 26, 2007
  5. ^ House of Commons Hansard Debates Wording of the speech of May 16, 2005 in the House of Commons
  6. ^ Defense Minister and ex-Tory MP Quentin Davies claimed £ 10k for window repairs . In: Sunday Mirror , May 24, 2009. Retrieved April 24, 2009. Defense Minister and Labor MP Quentin Davies claimed £ 10,000 of taxpayers' money for repairs to window frames at his "second home" - an 18th century mansion. He claimed for the listed building while staying at his "main home", a flat near Westminster. Mr Davies, who defected to Labor when Gordon Brown became PM in 2007, spent close to the maximum additionacost allowance in each year from 2004 to 2008. "Window frame works", costing £ 10,033 appeared in a claim in 2005. Mr Davies said he believes all his claims were entirely legitimate. " 
  7. ↑ Quentin Davies MP submits £ 20,700 expenses claim for bell tower Daily Telegraph dated December 10, 2009
  8. ↑ Defense Minister Quentin Davies insured antiques on expenses Daily Telegraph of May 24, 2009
  9. ↑ Quentin Davies MP . In: TheyWorkForYou . mySociety is a project of UK Citizens Online Democracy (UKCOD). UKCOD is a registered charity in England and Wales, no. 1076346 .. Retrieved May 12, 2009.
  10. ↑ SAS reservist commander quits BBC News of November 1, 2008
  11. ↑ ministers 'horrified' by SAS claimsoft BBC News from 1 November 2008
  12. ^ Head-to-toe body armor protection for British troops Daily Telegraph of November 3, 2008
  13. ↑ Introduction: Lord Davies of Stamford Introduction to the House of Lords on July 8, 2010 at Theyworkforyou
  14. ↑ Davies, Quentin (Grantham and Stamford) Register of Members' Interests, House of Commons
  15. ↑ MP's niece was 'sulphurous seductress' who killed inadequate lover Daily Telegraph of January 12, 2010
personal data
SURNAME Davies, Quentin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Davies, John Quentin, Baron Davies of Stamford
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Conservative Party, Labor Party politician, Member of the House of Commons
DATE OF BIRTH May 29, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Oxford , England