Gary Streeter

Sir Gary Nicholas Streeter (born 2 October 1955) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. Since 1997 he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Devon, previously holding the nearby seat of Plymouth Sutton between 1992 and 1997. Since the convening of the Fifty-fifth Parliament, Streeter has been the longest currently serving MP representing a constituency in the county of Devon.

Sir Gary Streeter

MP
Shadow Secretary of State
for International Development
In office
1 June 1998 – 18 September 2001
LeaderWilliam Hague
Preceded byAlastair Goodlad
Succeeded byCaroline Spelman
Parliamentary Secretary to the
Lord Chancellor's Department
In office
2 June 1996 – 1 May 1997
Prime MinisterJohn Major
Preceded byJonathan Evans
Succeeded byGeoff Hoon
Member of Parliament
for South West Devon
Assumed office
1 May 1997
Preceded byConstituency established
Majority21,430 (40.2%)
Member of Parliament
for Plymouth Sutton
In office
9 April 1992 – 8 April 1997
Preceded byAlan Clark
Succeeded byLinda Gilroy
Personal details
Born (1955-10-02) 2 October 1955
Gosport, Hampshire, England
Political partyConservative (1992-present)
Other political
affiliations		Social Democratic Party (UK) (1986-1992)
Spouse(s)
Janet Stevens
(
m. 1978)
Alma materKing's College London
Websitegarystreeter.co.uk

Early life

Streeter attended Tiverton Grammar School, Tiverton, Devon, where he was head boy from 1972 to 1973, then King's College London, where he gained a first class honours Law degree. From 1984–98, he was a solicitor and partner at Foot and Bowden (now called Foot Anstey) in Plymouth, where he specialised in company and employment law. In 1998 Streeter was fined £1,000 by the Law Society for conduct unbecoming a solicitor due to a conflict of interest when dealing with a business merger in 1991 while with Foot Bowden Limited.[1] He was a councillor, initially for the Social Democratic Party (SDP), on Plymouth City Council from 1986–92.

Parliamentary career

Streeter served as a junior minister in the Lord Chancellor's Department under John Major from 1996 until the defeat of the Major Government in 1997, and was Shadow Secretary of State for International Development in the Shadow Cabinet of William Hague[2] from 1998 until the new Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith returned him to the backbenches in 2001.

He is currently a member of the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission and is the member of the committee responsible for answering oral questions in Parliament on behalf of the Electoral Commission. He assumed the role after Sir Peter Viggers stepped down during the MPs' expenses scandal. His own expenses for 2008/09 were £162,719, ranking 158th out of 647 MPs.

In March 2012, Streeter was one of three MPs who signed a letter to the Advertising Standards Authority asking it to reverse its decision to stop the Christian group "Healing on the Streets of Bath" from making explicit claims that prayer can heal. The letter called for the ASA to provide "indisputable scientific evidence" that faith healing did not work. Another signer, Tim Farron of the Liberal Democrats later wrote that the letter was not "well-worded" and that he should not have signed it "as it was written".[3]

In 2013, Streeter referred to the "familiar glint in the swivelled eyes of the purists" within his own party in an article attacking the divisions caused by those activists who were calling for a referendum on EU membership.[4] The remark followed allegations that senior members of the government had characterised Eurosceptic activists as "swivel-eyed loons". Streeter argued that the result of party infighting over the issue would be "a Labour-led government bend[ing] the knee to Brussels".[4]

Streeter was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.[5] In November 2018, Streeter announced his support for Theresa May's Brexit agreement.[6]

In December 2018, it was announced that Streeter would receive a knighthood in the 2019 New Year Honours List. Streeter told the Press Association that he hoped his honour reflected, in part, his work over the past decade as chairman of the all-party group on Christians in Parliament and supporting new MPs once they had arrived at Westminster.[7]

Streeter was a supporter of Esther McVey during the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election and one of the proposers of her nomination. McVey was eliminated in the first round of voting. In later rounds he backed Sajid Javid, who was appointed Chancellor later that year.[8]

Streeter was reelected at the 2019 general election with a much increased majority.

Streeter briefly acted as Second Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means at the start of the 58th Parliament.

Personal life

Streeter married Janet Stevens in 1978 in Barnstaple; the couple have a son and daughter, and the family live near Plympton in Devon. He is a committed Christian who believes in faith healing.[9]

In the 2015 general election his son Gareth was selected as Conservative candidate for Rother Valley in South Yorkshire and polled third behind incumbent Sir Kevin Barron and Cllr Cowles of UKIP.[10]

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References
  1. "UK Shadow cabinet member fined £1,000".
  2. Hamilton, Chris (20 March 2001). "Gary Streeter: Development spokesman". BBC News Online. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  3. "Tim Farron: 'Prayer can heal' letter was a mistake". Huffington Post UK. 29 March 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  4. Wright, Oliver (21 May 2013). "Jeremy Paxman reveals he has heard senior Tories calling activists 'swivel-eyed loons'". The Independent. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  5. Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  6. Premier (15 November 2018). "Christian MPs react to Theresa May's Brexit plans". Premier. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  7. "Redwood knighted for service to politics". BBC News. 28 December 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  8. Hope, Christopher; Mikhailova, Anna (17 June 2019). "Tory leadership latest news: Rivals face MPs for final hustings ahead of second round of votes". The Telegraph. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  9. Robbins, Martin (26 March 2012). "Hapless MPs defend faith healers". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  10. https://electionresults.parliament.uk/election/2015-05-07/Results/Location/Constituency/Rother%20Valley/
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Alan Clark		 Member of Parliament
for Plymouth Sutton
1992–1997		 Succeeded by
Linda Gilroy
New constituency Member of Parliament
for South West Devon
1997–present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Alastair Goodlad		 Shadow Secretary of State
for International Development
1998–2001		 Succeeded by
Caroline Spelman
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