Peter Bruinvels

Peter Nigel Edward Bruinvels (born 30 March 1950) is a former Conservative MP.

Peter Bruinvels
Born (1950-03-30) 30 March 1950
Surrey, England

Early life

Surrey-born, he was educated at St John's School, Leatherhead, an independent school. Bruinvels held various voluntary offices in the Conservative Party in Dorking and at regional level in South East England.

Parliamentary career

Bruinvels was elected to the Commons for the constituency of Leicester East at the 1983 general election, by the narrow margin of 933 votes. The constituency was projected to be a safe seat for the Labour Party after boundary changes, but at the height of Labour's unpopularity he defeated Patricia Hewitt. He was defeated at the 1987 general election by the Labour candidate Keith Vaz.

Capital punishment

As a supporter of the death penalty, Bruinvels put his name forward for the position of official executioner if capital punishment was restored.

Gay rights

As an MP, Bruinvels was opposed to equal rights for the LGBT community and was a strong supporter of Section 28 saying: "I do not agree with homosexuality. I think that Clause 28 will help outlaw it and the rest will be done by AIDS, with a substantial number of homosexuals dying of AIDS. I think that's probably the best way."[1]

In 1997 as a member of the Church of England's General Synod Bruinvels said he would be spearheading moves to stop the ordination of known homosexuals: "Bishops have a moral responsibility to safeguard marriage and family life and by ordaining known homosexuals, they are sending out the wrong signals."[2]

Later life

Despite standing for The Wrekin in 1997, he was defeated by Labour's Peter Bradley and has not returned to Parliament.

Bruinvels is a governor of the Church Commissioners, a member of the General Synod of the Church of England, a former director of the Church Army, Senior Inspector of Anglican Schools and is a Lay Canon of Guildford Cathedral. He has previously carried out work for the Royal British Legion as County Field Manager for Surrey. He now runs his own public relations and media management company.

Honours

In 2017, Bruinvels was awarded the Canterbury Cross for Services to the Church of England "for sustained and outstanding work in support of the Church of England".[3]

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References
  1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mpmm4 - Quote at 5mins 40sec
  2. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/news/07/0714/synod.shtml
  3. "The Archbishop of Canterbury's Awards: Citations in Alphabetical Order" (PDF). Archbishop of Canterbury. 9 June 2017. Archived from the original (pdf) on 19 June 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Tom Bradley		 Member of Parliament for Leicester East
1983–1987		 Succeeded by
Keith Vaz


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