Karl McCartney

Karl Ian McCartney[n 1] (born 25 October 1968) is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Lincoln. He was first elected in the 2010 general election and represented the constituency until he was defeated by Labour's Karen Lee in the 2017 general election.[1][5] He was re-elected in the 2019 general election.

For the sportsman, see Karl McCartney (gridiron football).

Karl McCartney

MP
McCartney in 2020
Member of Parliament
for Lincoln
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byKaren Lee
Majority3,514 (6.9%)
In office
6 May 2010 – 3 May 2017
Preceded byGillian Merron
Succeeded byKaren Lee
Personal details
Born (1968-10-25) 25 October 1968[1]
Birkenhead, Cheshire, England[2]
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)Cordelia McCartney[3]
Children2 sons
Alma materUniversity of Wales, Lampeter
Websitewww.karlmccartney.co.uk/

Biography

McCartney attended Birkenhead School from 1980 to 1986, before joining the Sixth Form at Neston County Comprehensive School. He studied geography at St David's University College in Lampeter (now University of Wales, Lampeter) from 1988 to 1992. At Lampeter he was student union president from 1991 to 1992 and captained the Welsh Universities First XI football team from 1990 to 1991.[2][5] He later worked in the City of London. He has been a school governor since 1995. In 1999 he completed an MBA from Kingston Business School and became a magistrate.[2]

Parliamentary career

McCartney was elected to parliament as MP for Lincoln in the 2010 general election, ousting Gillian Merron.[5][6] He made his maiden speech on 12 July, where he set out his vision for what he wanted to achieve whilst an MP, during the debate on Corporation Tax.[7] Following his re-election in 2019, McCartney spoke in 25 debates in his first 6 months, with a particular interest in Devolution for Lincolnshire. [8] In 2012 he was elected by Conservative MP colleagues to the Executive of the influential 1922 Committee and the Transport Select Committee and then after the 2015 general election, he was re-elected to the same positions. As a prominent Leave Campaigner he was elected by his colleagues as a member of the Exiting the European Union Select Committee (known colloquially as the 'Brexit Committee') and led the successful[9] across Greater Lincolnshire during the EU Referendum. Following the 2019 general election he was named by The Guardian as one of the seven "most controversial" new Conservative MPs.[10]

Expenses

McCartney claimed a total £1,159,047.08 in expenses between 2010 and 2017, alongside his annual salary of £74,962. His expenses rose each year he was MP, until 2017 when he accumulated over £90,000 in expenses in just six months before he was voted out in the 2017 General Election. Controversy also surrounded his expenses, as he employed his wife as an "office manager," and paid her between £40,000–£45,000 in 2015–16.[11]

Total expenses claimed[11]
YearTotal Expenses
2010/11£112,617.88
2011/12£125,986.92
2012/13£142,325.51
2013/14£159,912.97
2014/15£164,389.14
2015/16£176,017.37
2016/17£185,973.03
2017/18£91,824.26

Electoral Commission and police investigation

In March 2017, the Electoral Commission fined the Conservative party £70,000 following the United Kingdom general election, 2015 party spending investigation.[12] During the 2015 general election coaches of activists were transported to marginal constituencies including Lincoln to campaign alongside or in close proximity to local campaigners. The inclusion in the Party national return of what in the commission's view should have been reported as candidate spending meant that there was a realistic prospect that this enabled its candidates to gain a financial advantage over opponents. In consequence, Karl McCartney was investigated by Lincolnshire Police over whether he breached election spending rules.[13] Lincolnshire Police subsequently passed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service for a decision on whether Mr McCartney should be prosecuted for electoral fraud in relation to the 2015 general election.[14] In May 2017, the CPS announced that no further action would be taken in respect of the allegations.[15] In advance of the 2017 general election, McCartney issued a letter to all other candidates for the Lincoln seat, warning of legal action against false, misleading or defamatory statements in the wake of investigations into the party's spending.[16] One of the other candidates provided a "musical response" to the letter. [17]

Views

McCartney is opposed to the idea of same-sex marriage arguing in a 2012 reply to a constituent's letter on the matter that he felt it would next lead to "multi-partnership marriages... [and] a reduction in the age of permitted marriage".[18][19][20]

Education

McCartney was a leading advocate[21][22][23] in Parliament for tackling the educational underperformance for boys/gender education gap. In April 2012 McCartney said that publication of the results of the Department for Education's investigation into allegations of misuse of funds at Lincoln's Priory Federation of Academies Trust should be delayed.[24]

Rail transport

By late November 2014 work had commenced on the pedestrian footbridge over the level crossing on High Street with a further footbridge over the railway due to be constructed in 2015 following years of campaigning by McCartney (and his predecessor) and Lincoln City Council to Network Rail. It was announced in the same month that InterCity Railways, the new operator of the East Coast Rail Franchise, would increase the number of direct trains to London from Lincoln to six per day during their operating timeframe, thereby finally providing a service originally planned for the 2011 "Eureka" timetable, but dropped shortly after McCartney was elected in May 2010, when it was announced that the services would be cut back to just one, after DOR took over operations from National Express.[25]

Road transport

On Thursday 4 December 2014 McCartney was able to confirm that the £49.5m of funding for the Eastern Bypass was secure and that the Government would support in principle a future bid for the bypass to be a dual carriageway.[26] This funding comes nearly 5 years after the original plan for a dual carriageway bypass was cancelled by the Conservative led coalition for being too costly. As of April 2015 work has not commenced and it is unclear when or if it will as it does not feature in the Coalition's Road Investment Strategy. McCartney claimed however to have received verbal assurances from Government Ministers that the funding was secure and the project would go ahead.

McCartney campaigned to ensure there are curbs on false whiplash car injury claims.[27] There is now a current Government consultation[28] on the subject.

Inappropriate comments

On 28 February 2013 McCartney apologised to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) for the content of notes he had sent to staff. The notes were described by IPSA Chief Executive, Andrew McDonald as 'abusive', 'offensive' and 'condescending'. McCartney's apology stated, "I apologise unreservedly to IPSA for my comments which were inappropriate, and which I regret having made. I accept that such comments have given cause for offence. You will not see me making similar remarks in the future in respect of IPSA, which has a difficult and important job to do."[29] The following month he claimed that IPSA's incompetence had forced MPs from all parties to borrow money and that he had had to ask his parents for financial assistance.[30] McCartney also said that he had been told by a "senior IPSA official" that the organisation intended to "damage MPs as much as possible," a claim that IPSA said was "wild ..simply untrue."[30]

Women in politics and 'Twitter' incident

McCartney's attitude to women was criticised after a councillor sent him a tweet comparing the 2015 election all female Labour Party shortlist in his constituency to women modelling underwear.[31] After a hostile response, the councillor, a Conservative chairman in Margaret Thatcher's home town of Grantham deleted the remark and apologised. Selected Labour party candidate Lucy Rigby, noting that only 1 in 5 Tory MPs were women, retweeted 'Here's Karl McCartney MP & Tory Cllr discussing my selection to stand as a MP. & ppl q why aren't more women in politics.' McCartney replied that those with a sense of humour would appreciate the remark though he said the comment was addressed to another Twitter user joining the debate.[31]

In a separate incident, McCartney complained to Twitter about its "security changes" after his favourited pictures were observed to contain pornographic bondage images.[32][33]

Apology during 2019 General Election

McCartney apologised during the 2019 Election campaign for sharing social media posts from far right activist Tommy Robinson, who has been criticised for his Islamophobic views. One of Robinson's posts read: "I’ve always said I’d sacrifice my life tomorrow if it would end the Islamic takeover of our beautiful land." McCartney issued an apology, stating: "I apologise unreservedly. In no way do I endorse the tweets nor the accounts behind them. I accept retweeting them was ill-judged and could cause offence. This divisive figure [Mr Robinson] has no place in our politics or public life." Robinson has since stated that he has joined the Conservative Party.[34]

Footnote
  1. McCartney prefers to style his name MᶜCartney, with a superscript c in the Mc prefix. Accordingly, at his request, Hansard amended some of its records of his contributions.[4]

References
  1. "Karl McCartney MP". BBC Democracy Live. BBC. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  2. "Karl McCartney". Conservative Party. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  3. "House of Commons Official Report" (PDF), Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), 513 (30), 12 July 2010, retrieved 25 May 2012
  4. Simons, Ned (12 November 2015). "Tory MP Karl McCartney Wanted His Name To Look Different On Parliament's Website, It Would Cost £15,000". HuffPost. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  5. "Karl McCartney MP". Westminster Parliamentary Record. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  6. "Election 2010; UK Highlights". Wales Online. 6 May 2010.
  7. "Finance Bill Corporation tax:Karl McCartney". TheyWorkForYou.com. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  8. "Hansard K McCartney". Hansard. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  9. "Lincolnshire records UK's highest Brexit vote"., BBC Lincolnshire 24 June 2016
  10. Syal, Rajeev; Mason, Rowena (16 December 2019). "Who are the Conservatives' most controversial new MPs?". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  11. "Conservative Karl McCartney's voting record, expenses and controversies as Lincoln MP"., The Lincolnite 6 June 2017
  12. "Electoral Commission – Conservative Party fined £70,000 following investigation into election campaign expenses". www.electoralcommission.org.uk. Archived from the original on 23 April 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  13. "Lincolnshire Police launch official investigation into alleged election fraud". thelincolnite.co.uk.
  14. "Two Tory MPs reveal CPS is reviewing their election spending". Archived from the original on 16 March 2017.
  15. "The Conservative election expenses cases explained". 10 May 2017 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  16. "Karl McCartney issues threatening letter to Lincoln MP candidates". thelincolnite.co.uk.
  17. "Listen to Lincoln MP candidate's musical response to letter from Karl McCartney". thelincolnite.co.uk.
  18. "Lincoln MP Karl McCartney defiant over his views on same-sex marriage". Lincolnshire Echo. 26 April 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  19. "Tory MP Karl McCartney's Letter To Constituent On Gay Marriage Leaks". The Huffington Post. 21 April 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  20. Stephen Gray (20 April 2012). "Tory MP tells constituent marriage equality could mean 'polygamy and child marriages'". Pink News. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  21. "House of Commons Parliamentary Debate". Hansard 6 September 2016
  22. "Schools and colleges failing boys". The Guardian 06 September 2016
  23. "In Post Brexit Britain it is time to end the gender education gap". Daily Telegraph 6 September 2016
  24. "Priory Academy: Report should not be released yet, says MP". BBC News. 17 April 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  25. "Extra Lincoln to London rail services plan is scrapped". 17 June 2010 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  26. "£49.5 million needed for Lincoln Eastern Bypass is secure, says City's MP". Lincolnshire Echo. 4 December 2014. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  27. "House of Commons Parliamentary Debate". House of Commons Hansard, 18 November 2015
  28. "Ministry of Justice Consultation". Ministry of Justice 17 November 2016
  29. Christopher Hope (28 February 2013). "'You're talking s****': Tory MP Karl McCartney rebuked for insulting expenses watchdog in notes". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  30. Peter Dominiczak (27 March 2013). "Karl McCartney MP claims expenses watchdog incompetence forced him to borrow money from mum and dad". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  31. Keith Perry (26 March 2014). "Tory councillor in sexism row after tweeting glamour photo". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  32. "MP Karl McCartney denies 'favouriting' bondage porn tweet". BBC Lincoln. 27 November 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  33. "Tory MP Karl McCartney favourites NSFW bondage image of naked woman, denies all knowledge". The Independent. 27 November 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  34. Channon, Max (16 December 2019). "MPs react to claims Hopkins and Robinson have joined the Tories". plymouthherald. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Gillian Merron		 Member of Parliament for Lincoln
2010–2017		 Succeeded by
Karen Lee
Preceded by
Karen Lee		 Member of Parliament for Lincoln
2019–present		 Incumbent
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