Mark Spencer (British politician)

Mark Steven Spencer (born 20 January 1970) is a British politician of the Conservative Party[1] serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sherwood since 2010.[2][3][4] He was appointed Government Chief Whip of the House of Commons and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2019.

Not to be confused with Marks & Spencer.
The Right Honourable

Mark Spencer

MP
Spencer in 2020
Government Chief Whip of the House of Commons
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
Assumed office
24 July 2019
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byJulian Smith
Comptroller of the Household
In office
15 July 2018 – 24 July 2019
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byChris Heaton-Harris
Succeeded byJeremy Quin
Deputy Leader of the House of Commons
In office
15 July 2018 – 24 July 2019
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byChris Heaton-Harris
Succeeded byVacant
Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
In office
10 January 2018 – 15 July 2018
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byChris Heaton-Harris
Succeeded byAndrew Stephenson
Lord Commissioner of the Treasury
In office
15 June 2017 – 9 January 2018
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byRobert Syms
Succeeded byCraig Whittaker
Member of Parliament
for Sherwood
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded byPaddy Tipping
Majority16,186 (30.7%)
Personal details
Born (1970-01-20) 20 January 1970
Nottinghamshire, England
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative

Early life

Spencer was born on 20 January 1970. He attended Lambley Primary School and the Colonel Frank Seely School in Calverton in Nottinghamshire. He then qualified at Shuttleworth Agricultural College in Bedfordshire, before joining the family farm business. A former dairy farm, the business diversified into growing potatoes and vegetables and producing free-range eggs, beef and lamb, and employing around 50 local people. Spencer was chairman of the National Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs from 1999–2000. Spencer was a trustee of The Royal Agricultural Society of England and for 3 years, was the Honorary Show Director of The Royal Show, and is a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society. Spencer is a past vice-Chairman of School Governors of Woodborough Woods Foundation School, where he was chairman of the Disciplinary Committee. As Chairman of the Lambley Playground Fund, he helped raise over a £100,000 to provide new play equipment in the village and he is also trustee of the Core Centre Calverton, an Adult Education Centre.[5] Spencer is the President of Bilsthorpe Heritage Museum.[6]

In May 2001, Spencer unsuccessfully stood as a Conservative Party candidate for the Nottinghamshire County Council seat of Hucknall. However, in 2003 he gained the third seat in the safe Conservative ward of Ravenshead on Gedling District Council; he retained this seat at the local elections in 2007. In 2005, Spencer contested a different ward for the Nottinghamshire County Council elections and won the seat of Calverton for the Conservatives; he retained this seat at the local elections in 2009 with an increased majority. In 2006, Spencer was appointed Shadow Spokesman for Community Safety & Partnership for Nottinghamshire County Council.

Parliamentary career

Spencer gained the Sherwood seat from Labour at the 2010 general election with a majority of 214 after the sitting MP Paddy Tipping stood down.[4] He was re-elected in 2015 and 2017. Following his election as an MP he stood down as a borough councillor and county councillor before the next local elections in 2011 and 2013 respectively.

In Parliament, Spencer has served on the Environmental Audit Committee, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee and briefly on the Backbench Business Committee. He currently serves on the Selection Committee.[7] He formerly served as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Elizabeth Truss and was appointed assistant government whip on 17 July 2016, before becoming full government whip in June 2017.[8]

He worked on environmental issues and energy security through his roles on the Environmental Audit Committee and the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee .[9] With his farming background, Spencer has also focused in Parliament on agriculture and rural communities, with an interest in ensuring that British food production is recognised and promoted as "world class".[9] He joined the Coalfield Communities All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), whose aim is to restore the economies of former coalfield areas.[10] Spencer was named the Brake Road Safety Parliamentarian of the Year 2011 for campaigning for improved road safety on the A614.[11]

The Daily Telegraph reported in August 2015 that Spencer, in a letter to a constituent, had suggested that Extremism Disruption Orders (EDOs) could be used against Christian teachers who tell schoolchildren that same-sex marriage is wrong. He wrote that whilst Christians with traditionalist views are "perfectly entitled to express their views", "The EDOs, in this case, would apply to a situation where a teacher was specifically teaching that gay marriage is wrong". Simon Calvert, Deputy Director of the Christian Institute, an evangelical pressure group, responded saying,"I am genuinely shocked that we have an MP supporting the idea of teachers being branded extremists for teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman".[12]

As a backbench MP, Spencer chose to support the official position of the Government and campaigned for the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union before the EU membership referendum on 23 June 2016.[13] Since the result was announced, Spencer has continued to support the party leadership and now advocates leaving the European Union.[14]

Spencer was made Chief Whip on 24 July 2019 under Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He was appointed to the privy council the next day.[15]

Campaigns

There are local issues on which Spencer chooses to focus as MP for Sherwood.

A key focus is an extension to the Robin Hood Line, which would mean the opening to passenger trains of the old freight lines from Shirebrook to Ollerton through Edwinstowe. Spencer has long argued that this extension would be an economic lifeline to the north of Nottinghamshire, better-connecting the area to surrounding urban centres such as Nottingham and Sheffield. He has met the Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling, to push for support from Government,[16] and regularly gives updates on his campaign in his newsletters.

Another key area of focus is road safety, and Spencer regularly meets constituents to discuss local problems on roads such as speeding and road safety outside schools. In June 2011 the road safety charity brake named him Road Safety Parliamentarian of the Month.[17]

Controversies

Spencer attracted criticism in early 2015 after suggesting that a man with learning difficulties who had been left without food or power after being sanctioned for arriving four minutes late at the benefit office should "learn the discipline of timekeeping".[18] The Spectator magazine criticised his response, suggesting his rush to defend government policy without showing concern for the constituent was an example of "political tribalism at its worst".[19] Spencer said critics had "twisted what he said" but stood by his comments that "normal people doing normal jobs would get their wages docked".[18]

In January 2016, Spencer was one of 72 MPs who voted down an amendment in Parliament on rental homes being "fit for human habitation" who were themselves landlords who derived an income from a property.[20]

In May 2016, it emerged that Spencer was one of a number of Conservative MPs being investigated by police in the United Kingdom general election, 2015 party spending investigation, for allegedly spending more than the legal limit on constituency election campaign expenses.[21] However, in May 2017, the Crown Prosecution Service said that while there was evidence of inaccurate spending returns, it did not "meet the test" for further action.[22]

Spencer was criticised in 2017 by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards for misusing taxpayers' resources, such as the MP's newsletter, to link to "overtly party political content". Spencer apologised and a member of his staff was sent on a training course on how to appropriately use parliamentary resources.[23][24]

On 1 August 2020, a former conservative MP was arrested on charges of sexual assault. The Sunday Times and several other media outlets reported that Mark Spencer was told of the incident a month before the arrest, and failed to take action. Spencer claimed that when the victim came forward to him, there was mention of abuse and other threatful behaviour, but no mention of sexual assault. [25]

Personal life

Spencer lives with his wife and children[26] in Mapperley Plains in Nottinghamshire.[27][28]

References
  1. https://www.fwi.co.uk/farm-life/young-farmers/government-chief-whip-mark-spencer-on-how-yfc-shaped-him
  2. "No. 59418". The London Gazette. 13 May 2010. p. 8744.
  3. "Mark Spencer MP". BBC Democracy Live. BBC. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  4. "Election 2010 – Sherwood". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  5. "CORE Centre, Calverton - about our Community Resource Centre". Core Centre Calverton.
  6. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/667965/2017-12-14_List_of_Ministers_Interests_December_2017_FINAL.pdf
  7. "Mark Spencer". Parliament UK. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  8. "Mark Spencer MP". gov.uk. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  9. "Biography". Mark Spencer MP. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  10. "Coalfield Communities All-Party Parliamentary Group". Parliament.uk. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  11. "Brake the road safety charity – Brake the road safety charity". brake.org.uk. Archived from the original on 26 May 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  12. "MP: use anti-terror powers on Christian teachers who say gay marriage is 'wrong'". Telegraph. 3 August 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  13. 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.
  14. "COLUMN: Brexit starts now, by Mark Spencer MP". The Chad. 30 January 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  15. "ORDERS APPROVED AND BUSINESS TRANSACTED AT THE PRIVY COUNCIL HELD BY THE QUEEN AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE ON 25TH JULY 2019" (PDF). Privy Council Office. 2019.
  16. "MPs urge government minister to extend Robin Hood Line". www.chad.co.uk.
  17. "Mark Spencer, MP for Sherwood, June 2011 - Brake the road safety charity". www.brake.org.uk.
  18. "Nottinghamshire MP Mark Spencer criticised after saying jobseekers should learn 'discipline of timekeeping'". Nottingham Post. 9 February 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  19. Hardman, Isabel (5 February 2015). "Political tribalism at its worst". Spectator. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  20. "Tories vote down law requiring landlords make their homes fit for human habitation". Independent. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  21. "Election Expenses Exposed". Channel 4 News. 23 June 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  22. "No charges over 2015 Conservative battle bus cases". BBC News. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  23. "Sherwood MP slammed by watchdog for gaining "undue advantage" with tax-payer resources". Hucknall Dispatch. 25 April 2017. Archived from the original on 13 May 2017.
  24. "Rectification" (PDF). parliament.uk. p. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 January 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  25. Pogrund, Gabriel (2020). "The Sunday Times". Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  26. https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/its-going-bumpy-sherwood-mp-3157240
  27. "Mark Spencer MP". They work for you. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  28. "IPSA record". IPSA. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Paddy Tipping		 Member of Parliament
for Sherwood
2010–present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Robert Syms		 Lord Commissioner of the Treasury
2017–2018		 Succeeded by
Craig Whittaker
Preceded by
Chris Heaton-Harris		 Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
2018		 Succeeded by
Andrew Stephenson
Deputy Leader of the House of Commons
2018–2019		 Vacant
Comptroller of the Household
2018–2019		 Succeeded by
Jeremy Quin
Preceded by
Julian Smith		 Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
2019–present		 Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by
Julian Smith		 Conservative Chief Whip of the House of Commons
2019–present		 Incumbent
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