Theresa Anne Villiers (born 5 March 1968) is a British politician. She is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Chipping Barnet and Shadow Secretary of State for Transport.
Early life
Born in London and grew up in north London, Villiers was educated at the independent Francis Holland School in central London, and the University of Bristol, where she took a First Class degree (LLB) in Law (1990) and went on to obtain a BCL from Jesus College, Oxford (1991). After graduating she worked as a barrister and as a lecturer (1994–99) at King's College London.
Member of the European Parliament
She was elected Member of the European Parliament for the London constituency in 1999, re-elected in 2004, standing down after the 2005 general election when she was elected as the Member of Parliament for Chipping Barnet.
As an MEP her main interests were finance and financial services, the preservation of London's green belt, Cyprus, animal welfare and campaigning against the Euro and the European Constitution. She served as Deputy Leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament between 2001 and 2002. She also served as a member of the governing board of the Conservative Party during this period.
Member of Parliament
In 2003, following Sir Sydney Chapman's announcement that he would retire at the following election, Villiers was selected as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Chipping Barnet. Although Chapman's majority at the 2001 general election was only 2,701 Chipping Barnet was considered a "safe" Conservative seat, and in the 2005 general election she held the seat with an increased majority of 5,960. She resigned her seat as an MEP, which under the list system was filled by the next candidate on the Conservatives London regional list – Syed Kamall. She lives in the constituency, in Arkley.
Shadow Cabinet
In December 2005, following the election of David Cameron as Conservative leader, Villiers was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet after just seven months in Parliament, as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. In July 2007, Cameron promoted her to Shadow Secretary of State for Transport.
Villiers supported the temporary suspension of Ken Livingstone by the Adjudication Panel for England, who examined the case after a complaint from the Board of Deputies of British Jews to the Standards Board for England.
Quotations
- "The European Union has been one of the greatest offenders in excluding developing countries from participating in European markets. There is simply no way that impoverished African farmers can compete with the subsidies given to farmers under the Common Agricultural Policy."
- "The (European) Constitution is designed to create a country called Europe and give ever more power to Brussels at the expense of nationally elected governments. I think that's bad for democracy, bad for Britain and bad for Europe."
Family
Villiers is part of an old English political family and is related to the 1st and 2nd Dukes of Buckingham, the former being First Minister under James I and the latter a member of the CABAL cabinet under Charles II.
External links
Video clips
Offices held
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