Chris Grayling

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Christopher Stephen Grayling (born April 1, 1962) British politician. He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Epsom and Ewell and the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport.

Chris Grayling was born in London and grew up in Buckinghamshire. He was educated at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1984. He joined BBC News in 1985 as a trainee, becoming a producer in 1986, he left the BBC in 1988 to join Channel 4 as an editor on its Business Daily programme. He rejoined the BBC in 1991 as a business development manager. On leaving the BBC in 1993 he ran some television production companies. He became a management consultant in 1997 with Burson Marsteller, where he remained until his election to Westminster.

Grayling was selected to contest the Labour-held marginal seat of Warrington South at the 1997 General Election, but was defeated by the new Labour MP Helen Southworth by 10,807 votes. He was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Merton in 1998 and remained on the council until 2002. He was elected to the House of Commons for the Surrey seat of Epsom and Ewell at the 2001 General Election following the retirement of the veteran Tory MP Archie Hamilton. Grayling held the seat with a majority of 10,080 and has remained the MP there since. He made his maiden speech on June 25, 2001.[1]

He served as a member of the environment, transport and the regions select committee from 2001 until he was promoted to the Opposition Whips' Office by Iain Duncan Smith in 2002, moving to become a spokesman on health later in the year. He became a spokesman on education and skills by Michael Howard in 2003, and following the 2005 General Election he became a member of Howard's Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, and since the election of David Cameron as the leader of the Conservative Party in December 2005 he has served as the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport.

He is locally praised for his long running campaign to preserve the local Epsom Hospital's A&E. He can boast that he once hit a four off the Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee. He has been married to Susan Clare Dillistone since 1987 and they have a son and a daughter.

[edit] Publications

The Bridgewater Heritage: The Story of Bridgwater Estates by Chris Grayling, 1983, Bridgewater Estates PLC
A Land Fit for Heroes: Life in England After the Great War by Christopher Grayling, 1985, Buchan & Enright ISBN 0-907675-68-9
Holt's: The Story of Joseph Holt by Christopher Grayling, 1985, Joseph Holt PLC
Just Another Star?: Anglo-American Relations Since 1945 by Christopher Grayling and Christopher Langdon, 1987, Virgin Books ISBN 0-245-54603-0
Insight Guide Waterways of Europe contribution by Chris Grayling, 1989, Apa Publications ISBN 0-88729-825-7
Art & Design: 100 Years of the Royal College of Art by Christopher Grayling, 1999, Collins & Brown ISBN 1-85585-725-1