James Clappison

William James Clappison, commonly known as James Clappison, (born September 14, 1956) British politician and barrister. He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Hertsmere.

The son of a Yorkshire farmer, James Clappison was born in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire and educated at the St Peter's School in York, before attending Queen's College, Oxford where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1978. He was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1981 and has been a practising barrister since. He contested the safe Labour parliamentary seat of Barnsley East at the 1987 General Election where he came second, some 23,511 votes behind Terry Patchett. He also contested the South Yorkshire European Parliament seat at the Euro elections of 1989. He was selected to fight the May 1990 Bootle by-election following the death of Allan Roberts. He was defeated by Mike Carr by 23,517 votes. Carr served as the Labour MP for Bootle for just 57 days before he died of a heart attack on July 20, 1990. Clappison contested Bootle again at the November by-election where he was defeated heavily once more by the new Labour candidate Joe Benton to the tune of 19,465.

He was rewarded for his efforts by securing the nomination for the safely Conservative seat of Hertsmere which became vacant on the retirement of Cecil Parkinson. James Clappison was safely elected at the 1992 General Election with a majority of 18,735. He made his maiden speech on May 19, 1992, [1] during which he spoke of the organised crimes and anti-semitism against his Jewish constituents. On his election he became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Emily Blatch at the Department of Education, and from 1994 at the Home Office. He was promoted to government by John Major in 1995 as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for the Environment until the defeat of the Major government at the 1997 General Election.

In opposition Clappison was a spokesman on Home Affairs, before being moved to Education and Employment by William Hague in 1999 and then to speak on treasury matters in 2000. Under the leadership of Iain Duncan Smith he was a spokesman of Work and Pensions until he left the frontbench in 2002, and has been a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee since.

He has been married to Helen Margherita Carter since 1984 and they have a son and three daughters. He was a supporter of Kenneth Clarke.