Michael Welsh (Conservative politician)
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Michael John Welsh (born 22 May 1942) is a British politician. After three terms in the European Parliament, he is currently serving on Lancashire County Council as Leader of the Conservative Party group.
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[edit] Early life
Welsh went to Dover College and to Lincoln College, Oxford. He joined the clothing company Levi Strauss & Co., and became their director of market development in 1976.
[edit] European Parliament
At the 1979 European Parliament elections, Welsh fought and won Lancashire Central for the Conservative Party. This constituency included Blackpool and Preston. He was a particularly constituency-focused member, who made a specialism in the textile industry which was a major employer in Lancashire. In 1981 he acted as rapporteur for the committee on External Economic Arrangements on the renewal of the Multi Fibre Agreement, and argued that the agreement should be extended for ten years, during which export levels should be fixed; he urged nations developing their textile industries not to force the EEC to put in protectionist measures.
Later in the 1980s Welsh wrote a series of pamphlets concerning Labour market policy, the European Community's role in collective security, the effects of German reunification on Europe, and on accountability of European institutions to the United Kingdom Parliament. He was narrowly re-elected at the 1989 election, when the Labour Party performed well.
[edit] Defeat
In the 1994 election, Welsh lost his seat to the Labour candidate Mark Hendrick. He was given another appointment by the Conservative government of the day as Chairman of Chorley and District NHS Trust, and set up the Action Centre for Europe Ltd, a pro-European Union thinktank for Conservatives. Welsh supported the United Kingdom adopting the Euro as its currency, and was an active participant in the Conservatives' intra-party debate on European policy in the 1990s.
[edit] County Council
Welsh was elected to Lancashire County Council in 1997 from Preston North East Ward. He became Leader of the Conservative group in 2003. He has supported retaining a two-tier approach to local government rather than allowing larger councils to become unitary authorities.
[edit] References
- "Who's Who" A&C Black
