Quentin Davies

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For other people of this name, see John Davies.

(John) Quentin Davies (born May 29, 1944) British politician He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Grantham and Stamford.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Publications 4 External links

[edit] Early life

Quentin Davies was born in Oxford, the son of a doctor and went to the local preparatory Dragon School, before attending the Quaker Leighton Park School, Reading. He attended Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degrees in history in 1966 and was a Frank Knox Fellow at Harvard University.

[edit] Career

After his education, he joined the diplomatic service and was appointed the Third Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1967, and became the Second Secretary at HM Embassy Moscow in 1969, before returning to London as the First Secretary at the Foreign Office in 1972 and left the diplomatic service in 1974, when he joined Morgan Grenfell. He was an assistant director until he became the president of the firm in France in 1978, before becoming a director of the main company in 1981, in which capacity he remained until his election to Westminster, he continued as a consultant to Morgan Grenfell until 1993.

He contested the 1977 Birmingham Ladywood by-election caused by the resignation of Brian Walden to become television presenter, he was defeated by John Sever who won the Birmingham Ladywood seat with a majority of 3,825. He was, however, elected to the House of Commons ten years later at the 1987 General Election for the safe Conservative seat of Stamford and Spalding on the retirement of the sitting MP Kenneth Lewis. Quentin Davies held the seat with a majority of 13,991 and has remained a MP since although his seat changed in 1997 to Stamford and Grantham. In parliament he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary PPS to the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science Angela Rumbold in 1988, and remained her PPS in her incarnation as the Minister at the Home Office. After the 1992 General Election he was a member of the Treasury Select Committee until he was promoted to the Opposition frontbench by William Hague in 1998 as a spokesman on social security, moving in 1999 to speak on Treasury matters, moving again in 2000 as a spokesman on defence. After the 2001 General Election he joined the Shadow Cabinet of Iain Duncan Smith, even though he had backed Kenneth Clarke's leadership bid. Under Iain Duncan Smith, he became the Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, continuing until the election ofMichael Howard in 2003, since which he has been a member of the International Development Select Committee.

Quentin Davies is one of the highest paid MPs for his outside interests and has held many directorships and consultancies with many companies during his time in parliament. He was awarded the Parliamentarian of the Year Award by The Guardian in 1996, the same year he was named Backbencher of the Year by BBC Radio 4. Somewhat unusually, he is a Thatcherite Europhile and is the Chairman of the Conservative Group for Europe since March 2006. He was once fined for allowing the neglect of a flock of sheep by his shepherd[1]; following the immediate dismissal of the shepherd and his conviction, he was greeted by Labour MPs with a retort of 'Baaa!'. His estate is no longer rented to a cattle farmer.

He has been married to Chantal Tamplin since 1983 and they have two sons. She is his parliamentary assistant. His constituency of Stamford and Spalding was abolished in 1997, since when he has represented the redrawn seat of Grantham and Stamford. Grantham, being the home town of Margaret Thatcher.

[edit] Publications

• Britain and Europe: A Conservative View by Quentin Davies, 1996, London Conservative Group for Europe.

[edit] External links

• Guardian Unlimited Politics — Ask Aristotle: Quentin Davies MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com — Quentin Davies MP
• Register of interests

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Sir Kenneth Lewis	Member of Parliament for Stamford and Spalding 1987–1997	Succeeded by (constituency abolished)
Preceded by (new constituency)	Member of Parliament for Grantham and Stamford 1997 – present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Andrew Mackay	Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 2001–2003	Succeeded by David Lidington