David Curry

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The Right Honourable
 David Curry MP
Member of Parliament
for Skipton and Ripon
Incumbent
Assumed office 
11 June 1987
Preceded by John Watson
Majority 11,620 (23%)
Born 13 June 1944 (1944-06-13) (age 64)
Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire
Nationality British
Political party Conservative
Spouse Anne Helene Maud Roullet
Alma mater Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Occupation Journalist
Website www.davidcurry.co.uk

David Maurice Curry (born June 13, 1944) British politician. He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Skipton and Ripon.

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[edit] Early life

David Curry, the son of a teacher, was educated at the Ripon Grammar School where he was head boy in 1962, and then at Corpus Christi College, Oxford where he received a BA degree in Modern History in 1966. He also attended the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He began his career as a reporter on the Newcastle Journal in 1966. In 1970, he became the world trade editor at The Financial Times where he remained until he was elected to the European Parliament. In 1977, he founded the Paris Conservative Association. He contested the safe Labour seat at Morpeth at the February 1974 general election, but was soundly beaten by the sitting Labour MP George Grant by 13,034 votes. The two met again at the October 1974 general election, when on this occasion Grant won by 14,687. Curry was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 1979 for Essex North East, he served in Strasbourg (and Brussels) until 1989.

David Curry was elected to the House of Commons for the very safe Conservative seat of Skipton and Ripon at the 1987 general election on the retirement of the sitting Conservative MP John Watson. Curry held the seat with a strong majority of 17,174 and has held the seat safely since. On his election he became a member of the Agriculture Select Committee until he was promoted to the government of Margaret Thatcher in 1989 as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and was promoted within the same department to Minister of State after the 1992 General Election by John Major, a year later he moved sideways to the Department for the Environment wher he remained until the Major government fell at the 1997 general election. He became a Member of the Privy Council in 1996. In opposition he became the Shadow Agriculture Secretary, but resigned from the Shadow Cabinet in December 1997 in protest at the policy of ruling out Britain joining the single European currency for the next ten years. In 1998, he became the chairman of the Agriculture Select Committee, and after the 2001 general election, its successor the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee until 2003 when he promoted again to the Shadow Cabinet by Michael Howard as the Shadow Local and Devolved Government Secretary until he resigned again, this time citing 'family reasons' in 2004[1], he was replaced by Caroline Spelman. He has been a member of the Public Accounts Select Committee since 2004.

[edit] Personal life

He married Anne Helene Maud Roullet, who is French, on July 24 1971 and they have a son and two twin daughters. His wife is a well known sculptor who was asked to sculpt Roy Jenkins by the Works of Art Committee. He is a supporter of Kenneth Clarke. His is a patron of the Tory Reform Group. He writes a monthly column for the Local Government Chronicle. He was in a minority of Conservative MPs who supported an equal age of consent for gay men. His constituency is set in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. He enjoys growing vegetables and dinghy sailing.

[edit] Publications

  • The Food War: US-EU Food Politics by David Curry, 1982, EDG
  • The Conservative Tradition in Europe Edited by David Curry, 1998, Mainstream
  • Lobbying Government: A practical Guide for the Housing Industry and Lobby by Davud Curry, 1999, Chartered Institute of Housing, ISBN 1-900396-48-3
  • The Sorcerers Apprentice: Government and Globalisation by David Curry, 2000, Local Government Association, ISBN 1-84049-161-2

[edit] External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
John Watson		 Member of Parliament for Skipton and Ripon
1987–present		 Incumbent
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