Douglas Carswell
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| Douglas Carswell MP | |
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Member of Parliament
for Harwich |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 5 May 2005 |
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| Preceded by | Ivan Henderson |
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| Majority | 920 (1.8%) |
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| Born | 3 May 1971 |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | Clementine |
| Alma mater | University of East Anglia King's College, London |
| Website | www.douglascarswell.com |
John Douglas Wilson Carswell (born 3 May 1971) is a British politician. He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Harwich.
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[edit] Biography
Carswell is the son of two doctors and spent much of his early childhood in Africa where his parents worked amongst some extremely poor communities[citation needed]. His father, Wilson Carswell, a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, diagnosed the first confirmed cases of HIV/AIDS in Uganda in the early 1980s and was instrumental in drawing the world's attention to the unfolding pandemic.[citation needed]
Douglas went to St Andrew's School, Turi, in Kenya and then Charterhouse School. He read history at the University of East Anglia and subsequently at King's College London. He worked as Corporate Development Manager for Television Broadcasting in Italy from 1997-9, and as Chief Projects Manager for INVESCO from 1999 before entering politics. At the 2001 General Election he was the Conservative candidate at Sedgefield, the constituency of the Prime Minister Tony Blair. Blair's majority fell by 7,500 votes, and Carswell managed to increase the Conservative share of the vote by 3.1% of the electorate, albeit with the decreased turnout meaning he only won 14 more votes.[1] In the months before the 2005 General Election, Douglas worked in the Conservative Party's Policy Unit, reporting to David Cameron.
[edit] Member of Parliament
Carswell was elected to Parliament at the 2005 General Election for the constituency of Harwich defeating the sitting Labour MP Ivan Henderson by 920 votes. Carswell made his maiden speech on 28 June 2005 in the debate on the Identity Cards Bill. [2] He is a member of Conservative Friends of Israel. Carswell serves on the House of Commons Education Select Committee.
Shortly after entering Parliament, Douglas wrote a publication "Direct Democracy; an agenda for a new model party". This publication has been described by the Spectator Magazine (June 2, 2007) as "one of the founding texts of the new, revitalised Toryism". It sets out much of the thinking that has now become central to the Conservatives under David Cameron MP.
Carswell has also founded Direct Democracy, a group of like-minded modernisers within the party committed to making localism the core of the Conservative Party's platform. The group has been described by The First Post as one of the most influential Tory think tanks.[3]
Carswell is a founder-member of the Cornerstone Group, otherwise known as "Faith, Flag and Family". It is a traditionalist political faction of the Conservative Party consisting of around 40 Eurosceptic and traditionalist MPs. Carswell was the only MP to publically call for the Speaker to be fired after his scandal involving taxes.
Dod's political biography describes Douglas as being "Tall and Eurosceptic ... one of his party’s radical thinkers".
[edit] Publications
- Direct Democracy – Agenda for a New Model Party[4]
The Spectator magazine had this to say about Carswell’s publication Direct Democracy: “One of the founding texts of the new, revived Toryism was the 2005 pamphlet Direct Democracy, written by some of the brightest young Conservative thinkers, which argued compellingly that the party should embrace radical localism”.[5]
[edit] External links
- Douglas Carswell official site
- ClactonTV.com local constituency TV site
- BBC Politics page
[edit] References
- ^ UK Polling Report - Sedgefield Election results]
- ^ House of Commons Hansard Debates for 28 Jun 2005 (pt 28)
- ^ About Douglas - Douglas Carswell's website]
- ^ 13 June 2005. ISBN 1-84275-057-7
- ^ Spectator magazine, 2 June 2007
- ^ published by the Adam Smith Institute
- ^ published by the Centre for Policy Studies, serialised in the Daily Telegraph May - June 2007. [1]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Ivan Henderson |
Member of Parliament for Harwich 2005 – present |
Incumbent |
