Norman Baker

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For other persons named Norman Baker, see Norman Baker (disambiguation).
Norman Baker MP
Norman Baker
Member of Parliament
for Lewes.
Incumbent
Assumed office 
1 May 1997
Preceded by Tim Rathbone
Born 26 July 1957 (1957-07-26) (age 50)
Aberdeen
Nationality British
Political party Liberal Democrat
Spouse Elizabeth Sleeper
Children 1 daughter
Alma mater Royal Holloway College
Website www.normanbaker.org.uk

Norman John Baker (born 26 July 1957) is a British politician. He is the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewes. An assiduous campaigner and asker of parliamentary questions,[1] he is currently a member of the Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet as shadow Secretary of State for Transport, having previously held other front-bench posts before stepping down in 2006 to devote his energies to an inquiry in the death of the government scientist David Kelly.

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[edit] Early life

Born in Aberdeen, his family moved in 1968 to Hornchurch in East London. Baker was educated at the Royal Liberty School in Gidea Park, near Romford, and at Royal Holloway College, University of London, gaining a BA in German and History in 1978.[2]

He was a regional director for Our Price Records for five years from 1978. From 1985 he taught English as a foreign language until 1997,[2] with a spell as a Liberal Democrat environment researcher in the House of Commons in 1989–90.[3] In 1987 he was elected as a councillor to the Lewes District Council, and two years later was also elected to the local county council of East Sussex. He became the Leader of Lewes Council in 1991, a position he held until his election to Westminster.[2]

[edit] Parliamentary career

Baker contested Lewes at the 1992 general election but was easily defeated by the sitting Conservative Party MP Tim Rathbone.[4] He stood again at the 1997 election, when he won the seat with a majority of 1,300 votes over Rathbone,[5] becoming Lewes's first non-Conservative MP since 1874.[2]

Baker is known for uncovering scandal and conflicts of interest among MPs and the Government, and has one of the highest profiles of any backbench MP.[1] In his first three months in the House of Commons, he asked more questions than Rathbone had asked in 23 years.[6]

A dogged investigator and exponent of Freedom in Information, his consistent questioning of Peter Mandelson led to Mandelson's second resignation from government,[7][6] and he has also raised issues about Lord Birt and his role as Tony Blair's adviser. After compiling figures in 2002 which revealed that the government's fleet of ministerial cars had grown to its largest ever size,[8] he began in January 2005 to campaign to force disclosure of the details of MPs' expenses under the Freedom of Information Act, finally succeeding in February 2007.[9] In October 2001 he won a test case in the High Court, when the National Security Appeals panel ruled that the Data Protection Act required the Security Service MI5 to allow him access to information which he believed the security service holds on him, the first time this had happened in the 92-year history of MI5.[10][11]

The Daily Mail described him as having 'consistently been a thorn in the Government's side'.[12] In 2001 he was named "Inquisitor of the Year" in the Zurich/Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year Awards and, in February 2002, he won the Channel 4 Opposition MP of the Year Award.[13]

Baker is regarded as coming from the left-wing of the party and is a member of the Beveridge Group within the Liberal Democrats.[1] A staunch republican, he is also well-known for his vocal support for animal rights groups, and he is a strong proponent for greater protection of animals under law.[14] Described by in 1997 by The Times columnist Matthew Parris as a "classic House of Commons bore",[14] his speeches were compared by Labour MP Stephen Pound with "root canal surgery without anaesthetic",[15] but Parris added in 2001 "You underestimate him at your peril. He has a habit of being right."[14]

[edit] Front bench career

In the 2001-2005 Parliament, Baker was a Member of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, and was appointed as Shadow Environment Secretary in 2002, a post he held until his resignation in 2006 following the election of Sir Menzies Campbell as party leader.

As Shadow Environment Secretary, he joined in May 2005 with two former environment ministers, the Labour MP Michael Meacher and the Conservative John Gummer to table a cross-party Early Day Motion No. 178[16] in support Climate Change Bill drafted by Friends of the Earth.[17][18] The motion called for a Bill to "brought forward in this Parliament so that annual cuts in carbon dioxide emissions of 3 per cent can be delivered in a framework that includes regular reporting and new scrutiny and corrective processes" and attracted 412 signatures.[16] Baker also opposed nuclear power, describing it as "hopelessly uneconomic", and warning that new nuclear power stations "would generate vast quantities of nuclear waste and divert essential funding away from energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy."[19]

He retuned to the front bench in July 2007, when he was appointed as Liberal Democrat shadow minister for Cabinet Office and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.[20][21] In December 2007, after the election of Nick Clegg as party leader, Baker (who had supported Clegg in the leadership contest) returned to the front bench as Shadow Secretary of State for Transport.[22][23]

[edit] David Kelly

Baker announced on 19 May 2006 that his decision to step down from the shadow cabinet had been based on a decision to pursue a quest to establish the truth behind the death in 2003 of Dr David Kelly,[24] an expert in biological warfare employed by the Ministry of Defence and a former United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq. Kelly's discussion with BBC Today programme journalist Andrew Gilligan about the British government's dossier on weapon of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq inadvertently caused a major political scandal. Kelly had been found dead days after appearing before the Parliamentary committee investigating a political scandal arising from a discussion with Today Programme journalist Andrew Gilligan about the British government's dossier on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq.

The Hutton Inquiry, a public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his death, ruled that he had committed suicide and that Kelly had not in fact said some of the things attributed to him by Gilligan. Baker said that Hutton had "blatantly failed to get to the bottom of matters", and that "the more I look into it the less convinced I am by the explanation and the more unanswered questions appear which ought to have been addressed properly by the Hutton inquiry or by the coroner."[24]

In July that year Baker claimed that evidence showing David Kelly's death was not a suicide had been wiped from his hard drive.[25][26] In April 2007 he announced his findings, telling a meeting in Lewes:

"I am convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that this could not be suicide. The medical evidence does not support it and David Kelly's state of mind and personality suggests otherwise. It was not an accident so I am left with the conclusion that it is murder."[27]

His book The Strange Death of David Kelly was published in October 2007, and serialised in the Daily Mail.[28][29][30][31][32][33] Some relatives of David Kelly have expressed their displeasure at forthcoming publication. The husband of Kelly's sister Sarah said "It is just raking over old bones … I can't speak for the whole family, but I've read it all [Baker's theories], every word, and I don't believe it."[34] However, in his book Baker says that other relatives of Kelly also think his death was suspicious.

[edit] Censure

In December 2007, Baker was criticised but not fined by the House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges for a newsletter which contained an "advertising feature" about a Liberal Democrat MEP.[35] The Committee's report concluded: "We agree with the Commissioner that this element of Mr Donovan's complaint should be upheld, and we reiterate that the inclusion of material of a party political nature is not permissible in publications funded from parliamentary allowances."[36]

[edit] Tibet

Baker is President of the Tibet Society[37][38], and a member of the UK All Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet.[39]

In February 2008 he released a statement to mark International Mother Language Day saying "The Chinese government are following a deliberate policy of extinguishing all that is Tibetan, including their own language in their own country. It may be obvious, but Tibetan should be the official language of Tibet. The world must act. Time is running out for Tibet."[39] On 18 March 2008 he addressed Tibetian protesters outside the Chinese embassy in London, and also delivered a letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown from six Tibetan students in the UK who were staging a 24-hour hunger strike as part of a protest. In it, the students called for an end to the violence and a UN investigation as well as unfettered media access in Tibet.[38]

[edit] Personal life

He married Elizabeth Sleeper in May 2002 at St Peter's church in Hamsey, and his daughter, Charlotte, was born in 2000.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c "Norman Baker, Liberal Democrat MP", BBC News online. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  2. ^ a b c d "Who's Who: Norman Baker MP", Liberal Democrats website. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  3. ^ "Norman Baker MP (subscription required)", DodOnline. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  4. ^ UK general election results, April 1992: Lewes. Richard Kimber's political science resources. Retrieved on 2007-11-24.
  5. ^ UK general election results, May 1997: Lewes. Richard Kimber's political science resources. Retrieved on 2007-11-24.
  6. ^ a b Nigel Morris. "Is Norman Baker the most hated man in Westminster?", The Independent, 15 February 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  7. ^ "Norman Baker's week in politics", BBC News online, 26 January 2001. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  8. ^ David Hencke. "Ministers' car fleet grows to record size", The Guardian, 18 December 2002. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  9. ^ Will Woodward. "From £16,000 on trains to £230 on a bike: politicians' travel expenses revealed", The Guardian, 14 February 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  10. ^ Philip Johnston. "MP wins landmark test case over secrecy of MI5 files", The Daily Telegraph, 10 October 2001. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  11. ^ "MP wins landmark battle over MI5 files", BBC News online, 1 October 2001. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  12. ^ Dan Newling. "Why I believe David Kelly's death may have been murder, by MP", The Daily Mail, 24 July 2006. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  13. ^ "General election 2005: Lewes", The Times online. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  14. ^ a b c ""I'm no bore" says Baker", BBC News online, 14 June 2002. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  15. ^ "Hansard, 12 Jun 2002: Column 860", House of Commons, 12 June 2002. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  16. ^ a b Early Day Motion 178: Climate Change. Retrieved on 2007-11-24.
  17. ^ Climate Change Bill, 2005. Parliament of the United Kingdom (13 July 2005). Retrieved on 2007-11-24.
  18. ^ Friends of the Earth secures Climate Change Bill. Friends of the Earth website. Retrieved on 2007-11-24.
  19. ^ "Nuclear energy 'too uneconomic'", BBC News online, 17 January 2006. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  20. ^ "Menzies Campbell unveils new Shadow Cabinet", Liberal Democrats website, 4 July 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  21. ^ Wolverhampton Liberal Democrats. "Sir Menzies reshuffles top team", 4 July 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  22. ^ Rosa Prince. "Charles Kennedy on Nick Clegg's front bench", The Daily Telegraph, 24 December 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  23. ^ Nick Clegg reveals Shadow Cabinet. Liberal Democrats website (20 December 2007). Retrieved on 2007-11-24.
  24. ^ a b Brian Wheeler. "MP investigates Dr Kelly's death", BBC News online, 19 May 2006. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  25. ^ "Files 'wiped' in Dr Kelly inquiry", BBC News online, 13 July 2006. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  26. ^ "MP says files into Kelly death have been wiped", The Scotsman, 14 July 2006. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  27. ^ Miles Godfrey And Katya Mira. "Murder theory that just won't go away", The Argus, 13 April 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. "The greatest British conspiracy theory of the modern age was unveiled this week. Lewes MP Norman Baker set out in detail for the first time why he believes the secret service murdered the Government scientist Dr David Kelly." 
  28. ^ Norman Baker. "Travesty of the truth: Was the Hutton Inquiry into David Kelly's death just part of the cover-up?", The Daily Mail. 
  29. ^ Norman Baker. "David Kelly: The belly-dancing spy whose secrets they just ignored", The Daily Mail. 
  30. ^ Norman Baker. "Could America have been involved in the death of Doctor Kelly?", The Daily Mail. 
  31. ^ Norman Baker. "Did Britain give a nod and a wink to the killers of Dr David Kelly?", The Daily Mail. 
  32. ^ Norman Baker. "Did two hired assassins snatch weapons inspector David Kelly?", The Daily Mail. 
  33. ^ Norman Baker. "Campbell, that dodgy dossier and the lies that cost David Kelly his life", The Daily Mail. 
  34. ^ Brian Brady and Rachel Shields. "Kelly family appeals for calm after new murder claims by MP", The Independent, 21 October 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  35. ^ Katya Mira. "MP criticised over spending", The Argus, 16 December 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  36. ^ "Select Committee on Standards and Privileges Second Report of Session 2007-08: Conduct of Mr Norman Baker, Mr Malcolm Bruce and Mr Sadiq Khan", House of Commons, 13 December 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  37. ^ Tibet Society website. Retrieved on 2008-03-21.
  38. ^ a b Iain Haddow. "Tibetan exiles vent their anger", BBC News Online, 18 Marc 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-21. 
  39. ^ a b Norman Baker MP speaks about threats to Tibetian language. Free Tibet Campaign (21 February 2008). Retrieved on 2008-03-20.

[edit] See also

[edit] Publications

[edit] External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Tim Rathbone		 Member of Parliament for Lewes
1997 – present		 Incumbent
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