| Anna Soubry MP | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for Broxtowe |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 6 May 2010 |
|
| Preceded by | Nick Palmer |
| Majority | 390 (0.7%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 7 December 1956 Lincoln, Lincolnshire |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Website | www.annasoubry.org.uk |
Anna Mary Soubry[1] (born 7 December 1956, Lincoln, Lincolnshire) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Broxtowe since the 2010 general election. She is a single mother of two children.[2]
The Independent's Simon Carr has stated that “she has a record of unusually free speech”.[3] On 17 November 2010, Soubry was appointed as parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to Simon Burns at the Department of Health.[4]
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Soubry graduated in law from the University of Birmingham in 1979.[5] She was a journalist from 1981 until 1995 and also reported on and presented several regional and networked TV programmes, including Grampian Television's North Tonight in the North of Scotland and the East Midlands regional news programme, Central News East. Soubry also presented and reported Granada Television's This Morning in the late 1980s.[6] She was called to the bar in 1995 and is a member of the Criminal Bar Association.[7]
Soubry was involved in student politics in the 1970s, becoming the only Conservative member of the National Union of Students' executive committee.[2]
Soubry was the Conservative Party candidate for the Gedling constituency in the United Kingdom general election of 2005. During the campaign, she said she was "ashamed" of living in Nottingham as it had a bad reputation for crime.[8] She said she wasn't ashamed of the people of Nottingham, but, instead, was ashamed of what had happened to the city.[8]
Soubry was chosen as an "A-List" candidate and in 2006 was selected for the nearby Broxtowe Parliamentary seat.[9] In a debate in front of sixth formers in 2006, She said an honest debate was needed to stop people taking Class A drugs and she supported the legalisation of cannabis.[10] In June 2010, Soubry was elected as a Conservative member of the Justice Select Committee,[11] but is no longer part of that committee.[12]
In June 2010, Soubry met the transport minister Norman Baker and called for the £400m extension to Nottingham's tram system to be scrapped saying the money would be better spent on the A453. David Thornhill of the Campaign for Better Transport expressed astonishment at her opinion and said the tram was definitely better value for money.[13] Soubry said she was pro-tram, but that the tram route through her constituency was "fundamentally flawed". Broxtowe Conservatives had always opposed the route.[14] A subsequent report by the Campaign identified Nottingham as "the least car dependent city in England" and noted the expanding tram system.[15]
In July 2010, Soubry was criticised for employing Craig Cox, for three months, who in 2008 had faced a police probe after holding up a banner calling for the return of slavery.[16][17] Cox, who was 20 at the time and president of the Nottingham University Conservative Association had held up the banner, allegedly with intent to 'wind up' participants at a seminar, upsetting some black students so much they are said to have left the seminar.[16][17] Soubry said she was aware of Cox's background but he had made a full apology and "regretted doing something so stupid". She thought there were more important things to debate.[17]
In October 2010, Soubry wrote in her monthly column in the Beeston Express that on returning to Parliament she met a "somewhat shell-shocked Parliamentary Assistant bearing a pile of some 300 cards from constituents urging me to oppose the proposed sell-off of the Royal Mail."[18]
She expressed dismay at the time and cost of replying to each constituent when she had already discussed the issue with the Communication Workers Union.[18] Twelve days later she announced in Parliament that of the 700 postal workers in her constituency, to her knowledge, none had written to her opposing privatisation of Royal Mail and only two had come down to London.[19]
In November 2010, the Communication Workers Union wrote to Parliament alleging her statement was both untrue and wrongly implied there was little support for its “Keep The Post Public” campaign.[20] It wanted to get the statement formally withdrawn.[20]
Soubry agreed she was wrong, but said that some of the letters had been misfiled and others had arrived late or were sent to the wrong MP and that the Communication Workers Union had been inefficient. She claimed she genuinely believed she was telling the truth.[20] The bill protected Royal Mail, its workers and the universal postal service and that was the only reason she supported it.[20]
The union collected around 10,000 signatures for its campaign in Nottingham.[20]
On 28 November 2010, Soubry appeared on the East Midland version of The Politics Show to discuss her efforts to help the Citizens Advice Bureau.
The program reviewed the current state of Nottinghamshire’s CAB which is facing a 30% increase in enquiries plus cuts in its budget from local councils and the Ministry of Justice.[21] It also briefly covered Chris Leslie’s oral question to Ken Clarke earlier that month on the same topic.[22] In the overview, Simon Hartley Jones of Mansfield CAB said the cuts to the CAB beggared belief, threatened it with closure and contradicted the Big Society.[23] Soubry was shown speaking to local CAB workers and it was stated that her Broxtowe CAB handled 33,000 enquiries last year.[23]
In the studio interview, Soubry said she had asked the leader of Nottingham County Council and Clarke who she described as a “long standing supporter of the CAB” to reconsider. She also said the Government had made a £100m contingency fund available for charities facing problems in the immediate aftermath of the cuts. A reduction in the CAB’s capability would add pressure to MPs workload. She believed it was imperative to continue to fund the CAB from the public purse but also believed the banks and credit card companies who bear some responsibility for debts could help. An additional serious concern she would take up was that even at this late stage, the CAB didn’t know what its budget would be for the next financial year.
According to her website, Soubry later organised a meeting between the CAB, Midlands Women's Aid and Nick Hurd, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Charities, Social Enterprise and Volunteering. The meeting aimed to make him aware of the effects of the proposed cuts in funding to these organisations.[24]
In June 2010, Soubry sponsored a private member's bill to provide anonymity to a person who has been arrested but not charged. A clause allowed any party to ask for anonymity to be removed if it was in the interests of justice.[25] The press coverage of the arrest of the landlord of Joanna Yeates in December 2010 was criticised by both police and the Attorney General and seemed a good example of the mischief which the bill could remedy. The second reading took place in February 2011.[25] MPs of all parties alluded to the Yeates murder.
Mike Freer referring to "the landlord in Bristol" said "it was the castigation, the crawling over of that gentleman's background, the questioning of his looks, his eccentricity and his sexuality that were abhorrent and that will follow him around for ever."[26] Soubry replied "What we saw in Bristol was, in effect, a feeding frenzy and vilification. Much of the coverage was not only completely irrelevant, but there was a homophobic tone to it which I found deeply offensive. The slurs on the man were out of order."[26] She also said that the Contempt of Court Act 1981 which the Attorney-General hadn't been able to use to "stop the salacious and vilifying nature of the coverage of the man arrested in Bristol" could be amended.[27]
Robert Flello said that many members had alluded to "the media's dreadful treatment of her landlord". The shameful way in which that man was portrayed in the press-from "weird-looking" to "strange", and with questions raised about his sexuality, his teaching practices and even his hairstyle-should embarrass and shame our media.[28]
Philip Davies was one of a number of MPs to raise the problems with websites. He pointed out that even if the bill applied to the UK, there would be no way of effectively controlling what was put out by websites based abroad.[29]
Soubry withdrew the bill after its second reading, when Justice Minister Crispin Blunt promised the Attorney General would examine the area of concern.[25][30]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Nick Palmer |
Member of Parliament for Broxtowe 2010–present |
Incumbent |