Bill Newton Dunn

Bill Newton Dunn MEP
Member of the European Parliament
for East Midlands, UK
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 May 1999
Preceded by Nick Clegg
Member of the European Parliament
for East Midlands, UK
In office
7 June 1979 – 9 June 1994
Preceded by Constituency created
Succeeded by Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born 3 October 1941 (1941-10-03) (age 70)
Greywell, Hampshire, England
Nationality British
Political party Liberal Democrats
(Conservative Party until 2000 defection)
Children Tom Newton Dunn
Daisy Newton Dunn
Emily Newton Dunn
Website http://www.libdemeuro.com/

William "Bill" Newton Dunn (born 3 October 1941 in Greywell, Hampshire) is a British politician. He is a Member of the European Parliament for the East Midlands for the Liberal Democrats.

Contents

Early life

He attended the independent Marlborough College in Wiltshire from 1955-9, then gained a Diploma from the University of Paris (the Sorbonne) in 1960. He completed an MA in Natural Sciences (Physics and Chemistry) in 1963 at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He gained a tri-lingual MBA from the INSEAD Business School at Fontainebleau, which no doubt fuelled his interest in European matters where he studied from 1965-6. From 1963-79, he worked in industry.

Parliamentary career

He was a Conservative Party MEP from 1979 to 1994 for Lincolnshire. After a spell out of the Parliament, he was re-elected a Conservative MEP for the East Midlands in 1999. He defected to the Liberal Democrats in 2000 because he felt that the Conservatives were increasingly negative towards the prospect of Britain playing a leading role in Europe.

Newton Dunn was elected as a Lib Dem MEP for the first time in the European elections, 2004. He claims to have the highest attendance record of all the UK MEPs.

Newton Dunn coined the now much-used phrase Democratic deficit in a pamphlet in the 1980s.

In 2010 he signed the Spinelli Group Manifesto in favour of a Federal Europe.

Personal life

He is married with two children, living in Navenby and West London. His son is Tom Newton Dunn, an award-winning journalist for The Sun newspaper. His daughter is Daisy Newton Dunn, a TV producer for the BBC.

References

External links

Offices held

European Parliament
Preceded by
Constituency created
Member of European Parliament for Lincolnshire
19791994
Succeeded by
Constituency abolished
Preceded by
Nick Clegg
Member of European Parliament for East Midlands
1999–present
Incumbent