Christopher Newbury (born 10 November 1956, Trowbridge, England)[1] is an English politician, a member of the Congress of the Council of Europe since 1998 and an Independent member of Wiltshire Council since 2009.[1]
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Newbury was educated at Gresham's School and Keble College, Oxford.[1] In 1976, he represented the Oxford Union Society in the Observer Mace student debating competition in partnership with Benazir Bhutto. In a Ravenscroft production of Macbeth, he played the part of Macbeth opposite Guy Hands as Lady Macbeth.
Newbury was appointed to the UK Delegation to the Congress of the Council of Europe in 1998. At first not in a political grouping, he joined the European People's Party in 2004. At the European level, he has specialized since 1999 in monitoring local democracy and observing elections.[2] He has prepared reports for the Council of Europe on the situation of local democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2001 and 2006),[3][4] Armenia (2003),[5] Luxembourg (2004),[6][7] Liechtenstein (2005),[8][9] Serbia (2010)[10] and Russia (2010).[11]
His report on local and regional democracy in Russia (2010) recommended the reintroduction of direct elections for regional governors, changes to the law to make it possible to register new political parties "without the need to demonstrate an impractically large number of members", and ending the use of closed lists in local and regional elections, and to implement new measures to eradicate corruption at local level.[12]
In his report on Liechtenstein (2006), Newbury stated that "The situation of municipalities in Liechtenstein was remarkable and indeed enviable. Both the letter and the spirit of the Charter were observed", thanking the Prince of Liechtenstein for a his welcome.[13]
He has also headed delegations of the Council of Europe to observe elections in its member and observer states, including Kosovo (November 2001),[14] the Ukraine (March 2002),[15] Armenia (October 2002),[16] Gagauzia, Moldova (November 2003),[17] and Palestine (December, 2005).[18] He was joint rapporteur for the observation of the Presidential election in Serbia and Montenegro of June 2004, heading the observation of the second round on 27 June 2004,[19] and was rapporteur for elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina in September-October 2004.[20] He also took part in election observations in Kosovo in 2000,[21] Montenegro in 2002,[22] Moldova in May and June 2003,[23] Albania in October 2003,[24] Azerbaijan in 2004[25] and again in 2009,[26] Armenia[27] and Macedonia in 2005,[28] and Adjara in 2008.[29]
In 2000 and 2008 he represented the Council of Europe's Congress at meetings of the Venice Commission.[30][31]
In 2003, he was the rapporteur of the Congress of the Council of Europe on Public Ethics at the Local Level and on a related Handbook of Good Practice prepared by the CDLR.[32]
He serves as the rapporteur of the Congress on the revision of the European Charter of Local Self-Government,[2] which has included a recommendation on opening the Charter to accession by the European Community.[33][34]
Newbury was a member of West Wiltshire District Council from 1995 to 2009 and of Wiltshire County Council from 1997 to 2009. For some years he chaired the West Wiltshire Planning Committee and has been chairman of the Wiltshire Victoria County History since 2002.[35] He is also a governor of Urchfont Manor College and the Wiltshire Historic Buildings Trust and a member of the Wiltshire and Swindon Fire Authority and of the LGA's Fire Services Management Committee.[1]
Since the 2009 election to Wiltshire Council, his Warminster Copheap and Wylye division includes Boyton, Bishopstrow, Chitterne, Codford, Heytesbury with Imber and Knook, Norton Bavant, Stockton, Sherrington, and Upton Lovell, with the northern part of the town of Warminster.[36]