| The Right Honourable The Lord Hanningfield |
|
|---|---|
| Former Leader of Essex County Council | |
| In office 2001 – 5 February 2010 |
|
| Succeeded by | Peter Martin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 16 September 1940 Chelmsford, United Kingdom |
| Political party | No affiliation (former Conservative, whip withdrawn) |
Paul Edward Winston White, Baron Hanningfield DL (born 16 September 1940) is a member of the House of Lords and was a British Conservative Party politician until early 2010, when the whip was withdrawn from him as a result of investigations into his criminal behaviour in relation to his Parliamentary expenses claims. Lord Hanningfield sat on the Conservative side on Essex County Council until after the meeting of that body on 12 May 2011.
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The son of Edward Ernest William White and Irene Joyce Gertrude Williamson, he was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford and has received a Nuffield Scholarship for Agriculture.
In 1962 he was appointed Chairman of the Young Farmers, and at the same time became a member of the Executive of Chelmsford Conservative Party, a position he held until 1999. He was first elected to Essex County Council in 1970 and served as Chairman of the council from 1989 to 1992. Hanningfield was also chair of the Council of Local Education Authorities between 1990 and 1992, leader of Association of County Councils between 1995 and 1997. From 1997 to 2001, he was deputy chair and Conservative Group Leader of the Local Government Association. He served as leader of Essex County Council from 2001 until his resignation in 2010.[1]
On 31 July 1998, he was made a life peer as Baron Hanningfield, of Chelmsford in the County of Essex. In the House of Lords he served as an opposition whip and a Shadow Minister for education and transport.
Hanningfield is also a member of the Court of Essex University and a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Essex. Lord Hanningfield is also Vice Patron of the Helen Rollason Trust.
On the 18th March 2009 the Countryside Alliance awarded him with the Rural Vision 2009 Award for his work to protect and promote rural communities. The Alliance felt his involvement and leadership on issues such as fighting against the second runway at Stansted and post office closures showed he was a politician with the countryside's future most at heart.
On 5 February 2010 it was announced that he would be charged with offences under section 17 of the Theft Act relating to false accounting for claims for overnight accommodation. He immediately resigned as Opposition Spokesperson for Communities, Local Government and for Transport.[2] Also later on that day, he resigned as leader of Essex County Council and David Cameron withdrew the party whip.[3]
On 27 May 2010 Lord Hanningfield, Jim Devine, Elliot Morley and David Chaytor appeared at Southwark Crown Court for a preliminary hearing.[4] Hanningfield's trial at Chelmsford Crown Court began on 16 May 2011. He was charged with six counts of false accounting. Prosecutor Clare Montgomery QC accused the peer of claiming for overnight stays in London when he had returned to his Essex home. On one occasion, when he claimed for reimbursement for an overnight stay in London, he was actually on a plane to India.[5]
Lord Hanningfield denied six charges of false accounting. The peer told police he had been 'singled out' and that in an interview in August 2009, he had told police: "I have done the same as 500 or 600 other peers." [6] On 26 May 2011, Lord Hanningfield was found guilty on all six counts.[7]
On 1st July 2011, Hanningfield was sentenced to 9 months imprisonment by Maidstone crown court after the court heard evidence from Hanningfield's psychiatrist, Proff Cowey, stating "he expressed suicidal ideas" and "he told me he would be absolutely crushed by a custodial sentence". However, the prosecution argued he was well enough to attend House of Lords in the previous week. [8] The sentence was the shortest of anyone convicted in the expenses scandal, and Hanningfield has filed an appeal.[9][10]
Hanningfield's expenses from when he was leader of Essex County Council are also under police investigation.[11]
An appeal against his conviction was rejected by the Court of Appeal on 20 July 2011 and he has never expressed any contrition since that time[12]
On 12th September 2011, it was reported Lord Hanningfield was released from prison on home detention curfew, after serving just a quarter of his 9 month sentence.[13][14]
In December 2011 the House Committee in the Lords recommended that Baroness Uddin and Hanningfield should not be allowed back to the Lords until the outstanding expenses had been repaid. [15]
Hanningfield lived in the village of West Hanningfield in Essex with his Bernese mountain dog, Jefferson[16] before being jailed on 1st July 2011 (see above).