Mark Lancaster

John Mark Lancaster TD (born 12 May 1970) is a British Conservative Party politician. He was elected as Member of Parliament for the North East Milton Keynes constituency at the 2005 general election and held its successor seat, Milton Keynes North, at the 2010 general election. Initially appointed as the PPS to the Secretary of State for International Development.^[2] He is currently a Lord Commissioner of Her Majesty's Treasury following his promotion to Government Minister in September 2012.

Early life

Lancaster was educated at Kimbolton School where his father was chaplain. He graduated as a BSc in Business Studies from the University of Buckingham and MBA from the University of Exeter Business School. He was awarded an Honorary PhD from Buckingham University in 2008.^[3]

He was a company director for the family firm Kimbolton Fireworks before he was elected to Parliament.^[4]

Army record

Between 1988 and 1990 Lancaster served in the Army on an extended gap-year Commission in Hong Kong with the Queens Gurkha Engineers before going up to university. He then transferred his Commission to the Army Reserve where he continues to serve as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Engineers. He is a qualified EOD operator (Bomb Disposal Officer) and has been on active service three times in Kosovo (1999–2000), Bosnia (2001–2002) and Afghanistan (2006).

He was awarded the Territorial Decoration (TD) in 2002 and the Volunteer Reserves Service Medal (VRSM) in 2012.

Political career

Lancaster was a Member of Huntingdonshire District Council (1995–1999) where he served as the Chairman of the Leisure Committee (1996–1999). At the 2001 general election, Lancaster stood as the Conservative candidate for Nuneaton. He was beaten by Labour candidate Bill Olner.

Lancaster was elected as Member of Parliament for the North East Milton Keynes in the 2005 general election, unseating former MP Brian White of the Labour Party.

Lancaster was a Conservative Party whip between November 2006 until July 2007, when he was appointed Shadow Minister for International Development under the then Leader of the Opposition David Cameron.^[3][5][6]

He has served on the Office of Deputy Prime Minister Select Committee, (2005), Defence Select Committee (2006)^[7] and the International Development Select Committee (2009–10).^[8]

In 2005 he introduced a Ten Minute Rule Bill in the House that would allow local councils to ban glasses and bottles in late night clubs and bars and replace them with plastic in support of his constituent Blake Golding. Lancaster also submitted an early day motion in 2006 calling for the government to ban sales of alcohol in glass containers in bars after 11pm.^[9]

Lancaster was instrumental in helping to reverse the Government cut to the Territorial Army funding in 2009.^{[citation needed]}

He was the (unpaid) Parliamentary Advisor to the Royal Society of Chemistry until his promotion to Minister in 2012.^[10]

Shortly after his re-election in 2010 he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Secretary of State for International Development. In September 2012 he became a Government Minister when he was made a Lord Commissioner of Her Majesty's Treasury.

In 2011, he was a member of the special Select Committee set up to scrutinise the Bill that became the Armed Forces Act 2011.^[11] He was also a member of the Public Bill Committee for the Defence Reform Bill.^[12]

Political views

Lancaster has stated his disagreement with the UK Government's policy on the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In an interview with the BBC, he stated "It may well be much harder to get the British public to back other overseas adventures by the military because of what's happened in Iraq."^[13]

To the end of March 2011, Lancaster had made 1,178 verbal contributions to Parliament and tabled 1,281 written questions, both well above average for MPs. He has voted in 83% of parliamentary votes in the current parliament. According to the Public Whip, he voted strongly against the introduction of ID cards and in favour of a smoking ban and an investigation into the Iraq war. In votes involving transparency of parliament (including MPs expenses),^[14] gay rights, and climate change his voting record is not easily categorized by obvious stereotypes, although in early 2013, Lancaster voted against legislation allowing gay couples to marry.^[10] He states that he will continue to vote against further stages of parliamentary legislation to allow gay couples to marry due to strongly held religious beliefs.^{[citation needed]}

In 2011 Lancaster introduced his own Private Members Bill, which enabled special Olympic 1 kg gold and silver coins to be struck by the Royal Mint as part of the 2012 Olympic legacy. These have now been launched by the Royal Mint. In 2013 Lancaster was successful in his four year campaign to get Khat classified as a category C drug following calls from his constituents.

Expenses

Second Home Allowance

Initially under new Parliamentary rules introduced after the 2010 General Election Lancaster did not qualify for the second homes allowances as was considered to be a 'London Area MP' during which time he had no second home or London accommodation. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) reversed this decision following their review in April 2011.

In the 2005-10 Parliament Lancaster was left unscathed by the expenses investigation, he did not feature in the Daily Telegraph's investigation and was one of a minority of MPs not asked to pay back any money as a result of the Sir Thomas Legg Enquiry.^[15]

Personal life

Lancaster divorced from his wife of 12 years in 2007, and later had a daughter in a different relationship.^[16] In January 2014, Lancaster announced his engagement to fellow divorced Conservative MP Caroline Dinenage.^[17] Lancaster is a supporter of MK Dons, and enjoys playing cricket, including for the House of Commons team.^[4][18]

Footnotes

External links

• Personal website of Mark Lancaster MP
• National Conservative Party profile on Mark Lancaster
• Milton Keynes Conservative Association website
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Mark Lancaster MP