Tim Yeo
| Tim Yeo | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Environment and Transport | |
| In office 15 March 2004 – 6 May 2005 | |
| Leader | Michael Howard |
| Preceded by | Theresa May |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Public Services, Health and Education | |
| In office 11 November 2003 – 15 March 2004 | |
| Leader | Michael Howard |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry | |
| In office 23 July 2002 – 11 November 2003 | |
| Leader | Iain Duncan Smith |
| Preceded by | John Whittingdale |
| Succeeded by | James Arbuthnot (Trade) Stephen O'Brien (Industry) |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport | |
| In office 18 September 2001 – 23 July 2002 | |
| Leader | Iain Duncan Smith |
| Preceded by | Peter Ainsworth |
| Succeeded by | John Whittingdale |
| Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food | |
| In office December 1997 – 18 September 2001 | |
| Leader | William Hague |
| Preceded by | David Curry |
| Succeeded by | Peter Ainsworth (Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) |
| Member of Parliament for South Suffolk | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 9 June 1983 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | TBD |
| Majority | 8,689 (16.9%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 20 March 1945 London, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Diane Helen Pickard |
| Alma mater | Emmanuel College, Cambridge |
| Website | Official website |
Timothy Stephen Kenneth Yeo (born 20 March 1945) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of South Suffolk. He was deselected for the 2015 UK General Election in a secret ballot of South Suffolk Conservative Party members on 29 November 2013.[1] Yeo remained the MP for the constituency of South Suffolk until the May 2015 election.
Yeo served as the Minister for the Environment and Countryside from 1992 to 1993 in the government of Prime Minister John Major. He also served in the Shadow Cabinet from 2001 to 2005 under Conservative Party leaders Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard.
Early life
Yeo was educated at Charterhouse School, before going on to Emmanuel College at Cambridge University where he read History and graduated in 1968. At university he "did no work, got a poor degree and adored it".[2]
From 1970–73, Yeo was Assistant Treasurer of Bankers Trust Company. Then, from 1975–86, he was a Director of Worcester Engineering Company. From 1980–83, he was Chief Executive of the Spastics Society (now known as Scope).
The Tadworth Court Children's Hospital was founded in 1984 under his chairmanship after Great Ormond Street Hospital had decided to relinquish the building in 1982. He resigned in the early nineties because of his parliamentary workload and was succeeded by Archie Norman.[3]
Parliamentary career
Yeo contested Bedwellty in the February 1974 General Election before being elected as MP for South Suffolk in 1983.
In 1988, Yeo became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd.
In 1992, Yeo was appointed Minister for the Environment and Countryside in John Major's government, but was forced to resign after a scandal involving his so-called "love child" with a Conservative councillor, Julia Stent,[4] who was born on 8 July 1993. Three years earlier, Yeo had said to the branch of Relate in his constituency, "It is in everyone's interests to reduce broken families and the number of single parents. I have seen from my own constituency the consequences of marital breakdown."[5] The story broke on Boxing Day during a quiet news period and intense coverage was given to the scandal. Yeo resigned on 5 January 1994.
In Opposition
After the Conservative Party's defeat in the 1997 General Election, the party's new leader William Hague appointed Yeo as a spokesman on the Environment, Transport and the Regions.
Yeo was a member of Iain Duncan Smith's Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. In 2003, Yeo was made Shadow Secretary for Education and Health[6] by the party's new leader, Michael Howard, with responsibility for the party's policy on both schools and hospitals. In 2004, Howard made Yeo the Shadow Secretary for the Environment and Transport. During this period, his Chief of Staff was Douglas Hurd's son, Nick Hurd (who became the MP for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner at the 2005 general election).
Yeo resigned from the shadow cabinet shortly after the 2005 election, saying he wished to be free to play a role in rethinking the Conservative Party's future. On 27 August, he ruled himself out of the ensuing party leadership election following Howard's resignation, announcing his backing for former Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke. The contest was won by the then-Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills, David Cameron.
Committee Chair
As Chair of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, Yeo has been an influential voice on energy policy. Despite his committee releasing a report sceptical of hydraulic fracturing in the United Kingdom, Yeo has revised his personal opinion and supports the use of the technique in the UK.
In 2012, he announced that he now supported the proposal for a third runway at Heathrow Airport, and that his long-held "environmental objections" to expansion were "disappearing".[7]
In 2013, he stated that the government reaching an agreement over nuclear power expansion was a "matter of great urgency", and warned that Britain could run out of energy if negotiations were not concluded quickly.[8]
On 9 June 2013, The Sunday Times alleged, citing video evidence of a conversation with the MP, that he had helped "coach" a solar energy company executive for an appearance before his parliamentary committee; the parent company pays Yeo. The MP has referred himself to Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, and said that he intends to fight the claims made against him.[9]
On 9 June 2013 he temporarily "stepped aside" as the chair of the committee.[10] The Liberal Democrat Sir Robert Smith replaced him on an interim basis.[11]
Business interests
Yeo is chairman of Univent plc, Chairman of TMO Renewables and non-executive chairman of Eco City Vehicles plc and AFC Energy plc.
Yeo and his wife Diane are sole directors of Locana Corporation (London) Ltd., Anacol Holdings Ltd. and General Securities Register Ltd.
Yeo is also a director of ITI Energy Ltd.
He writes articles for Golf Weekly and Country Life magazines and, occasionally, the Financial Times.
He occupies a seat on the board of Eurotunnel.[12] In June 2013, Yeo denied allegations in The Sunday Times. The paper had released a video in which Yeo claimed to have told a representative of GB Railfreight (a subsidiary of Eurotunnel) how to act in front of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, saying he was "able to tell him in advance what to say". Yeo had earlier excused himself from the committee, on the grounds that he might be "biased"[13] if he questioned an employee of a company for which he himself worked.
Political funding
Yeo has received £67,290 in remunerations from corporate donors for work done for AFC Energy PLC, a developer of alkaline fuel cells focused on industrial application. From other corporate donors, he has received £372,419 in other remunerations, from companies including TMO Renewables Limited, Groupe Eurotunnel SA, and Eco City Vehicles.[14]
Personal life
He married Diane Helen Pickard on 30 March 1970 in Greenwich. They have a son, the portrait painter Jonathan Yeo, and a daughter.
Yeo also has two more daughters from outside his marriage. He fathered his first daughter in 1967 when he was still a student at Cambridge University and put her up for adoption.[15] Another daughter, Claudia, was born in 1993 through his extra-marital affair with Julia Stent.[16]
References
- ↑ "Tim Yeo MP deselected by South Suffolk Tories". BBC. 30 November 2013. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
- ↑ "Interview by Alice Thomson". The Daily Telegraph (London). 12 November 2003.
- ↑ Andrew Ross, Emmanuel College Magazine (2012–2013), pp 83–86
- ↑ A history of Christmas scandal past, BBC, December 22, 1998
- ↑ The Guardian – 27 December 1993
- ↑ "Howard unveils his top team". BBC News. 10 November 2003.
- ↑ "Heathrow third runway not right for UK, says Greening". BBC News. 29 August 2012.
- ↑ http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/utilities/article3679253.ece
- ↑ "Tim Yeo rejects committee coaching claim", BBC News, 9 June 2013
- ↑ Wintour, Patrick (10 June 2013). "Tim Yeo steps aside as committee chair amid lobbying claims". The Guardian (London).
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ "Tim Yeo rejects committee coaching claim". BBC News. 9 June 2013.
- ↑ http://www.searchthemoney.com/profile/654?p2=6#tabsx-3
- ↑ The Independent (London) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/after-36-years-yeo-asks-the-daughter-he-gave-away-to-contact-him-735586.html. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "The Yeo Resignation: Local party ousts Yeo: Whips blame MP for failing to reconcile constituency to his problems after fathering child in an affair". The Independent (London). 6 January 1994.
External links
- Tim Yeo MP official constituency website
- Profile at the Conservative Party
- Suffolk Conservatives
- Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
- Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
- Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
- Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
- Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
- Articles authored at Journalisted
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| New constituency | Member of Parliament for South Suffolk 1983–2015 |
Succeeded by TBD |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by David Curry |
Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 1997–2001 |
Succeeded by Peter Ainsworth as Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs |
| Preceded by Peter Ainsworth |
Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 2001–2002 |
Succeeded by John Whittingdale |
| Preceded by John Whittingdale |
Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 2002–2003 |
Succeeded by James Arbuthnot as Shadow Secretary of State for Trade |
| Succeeded by Stephen O'Brien as Shadow Secretary of State for Industry | ||
| New office | Shadow Secretary of State for Public Services, Health and Education 2003–2004 |
Position abolished |
| Preceded by Theresa May |
Shadow Secretary of State for Environment and Transport 2004–2005 | |
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