Paul Goodman (politician)

Paul Alexander Cyril Goodman (born 17 November 1959) is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wycombe from 2001 to 2010, during which time he was a Shadow Minister shadowing the Department for Communities and Local Government. He is the now the executive editor of the influential Conservative website ConservativeHome.^[1]

Biography

Paul Goodman was born the son of Jewish parents in London, and converted to Roman Catholicism in his mid-twenties.^[2] He was raised in East Sheen, and was educated at the Cranleigh School, Surrey before attending the University of York where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature in 1981. He was Chairman of the Federation of Conservative Students between 1983–84, and was a member of the National Union of Students Executive during the two previous years.^[1]

In 1977 he worked for a year as a researcher to the Conservative MP at Petersfield, Michael Mates. In 1983 he was the chairman for the Federation of Conservative Students, and was appointed as a director of public affairs at Extel Consultancy in 1984, before becoming a researcher for two years to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and MP for Bridgwater Tom King in 1985. He was a briefly a member of the policy unit at the City of Westminster Council in 1988 before training as a novice monk at Quarr Abbey in Ryde on the Isle of Wight. He left the abbey in 1990 to take up the position of news editor with the Catholic Herald, before becoming a lead writer with The Daily Telegraph in 1991, moving to be a reporter with The Sunday Telegraph in 1992, before returning to The Daily Telegraph as a comment editor in 1995, remaining as a leader writer since his election to Westminster.

He was elected to the House of Commons for Wycombe in Buckinghamshire at the 2001 general election following the retirement of Ray Whitney. Goodman held Wycombe with a majority of 3,168 and remained the MP there until the 2010 general election. He made his maiden speech on 27 June 2001, in which he recalled the former Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli who had once contested his seat.^[3]

In parliament he served on the Work and Pensions Select Committee 2001-5. He also served for a year as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chairman of the Conservative Party David Davis from 2001, and was promoted to the frontbench by Michael Howard in 2003 as a spokesman on work and pensions. On David Cameron becoming Conservative leader in 2005, Paul Goodman was made a spokesman on Treasury matters. On 5 June 2009 he announced in the Bucks Free Press that he would not be standing for Parliament at the next general election.^[4] He said "a House in which professional politics predominates, entrenching and empowering a taxpayer-dependent political class distinct and separate from those who elect them...for better or worse, this future Commons isn't for me".^[1]

Personal life

He has been married to Fiona Mary Ann Gill since 1999 and they have a son named Daniel.^[1] They live in High Wycombe.

Publication

• Healthy Choices by Paul Goodman, John Redwood and Angela Watkinson, 2002

References

External links

• Wycombe Conservatives constituency site
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Paul Goodman MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Paul Goodman MP
• The Public Whip - Paul Goodman MP voting record
• BBC News - Paul Goodman profile 30 March 2006
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Paul Goodman