Glyn Davies (British politician)

Glyn Davies
MP

Glyn Davies MP
Member of Parliament
for Montgomeryshire
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded by Lembit Öpik
Majority 9,285 (26.6%)
Member of the Welsh Assembly
for Mid and West Wales
In office
6 May 1999 – 3 May 2007
Preceded by Constituency Created
Succeeded by Alun Davies
Personal details
Born (1944-02-16) 16 February 1944
Welshpool, Montgomeryshire, Wales
Nationality British
Political party Conservative
Alma mater Aberystwyth University
Website Official website

Edward Glyn Davies[1] (born 16 February 1944) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Montgomeryshire since May 2010, and is a former member of the National Assembly for Wales in the Mid and West Wales region (which covers the areas of Powys, Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion, Camarthenshire and Gwynedd).

Background

Educated at Castle Caereinion Primary School and Llanfair Caereinion High School. At the age of 50, he attended Aberystwyth University where he gained a Diploma in International Law and Politics.[2]

He spent his early working life running the family farm near Castle Caereinion, Welshpool on which he was born and in which still has a business interest. He now lives at Cil Farm, Berriew in a house once owned by Arthur Humphreys-Owen who served as an MP for Davies' seat from 1894-1906.[3]

In 2002, Davies underwent major surgery for rectal cancer. He went on to make a full recovery and in 2006 competed in a rugby game alongside Jonah Lomu to promote the message that is possible to make a full recovery following a serious illness and to raise money for charity.[4]

Professional career

Davies was a farmer. He is a former Chairman of the Development Board for Rural Wales and also served as a Member of the Welsh Development Agency and the Welsh Tourist Board.[2]

Political career

Davies' career in politics began in 1980 when he found his local District Council. He was Chairman of Montgomeryshire District Council from 1985–89, having previously served as Chair of the Planning Committee and Chair of the Finance Committee.[2]

Member of the National Assembly for Wales for the Welsh Conservative Party in the Mid and West Wales region from 1999 to 2007. Chair of the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee in the First Assembly; and the Environment, Planning and Countryside Committee in the Second Assembly.

Following the loss of his place in the National Assembly for Wales due to Conservative success elsewhere in the region, Davies challenged Lembit Öpik, the Liberal Democrat MP for Montgomeryshire, at the 2010 UK General Election, having unsuccessfully challenged Öpik at the 1997 General Election in the same seat. He beat Öpik to become the Member of Parliament for Montgomeryshire.[5] In September 2010 it was announced that Glyn was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Cheryl Gillan as Secretary of State for Wales,[6] a role he lost in the 2012 Cabinet reshuffle.[7]

In 2015, he was re-elected in that year's general election with 45% of the vote. One of the votes for him was a drawing of a penis in the box next to his name, which was ruled valid.[8]

Davies was again re-elected in the 2017 general election, with a majority of 9,285.[9]

Academic Offence Controversy

In October 2016, Davies tweeted a series of controversial remarks about 'academics', suggesting that they lacked the status of experts and were universally out of touch with the real world.[10] The remarks caused a significant backlash from the public, the press, and peers from within the Conservative Party.[11] Since the incident, Davies has ceased using Twitter as a form of communication, and has refused to offer a public apology for his remarks.

Blogging

Davies blogs semi-regularly, on his web page 'A View from Rural Wales'. The British blogger Iain Dale is quoted as describing Davies as "By common consensus the best politician blogger in Wales and he's a real character".[12] Davies kept up blogging after losing his seat in the National Assembly. At times in 2007 he was almost single-handedly fighting for a 'rainbow coalition' through his blog.

Davies recently defended the sacked former blogger Christopher Glamorganshire, and is quoted as saying "The Christopher Glamorganshire blog was on my list of 'my favourites'. It seemed to me to be written in a sensible and rational manner. Clearly, if his contract of employment said he was not allowed to blog, he doesn't have much of a case. But if it is simply a question of supposedly contravening the code, I think sacking him is very harsh and heavy-handed. This all smacks of the heavy hand of the state."[13]

His blog was voted the second most popular Welsh political blog in Iain Dale's Total Politics Guide to Blogging 2008–09,[14] a position he has maintained from the previous year.[15]

Offices held

Parliamentary Private Secretary to Cheryl Gillan MP, September 2010 - July 2012 Parliamentary Private Secretary to Alun Cairns MP, July 2016 – present.

References

  1. ↑ "BBC General Election 2010". BBC News.
  2. 1 2 3 "UK: Wales: AMs". BBC News. 1 September 1999. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  3. ↑ https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2010-07-20c.278.0
  4. ↑ BBC News story "AM's message of life after cancer"
  5. ↑ "Lembit Opik loses Montgomeryshire". BBC News. 7 May 2010.
  6. ↑ "Cameron approves pps appointments". Politicshome. 10 September 2010.
  7. ↑ "Cabinet reshuffle: Cheryl Gillan loses Wales Office". BBC News. 4 September 2012.
  8. ↑ "‘Penis’ drawn on ballot paper ‘deemed valid vote’". The Scotsman. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  9. ↑ "Montgomeryshire parliamentary constituency - Election 2017". BBC News. Retrieved 2017-06-09.
  10. ↑ Davis, G. (October 29, 2016) "Personally, never thought of academics as 'experts'. No experience of the real world." twitter.com
  11. ↑ "Welsh Tory MP's attack: the experts strike back". BBC News. 2 November 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  12. ↑ "The blogger's world is huge". Wales on Sunday. 20 May 2007. Retrieved 21 July 2008.
  13. ↑ "Sacked blogger's taking case to tribunal". Western Mail. 9 July 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2008.
  14. ↑ "Top 40 Welsh blogs". Iain Dale's Diary. 26 August 2008. Retrieved 6 October 2008.
  15. ↑ "Top 20 Welsh blogs". Iain Dale's Diary. 18 September 2008. Retrieved 6 October 2008.
National Assembly for Wales
New title Assembly Member for Mid and West Wales
1999 – 2007 		Succeeded by
Alun Davies
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Lembit Öpik		 Member of Parliament for Montgomeryshire
2010–present 		Incumbent
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.