David Curry
Encyclopedia
David Maurice Curry is a British
Conservative Party
politician. He was the Member of Parliament
(MP) for Skipton and Ripon from 1987
to 2010.
where he was head boy
in 1962, and then at Corpus Christi College, Oxford
where he received a BA
degree in Modern History
in 1966. He also attended the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
as a Kennedy Scholar. He began his career as a reporter
on the Newcastle Journal
in 1966. In 1970, he became the world trade editor at The Financial Times
where he remained until he was elected to the European Parliament
. In 1977, he founded the Paris
Conservative Association. He contested the safe Labour
seat at Morpeth
at the February 1974 general election
, but was soundly beaten by the sitting Labour MP George Grant
by 13,034 votes. The two met again at the October 1974 general election
, when on this occasion Grant won by 14,687. Curry was elected as a Member of the European Parliament
in 1979 for Essex North East
, he served in Strasbourg
(and Brussels
) until 1989.
on the retirement of the sitting Conservative MP John Watson
. Curry held the seat with a strong majority of 17,174 and has held the seat safely since. On his election he became a member of the Agriculture
Select Committee until he was promoted to the government of Margaret Thatcher
in 1989 as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and was promoted within the same department to Minister of State
after the 1992 general election
by John Major
, a year later he moved sideways to the Department for the Environment
where he remained until the Major government fell at the 1997 general election
. He became a Member of the Privy Council
in 1996. In opposition he became the Shadow
Agriculture Secretary, but resigned from the Shadow Cabinet
in December 1997 in protest at the policy of ruling out Britain joining the single European currency
for the next ten years. In 1998, he became the chairman of the Agriculture Select Committee, and after the 2001 general election
, its successor the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee until 2003 when he promoted again to the Shadow Cabinet by Michael Howard
as the Shadow Local and Devolved Government Secretary until he resigned again, this time citing 'family reasons' in 2004 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3513962.stm, he was replaced by Caroline Spelman
. He was a member of the Public Accounts Select Committee from 2004.
On 5 February 2009, Curry announced that he would not stand again at the 2010 election.
On 19 November 2009 Curry stood down from his position as chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Standards and Privileges
after claims from the Telegraph newspaper
regarding his expenses and has reportedly referred himself to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
for investigation.
who was asked to sculpt Roy Jenkins
by the Works of Art Committee. He is a patron of the Tory Reform Group
. He writes a monthly column for the Local Government Chronicle
. He enjoys growing vegetables and dinghy
sailing
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politician. He was the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for Skipton and Ripon from 1987
United Kingdom general election, 1987
The United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the British House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive election victory for the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the 2nd...
to 2010.
Early life
Curry, the son of a teacher, was educated at the Ripon Grammar SchoolRipon Grammar School
Ripon Grammar School is a co-educational, selective, state secondary grammar school and specialist engineering college located in Ripon, North Yorkshire, England...
where he was head boy
Head boy
Head Boy and Head Girl are terms commonly used in the British education system, and in private schools throughout the Commonwealth.-United Kingdom:...
in 1962, and then at Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom...
where he received a BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in Modern History
Modern World
Modern World or The Modern World may refer to:*Modernity, a popular academic term.*The modern era, the age in which people today now live.*Modern World, a song by Wolf Parade from their 2005 album Apologies to the Queen Mary....
in 1966. He also attended the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
as a Kennedy Scholar. He began his career as a reporter
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
on the Newcastle Journal
The Journal (newspaper)
The Journal is a daily newspaper produced in Newcastle upon Tyne. Published by ncjMedia, , The Journal is produced every weekday and Saturday morning and is complemented by its sister publications the Evening Chronicle and the Sunday Sun.The newspaper mainly has a middle-class and professional...
in 1966. In 1970, he became the world trade editor at The Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
where he remained until he was elected to the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
. In 1977, he founded the Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
Conservative Association. He contested the safe Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
seat at Morpeth
Morpeth (UK Parliament constituency)
Morpeth was a borough constituency centred on the town of Morpeth in Northumberland represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of England until 1707, the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and then the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
at the February 1974 general election
United Kingdom general election, February 1974
The United Kingdom's general election of February 1974 was held on the 28th of that month. It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, and the first election since the Second World War not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the winning party,...
, but was soundly beaten by the sitting Labour MP George Grant
George Grant (UK politician)
George Grant was a British Labour politician and Member of Parliament for Morpeth from 1970 until 1983....
by 13,034 votes. The two met again at the October 1974 general election
United Kingdom general election, October 1974
The United Kingdom general election of October 1974 took place on 10 October 1974 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. It was the second general election of that year and resulted in the Labour Party led by Harold Wilson, winning by a tiny majority of 3 seats.The election of...
, when on this occasion Grant won by 14,687. Curry was elected as a Member of the European Parliament
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
in 1979 for Essex North East
Essex North East (European Parliament constituency)
Essex North East was a constituency of the European Parliament located in the United Kingdom, electing one Member of the European Parliament by the first-past-the-post electoral system...
, he served in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
(and Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
) until 1989.
Political career
Curry was elected to the House of Commons for the very safe Conservative seat of Skipton and Ripon at the 1987 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1987
The United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the British House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive election victory for the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the 2nd...
on the retirement of the sitting Conservative MP John Watson
John Watson (UK politician)
John Grenville Bernard Watson is a British Conservative Party politician.Watson was Member of Parliament for Skipton from 1979 to 1983, and for Skipton and Ripon from 1983 to 1987 when he stood down. His successor was David Curry....
. Curry held the seat with a strong majority of 17,174 and has held the seat safely since. On his election he became a member of the Agriculture
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was a United Kingdom government department created by the Board of Agriculture Act 1889 and at that time called the Board of Agriculture, and then from 1903 the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, and from 1919 the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries...
Select Committee until he was promoted to the government of Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
in 1989 as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and was promoted within the same department to Minister of State
Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians or officials in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a "minister of state" is a junior minister, who is assigned to assist a specific cabinet minister...
after the 1992 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1992
The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...
by John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
, a year later he moved sideways to the Department for the Environment
Secretary of State for the Environment
The Secretary of State for the Environment was a UK cabinet position, responsible for the Department of the Environment . This was created by Edward Heath as a combination of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Public Building and Works on 15...
where he remained until the Major government fell at the 1997 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
. He became a Member of the Privy Council
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
in 1996. In opposition he became the Shadow
Shadow Cabinet
The Shadow Cabinet is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government...
Agriculture Secretary, but resigned from the Shadow Cabinet
Shadow Cabinet
The Shadow Cabinet is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government...
in December 1997 in protest at the policy of ruling out Britain joining the single European currency
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
for the next ten years. In 1998, he became the chairman of the Agriculture Select Committee, and after the 2001 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2001
The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...
, its successor the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee until 2003 when he promoted again to the Shadow Cabinet by Michael Howard
Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...
as the Shadow Local and Devolved Government Secretary until he resigned again, this time citing 'family reasons' in 2004 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3513962.stm, he was replaced by Caroline Spelman
Caroline Spelman
Caroline Alice Spelman is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom who has served as the Member of Parliament for Meriden in the West Midlands since 1997...
. He was a member of the Public Accounts Select Committee from 2004.
On 5 February 2009, Curry announced that he would not stand again at the 2010 election.
On 19 November 2009 Curry stood down from his position as chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Standards and Privileges
Committee on Standards and Privileges
The Standards and Privileges Committee of the United Kingdom House of Commons was established in 1995 to replace the earlier Committee of Privileges...
after claims from the Telegraph newspaper
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
regarding his expenses and has reportedly referred himself to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority is an independent body created by the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009, largely as a response to the parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009. It establishes and monitors the expenses scheme for Members of the House of Commons, and is responsible for...
for investigation.
Personal life
His wife is a sculptorSculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
who was asked to sculpt Roy Jenkins
Roy Jenkins
Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead OM, PC was a British politician.The son of a Welsh coal miner who later became a union official and Labour MP, Roy Jenkins served with distinction in World War II. Elected to Parliament as a Labour member in 1948, he served in several major posts in...
by the Works of Art Committee. He is a patron of the Tory Reform Group
Tory Reform Group
The Tory Reform Group is a group aligned to, but independent of, the British Conservative Party, that works to promote the values of the One Nation Tory vision...
. He writes a monthly column for the Local Government Chronicle
Local Government Chronicle
Local Government Chronicle is a British weekly magazine for local government officers, and is published by Emap. The magazine was launched in 1855 by bookseller and publisher Charles Knight...
. He enjoys growing vegetables and dinghy
Dinghy
A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or towed for use as a ship's boat by a larger vessel. It is a loanword from either Bengali or Urdu. The term can also refer to small racing yachts or recreational open sailing boats. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor,...
sailing
Sailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
.
Publications
- The Food War: US-EU Food Politics by David Curry, 1982, EDG
- The Conservative Tradition in Europe Edited by David Curry, 1998, Mainstream
- Lobbying Government: A practical Guide for the Housing Industry and Lobby by Davud Curry, 1999, Chartered Institute of Housing, ISBN 1-900396-48-3
- The Sorcerers Apprentice: Government and Globalisation by David Curry, 2000, Local Government Association, ISBN 1-84049-161-2