Densmore Ronald Dover, known as
Den Dover, (born 4 April 1938 in
Stockton HeathStockton Heath is a civil parish and suburban area of the Borough of Warrington in Cheshire, England. It is located to the north of the Bridgewater Canal and to the south of the Manchester Ship Canal, which divides Stockton Heath from Latchford and north Warrington...
,
CheshireCheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
) is a
BritishThe 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...
politician. He was a
Member of the European ParliamentA 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,...
(MEP) for the
North West EnglandNorth West England is a constituency of the European Parliament. For the 2009 elections it elects 8 MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.-Boundaries:...
region from 1999 to 2009.
Elected as a
ConservativeThe 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...
, he was forced to resign the position of Chief Whip, before being expelled from the party over investigation into his expenses. Dover stood down from the European Parliament at the
2009 European ElectionsThe European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2009 European Parliament election, the voting for which was held on Thursday 4 June 2009, coinciding with the 2009 local elections in England. Most of the results of the election were announced on Sunday 7 June, after...
.
Biography
Dover was born in
Stockton HeathStockton Heath is a civil parish and suburban area of the Borough of Warrington in Cheshire, England. It is located to the north of the Bridgewater Canal and to the south of the Manchester Ship Canal, which divides Stockton Heath from Latchford and north Warrington...
,
CheshireCheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
. Educated at King George V School, Southport until transferring to
Manchester Grammar SchoolThe Manchester Grammar School is the largest independent day school for boys in the UK . It is based in Manchester, England...
where he won the bowling prize at
cricketCricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
. Dover gained a First Class Honours degree in
Civil EngineeringCivil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
at Manchester University.
Career
Dover worked in the
constructionIn the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
industry across Europe, working for John Laing plc,
George WimpeyGeorge Wimpey was formed in 1880 and, based in Hammersmith, operated largely as a road surfacing contractor. The business was acquired by Godfrey Mitchell in 1919 and he developed it into the UK’s pre-eminent construction and housebuilding firm. In 2007, Wimpey merged with Taylor Woodrow to create...
, and as Chief Executive for the National Building Agency. Dover was latterly Director of Housing Construction with the
Greater London CouncilThe Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...
, before entering politics on a full time basis when he became an MP.
Personal life
Dover is married to Kathleen, with a son and a daughter, Amanda. He plays cricket,
golfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
and
hockeyHockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
.
Political career
Dover served on the
London Borough of BarnetThe London Borough of Barnet is a London borough in North London and forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 331,500 and covers . It borders Hertfordshire to the north and five other London boroughs: Harrow and Brent to the west, Camden and Haringey to the south-east and Enfield to the...
Council, and was a Member of its Education, Finance and Public Works Committees.
MP for Chorley
Dover served as the Conservative
Member of ParliamentA 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,...
for
ChorleyChorley is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
, from 1979 to 1997.
MEP for North West England
Dover was first elected to the
European ParliamentThe 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 1999 and was re-elected in 2004.
Resignation
Dover resigned as Conservative
Chief WhipThe Chief Whip is a political office in some legislatures assigned to an elected member whose task is to administer the whipping system that ensures that members of the party attend and vote as the party leadership desires.-The Whips Office:...
in the European Parliament on 6 June 2008. The revelation that forced the resignation was that over nine years he had paid his wife and daughter £750,000 from public funds. (This came after the
ConservativesThe 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...
' Leader in Europe,
Giles ChichesterGiles Chichester is a British Conservative Party politician, and a Member of the European Parliament for South West England and Gibraltar. He was elected as a temporary Vice President of the European Parliament on 6 July 2011 to replace Silvana Koch-Mehrin who had resigned over plagiarism...
, resigned because he put large sums of money for secretarial and office work through the account of a company of which he was a paid director). Dover was forced to resign by acting Conservative MEP leader,
Philip Bushill-MatthewsPhilip Bushill-Matthews was a British politician and was a Conservative Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands.-Biography:...
who was appointed only a day prior. Dover was replaced as Conservative Chief Whip by
Richard AshworthRichard James Ashworth is a Member of the European Parliament for South East England for the Conservative Party. He is married with three daughters...
MEPA 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,...
.
An inquiry by the European Parliament found him guilty of a
conflict of interestA conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....
, and he was ordered to repay £500,000 of the expenses. The Parliament's ruling lead to Dover being expelled from the Conservative Party. Dover's case has been passed to the European Anti-Fraud Office for investigation.
Dover stood down from the European Parliament at the
2009 European ElectionThe European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2009 European Parliament election, the voting for which was held on Thursday 4 June 2009, coinciding with the 2009 local elections in England. Most of the results of the election were announced on Sunday 7 June, after...
s.
External links
External links