Greg Knight
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The Right Honourable Sir Gregory Knight MP |
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File:Greg Knight, MP (East Yorkshire).jpg | |
Vice-Chamberlain of the Household | |
In office 4 September 2012 – 7 October 2013 |
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Prime Minister | David Cameron |
Preceded by | Mark Francois |
Succeeded by | Desmond Swayne |
Minister of State for Energy and Industry | |
In office 23 July 1996 – 2 May 1997 |
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Prime Minister | John Major |
Preceded by | Timothy Eggar |
Treasurer of the Household | |
In office 7 June 1993 – 23 July 1996 |
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Prime Minister | John Major |
Preceded by | David Heathcoat-Amory |
Succeeded by | Andrew MacKay |
Member of Parliament for East Yorkshire |
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Assumed office 7 June 2001 |
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Preceded by | John Townend |
Majority | 14,933 (29.9%) |
Member of Parliament for Derby North |
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In office 9 June 1983 – 1 May 1997 |
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Preceded by | Philip Whitehead |
Succeeded by | Bob Laxton |
Personal details | |
Born | Blaby, Leicestershire, England |
4 April 1949
Nationality | British |
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse(s) | Janet Ormond[1] |
Alma mater | The College of Law |
Profession | Solicitor |
Website | www.gregknight.com |
Sir Gregory Knight (born 4 April 1949) is a British politician and author. He is Conservative Member of Parliament for East Yorkshire and was re-elected with an increased majority in the general election of 2015.
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Education and professional life
Born in Blaby, Leicestershire, he was educated at Alderman Newton’s Grammar School, Leicester, and the College of Law Guildford, qualifying as a solicitor in 1973.
Political career
He served as a Leicester City and Leicestershire County Councillor from 1976 to 1983.
He was MP for Derby North from 1983 until the 1997 election, when he lost his seat. He returned to the House of Commons in 2001 after successfully contesting the East Yorkshire seat.
As a backbencher, in the 1980s, he succeeded in amending the UK's licensing law by doubling UK 'drinking up time' on licensed premises from ten to twenty minutes, a concession that was welcomed by the industry and drinkers alike. However the 2003 Licensing Act ended standard permitted hours and now provides for an unspecified drinking up time determined by the licensee’s discretion.
He is in favour of bringing back capital punishment and spoke out against the Apartheid government of South Africa during the 1980s.
He had been deputy Chief Whip under John Major between 1993 and 1996 and was Minister of State for Industry at the Department of Trade and Industry from 1996 until the Conservative defeat at the 1997 election. He was made a Privy Councillor in 1995, entitling him to the style "Right Honourable".[2]
He served under Michael Howard as a shadow minister for Environment and Transport until 2005. In the 2005–10 Parliament he was Chairman of the House of Commons Procedure Committee and on four other House of Commons select committees: the Liaison Committee, Administration Committee, the Committee on Modernisation of the House and the Standards and Privileges Committee. He was re-elected unopposed to the chair of the Procedure Committee in 2010.
In 2011, he successfully piloted the Estates of Deceased Persons Act, a private member's bill to make the distribution of estates fairer. The bill passed unanimously in Parliament and was supported by the Law Commission as well.[3]
He rejoined the government in September 2012 as a Senior Whip and Vice Chamberlain of the Royal Household, a position he held until October 2013.
In October 2013, he was awarded a Knighthood for political service.[4]
Knight strongly supports amending the smoking ban in pubs.[5] He is a Eurosceptic and is in favour of Britain leaving the EU.
Knight has argued in Parliament for "double summertime", which would see the clocks go forward by two hours during summer.[6]
He is Secretary of the British American Parliamentary Group, one of the largest and most active all-party groups at Westminster.
An avid motorist, he is critical of initiatives seen as 'anti-car', such as congestion charging, pedestrianisation schemes, speed humps and some 'park and ride' proposals. He is Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Historic Vehicles Group [7] and successfully called on the Government to exempt historic vehicles from MOT tests.[8] In 2007 he was named as one of the 50 most influential people worldwide in the Historic Vehicle Movement. In 2011 he was shortlisted as the ‘Industry Champion of the Year’ by the International Historic Motoring Awards, for his work in supporting the historic and classic car movement.[9] The Daily Telegraph noted that Knight had claimed £2,600 in expenses for "driveway repairs" at his constituency home, though Knight insisted that his cars were kept separately and paid for out of his own pocket.[10]
Personal life
He is a classic car enthusiast and owns a number of classic cars.
He plays the drums and is a founder member of MP4[11]—the world's only parliamentary rock group. The others are fellow MPs Kevin Brennan and Peter Wishart and former MP Ian Cawsey. He has backed several other artists on the drums in live shows including George McCrae "Rock your Baby" and Fergal Sharkey "Teenage Kicks".[12] Welsh chart-topping singer Duffy has described him as ‘a great drummer’.[13]
He has written six books, mostly on the subject of political quips and insults.
Publications
- Westminster Words (1988), published by Buchan and Enright
- Honourable Insults (1990), published by Robson Books
- Parliamentary Sauce (1993), published by Robson Books
- Right Honourable Insults (1998), published by Chrysalis Books
- Naughty Graffiti (2005), published by Anova Books
- Dishonourable Insults (2011), published by The Robson Press (ISBN 9781849541619)
References
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- ↑ http://gregknight.com/2011/11/knight-welcomes-mot-exemption-review/
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- ↑ http://www.gregknight.com/mp4news.php
- ↑ http://www.gregknight.com/1january2011.php
External links
- gregknight.com
- Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Greg Knight
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Derby North 1983–1997 |
Succeeded by Bob Laxton |
Preceded by | Member of Parliament for East Yorkshire 2001–present |
Incumbent |
Political offices | ||
Preceded by | Treasurer of the Household 1993–1996 |
Succeeded by Andrew MacKay |
Preceded by | Vice-Chamberlain of the Household 2012–present |
Incumbent |
- Use British English from September 2013
- Pages with broken file links
- Use dmy dates from September 2013
- 1949 births
- Conservative Party (UK) MPs
- Knights Bachelor
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
- Living people
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- People from Blaby
- UK MPs 1983–87
- UK MPs 1987–92
- UK MPs 1992–97
- UK MPs 2001–05
- UK MPs 2005–10
- UK MPs 2010–15
- UK MPs 2015–20
- Politics of the East Riding of Yorkshire
- Derbyshire MPs
- People educated at Alderman Newton's School, Leicester
- Treasurers of the Household