Members Of Parliament in Ansty, Haywards Heath, West Sussex - The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald

MPs: Nicholas Soames MP; Keith Taylor MEP;

Mid Sussex (House of Commons)

Rt Hon. Nicholas Soames MP (Conservative)

Surgery: 5 Hazelgrove Road
Haywards Heath
West Sussex
RH16 3PH

Surgery Tel: 01444 452590

MP Since - 1997 Majority - 7,402 Born - 12/02/1948. Divorced 1 son, Remarried 1 daughter & 1 son.
Education - Eton College.
Previous Occupation - Equerry to HRH The Prince of Wales KG (1970-72), Stockbroker (1972-74), PA to Sir James Goldsmith (1974-76), US Senator Mark Hatfield (1976-78), Assistant Director, Sedgwick Group (1979-81).

Personal Overview - Comes from an impressive political background, with Winston Churchill being his Grandfather. He entered Parliament in 1983 after a business career, and followed family tradition in becoming a Minister of State at the Defence Department in 1994. He moved to the safer Mid Sussex seat for the 1997 General Election. One of Michael Portillo's more prominent backbench supporters during his unsuccessful leadership candidature. He was perhaps surprisingly recalled to a Front Bench role shadowing Defence (initially not a Shadow Cabinet position) under the leadership of Michael Howard, but was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet in September 2004 for good parliamentary performances. Stood down from the Conservative front bench after the 2005 General Election and joined the executive of the Conservative's backbench 1922 Committee.

Political History - Parliamentary Candidate for Dumbartonshire Central (1979), Member for Crawley (1983-97), PPS to John Selwyn Gummer, Minister of State for Employment & Conservative Party Chairman (1984-86), Nicholas Ridley, Secretary of State for Environment (1987-89), Joint Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food (1992-94), Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Ministry of Defence (1994-97), Member for Mid Sussex (1997-). Member of the Public Administration Select Committee (1999-). Shadow Secretary of State for Defence (2003-05). Member of the Standards & Privileges Select Committee (2006-10). Member of the Administration Select Committee (2013-). Member of the Conservative 1922 Executive Committee.

Characteristics - From a traditional Conservative background, with a distinctive character. A friend of Prince Charles, having been a former Equerry to His Royal Highness. Honorary Colonel of the Bristol University Officers Training Corps. Trustee of the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust.

Business Tel: 020 7219 4143

Email: nicholas.soames.mp@parliament.uk

Interests: Aviation,Defence,General Trade & Industry,Foreign Affairs

Commitee membership

• Administration Committee (Member)
• All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Commonwealth (Vice Chairman)
• All-Party Parliamentary Game and Wildlife Conservation Group (Chairman)
• All-Party Parliamentary Group on Learning Outside the Classroom (Member)
• All-Party Parliamentary British-Qatar Group (Member)
• All-Party Parliamentary Russia Group (Member)
• British-Syria Group (Member)
• All-Party Parliamentary Group on Zimbabwe (Member)

South East (European Parliament)

Mr Keith Taylor MEP (Green)

MEP Since - 2010 Born - 01/08/1953. Partner (Lizzie).
Education - N/a.
Previous Occupation - Worked in sales (1972-1980). Self-employed/Co-Director of a local business (1980-1999). Regional Liaison Officer for Caroline Lucas MEP (2002-2007).

Personal Overview - Replaced the outgoing Caroline Lucas here in June 2010 after she was successful in her bid to become the Green party's first MP at Westminster. He is an experienced Councillor, having led the Green Group in Brighton for a number of years. He has also shown an interest in foreign affairs issues, as a Councillor was active in campaigning to secure the release of Brighton resident Omar Degayes from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. He has also been involved in High Court action supporting families with Autistic children. Within the party, he has been a spokesperson on planning and regeneration as well as a Principal Speaker at the time when the party had not adopted a single leader. He has also been involved in policy development with the party election manifesto. Locally, he he is likely to have gained a good knowledge of his electoral region through his work for his predecessor.

Political History - Councillor, Brighton and Hove City Council (1999-2010). Green Group Leader (2001-08). Chair, Association of Green Councillors (2001-2002). Principal Speaker for the Green Party of England & Wales (2004-2006). Regeneration Spokesperson (2008-10). MEP South East Region (2010-). Member of the Afghanistan Delegation (2010-), Substitute member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (2010-) and the Iran Delegation (2010-). Member of the International Trade Committee (2010-) and the Transport and Tourism Committee (2010-). Substitute member of the Petitions Committee (2010-).

Other Information - Has been a Vice President of the UK’s Local Government Association Group in the European Parliament. Former representative for Brighton and Hove on the UN Peace Messenger City project and a City representative to the Local Government Association.

Intergroups - Member of the LGBT Rights Group.

Business Tel: +32 (0)2 28 45153

Email: keith.taylor@europarl.europa.eu

Mr Keith Taylor MEP (Green) on Twitter

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Interests: Environment,Economic Regeneration,Womans Issues,Regional Policy,Conservation

Commitee membership

• Petitions (Substitute)
• Transport & Tourism (Member)
• International Trade (Member)

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