Mark Lancaster
Encyclopedia
John Mark Lancaster TD
(born 12 May 1970) is a British Conservative Party
politician. He was elected as Member of Parliament
for the North East Milton Keynes constituency at the 2005 general election
and held its successor seat, Milton Keynes North, at the 2010 general election. He is currently the PPS
to the Secretary of State
for International Development.
. He has graduated as a BSc
in Business Studies from the University of Buckingham
and MBA
from the University of Exeter
Business School. He was awarded an Honorary PhD
from Buckingham University in 2008.
He was a company director for the family fireworks
firm Kimbolton Fireworks before he was elected to Parliament.
on an extended gap-year Commission in Hong Kong with the Queens Gurkha
Engineers before going up to university. He then transferred his Commission to the Territorial Army where he continues to serve as a Lieutenant Colonel
in the Royal Engineers
. He is a qualified EOD operator (Bomb Disposal Officer) and has been on active service three times in Kosovo
(1999–2000), Bosnia (2001–2002) and Afghanistan
(2006).
District Council (1995–1999) where he served as the Chairman of the Leisure Committee (1996–1999). At the 2001 general election
, Lancaster stood as the Conservative
candidate for Nuneaton
. He was beaten by Labour
candidate Bill Olner
.
Lancaster was elected as Member of Parliament
for the North East Milton Keynes in the 2005 general election
, unseating former MP Brian White
of the Labour Party.
Lancaster was a Conservative Party whip
between November 2006 until July 2007, when he was appointed Shadow Minister for International Development
under the then Leader of the Opposition
David Cameron
.
He has served on the Office of Deputy Prime Minister Select Committee, (2005), Defence Select Committee (2006) and the International Development Select Committee (2009–10).
In 2005 he introduced a Ten Minute Rule
Bill in the House that would allow local councils to ban glasses and bottles in late night clubs and bars and replace them with plastic in support of his constituent Blake Golding. Lancaster also submitted an early day motion
in 2006 calling for the government to ban sales of alcohol in glass containers in bars after 11pm.
Lancaster was instrumental in helping to reverse the Government cut to the Territorial Army funding in 2009.
He is the (unpaid) Parliamentary Advisor to the Royal Society of Chemistry
.
Shortly after his re-election in 2010 he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Secretary of State for International Development.
, he stated "It may well be much harder to get the British public to back other overseas adventures by the military because of what's happened in Iraq."
In the 2005-2010 Parliament Lancaster made 1007 verbal contributions to Parliament and tabled 1131 written questions, both well above average for MPs. He voted in 61% of parliamentary votes. According to the Public Whip
, he voted strongly against the introduction of ID cards and in favour of a smoking ban and an investigation into the Iraq war. In votes involving transparency of parliament (including MPs expenses), gay rights, and climate change
his voting record is not easily categorized by obvious stereotypes.
In 2011 Lancaster introduced his own Private Members Bill, which enabled special Olympic 1kg gold and silver coins to be struck by the Royal Mint as part of the 2012 Olympic legacy.
In the 2005-10 Parliament Lancaster was left unscathed by the expenses investigation, he did not feature in the Daily Telegraph's investigation and was one of a minority of MP's not asked to pay back any money as a result of the Sir Thomas Legg
Enquiry.
Lancaster is a supporter of MK Dons, and enjoys playing cricket
, including for the House of Commons team.
Territorial Decoration
The Territorial Decoration was a medal of the United Kingdom awarded for long service in the Territorial Force and its successor, the Territorial Army...
(born 12 May 1970) is a British 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 elected as 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,...
for the North East Milton Keynes constituency at the 2005 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
and held its successor seat, Milton Keynes North, at the 2010 general election. He is currently the PPS
Parliamentary Private Secretary
A Parliamentary Private Secretary is a role given to a United Kingdom Member of Parliament by a senior minister in government or shadow minister to act as their contact for the House of Commons; this role is junior to that of Parliamentary Under-Secretary, which is a ministerial post, salaried by...
to the Secretary of State
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....
for International Development.
Early life
Lancaster was educated at Kimbolton SchoolKimbolton School
Kimbolton School is a British HMC co-educational Public day and boarding school located in the village of Kimbolton, in rural Cambridgeshire but close to the borders of Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, educating approximately 950 boys and girls between the ages of 4 and 18, with an almost even...
. He has graduated as a BSc
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
in Business Studies from the University of Buckingham
University of Buckingham
The University of Buckingham is an independent, non-sectarian, research and teaching university located in Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Great Ouse. It was originally founded as Buckingham University College in the 1970s and received its Royal Charter from the...
and MBA
Master of Business Administration
The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
from the University of Exeter
University of Exeter
The University of Exeter is a public university in South West England. It belongs to the 1994 Group, an association of 19 of the United Kingdom's smaller research-intensive universities....
Business School. He was awarded an Honorary PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
from Buckingham University in 2008.
He was a company director for the family fireworks
Fireworks
Fireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event is a display of the effects produced by firework devices...
firm Kimbolton Fireworks before he was elected to Parliament.
Army record
Between 1988 and 1990 Lancaster served in the ArmyArmy
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
on an extended gap-year Commission in Hong Kong with the Queens Gurkha
Gurkha
Gurkha are people from Nepal who take their name from the Gorkha District. Gurkhas are best known for their history in the Indian Army's Gorkha regiments, the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas and the Nepalese Army. Gurkha units are closely associated with the kukri, a forward-curving Nepalese knife...
Engineers before going up to university. He then transferred his Commission to the Territorial Army where he continues to serve as a Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
in the Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
. He is a qualified EOD operator (Bomb Disposal Officer) and has been on active service three times in Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
(1999–2000), Bosnia (2001–2002) and Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
(2006).
Political career
Lancaster was a Member of HuntingdonshireHuntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire is a local government district of Cambridgeshire, covering the area around Huntingdon. Traditionally it is a county in its own right...
District Council (1995–1999) where he served as the Chairman of the Leisure Committee (1996–1999). At 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...
, Lancaster stood as the Conservative
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...
candidate for Nuneaton
Nuneaton (UK Parliament constituency)
Nuneaton 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.- Pre-2010 :...
. He was beaten by 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...
candidate Bill Olner
Bill Olner
William John Olner is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Nuneaton from 1992 until 2010...
.
Lancaster was elected as 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,...
for the North East Milton Keynes in the 2005 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
, unseating former MP Brian White
Brian White (British politician)
Brian Arthur Robert White is a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was Member of Parliament for North East Milton Keynes from 1997 to 2005.-Early life:...
of the Labour Party.
Lancaster was a Conservative Party whip
Whip (politics)
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...
between November 2006 until July 2007, when he was appointed Shadow Minister for International Development
International development
International development or global development is a concept that lacks a universally accepted definition, but it is most used in a holistic and multi-disciplinary context of human development — the development of greater quality of life for humans...
under the then Leader of the Opposition
Leader of the Opposition
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest party not in government in a Westminster System of parliamentary government...
David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
.
He has served on the Office of Deputy Prime Minister Select Committee, (2005), Defence Select Committee (2006) and the International Development Select Committee (2009–10).
In 2005 he introduced a Ten Minute Rule
Ten Minute Rule
The Ten Minute Rule, also known as Standing Order No. 23, is a procedure in the British Parliament for the introduction of Private Member's Bills in addition to the 20 per session normally permissible. It is one of the ways in which a bill may receive its first reading.Any MP may introduce a bill...
Bill in the House that would allow local councils to ban glasses and bottles in late night clubs and bars and replace them with plastic in support of his constituent Blake Golding. Lancaster also submitted an early day motion
Early day motion
An Early Day Motion , in the Westminster system, is a motion, expressed as a single sentence, tabled by Members of Parliament for debate "on an early day" . Controversial EDMs are not signed by Government Ministers, PPS or the Speaker of the House of Commons and very few are debated on the floor...
in 2006 calling for the government to ban sales of alcohol in glass containers in bars after 11pm.
Lancaster was instrumental in helping to reverse the Government cut to the Territorial Army funding in 2009.
He is the (unpaid) Parliamentary Advisor to the Royal Society of Chemistry
Royal Society of Chemistry
The Royal Society of Chemistry is a learned society in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemical sciences." It was formed in 1980 from the merger of the Chemical Society, the Royal Institute of Chemistry, the Faraday Society and the Society for Analytical Chemistry with a new...
.
Shortly after his re-election in 2010 he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Secretary of State for International Development.
Political views
Lancaster has stated his disagreement with the UK Government's policy on the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In an interview with the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, he stated "It may well be much harder to get the British public to back other overseas adventures by the military because of what's happened in Iraq."
In the 2005-2010 Parliament Lancaster made 1007 verbal contributions to Parliament and tabled 1131 written questions, both well above average for MPs. He voted in 61% of parliamentary votes. According to the Public Whip
Public Whip
The Public Whip is a parliamentary informatics project that analyses and publishes the voting history of MPs in the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
, he voted strongly against the introduction of ID cards and in favour of a smoking ban and an investigation into the Iraq war. In votes involving transparency of parliament (including MPs expenses), gay rights, and climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
his voting record is not easily categorized by obvious stereotypes.
In 2011 Lancaster introduced his own Private Members Bill, which enabled special Olympic 1kg gold and silver coins to be struck by the Royal Mint as part of the 2012 Olympic legacy.
Second Home Allowance
Intially under new Parliamentary rules introduced after the 2010 General Election Lancaster did not qualify for the second homes allowances as was considered to be a 'London Area MP' during which time he had no second home or London accommodation. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) reversed this decision following their review in April 2011.In the 2005-10 Parliament Lancaster was left unscathed by the expenses investigation, he did not feature in the Daily Telegraph's investigation and was one of a minority of MP's not asked to pay back any money as a result of the Sir Thomas Legg
Thomas Legg
Sir Thomas Stuart Legg, KCB, QC , is a senior former British civil servant, who was Permanent Secretary of the Lord Chancellor's Department and Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, United Kingdom, 1989-1998.-Biography:...
Enquiry.
Personal life
Lancaster was married for 12 years and later had a daughter in a different relationship.Lancaster is a supporter of MK Dons, and enjoys playing cricket
Cricket
Cricket 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...
, including for the House of Commons team.