Edward Garnier

Edward Garnier QC MP
Garnier as Solicitor General
Solicitor General
Incumbent
Assumed office 13 May 2010
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Vera Baird
Shadow Attorney General
In office 8 September 2009 – 6 May 2010
Leader	David Cameron
Preceded by	Dominic Grieve
Succeeded by	Baroness Scotland of Asthal
Shadow Minister for Prisons
In office 2007–2009
Leader	David Cameron
Succeeded by	Alan Duncan
Shadow Attorney General
In office 1997–2001
Leader	William Hague Iain Duncan Smith
Preceded by	Sir Nicholas Lyell
Succeeded by	Bill Cash
Member of Parliament for Harborough
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 April 1992
Preceded by	Sir John Farr
Majority	9,877 (18%)
Personal details
Born	26 October 1952 (1952-10-26) Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Anna Caroline Mellows
Alma mater	Jesus College, Oxford
Website	www.edwardgarnier.co.uk

Edward Henry Garnier, QC, MP (born 26 October 1952) is a barrister and Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. A former Guardian Newspaper lawyer he is on the socially liberal wing of his party and has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Harborough in Leicestershire since 1992. He currently serves as the Solicitor General for England and Wales.

Education and professional career

Edward Garnier was born in Germany, the son of a British Army colonel, was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire and Jesus College, Oxford where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in modern history in 1974 and a master's degree in 1976. He went on to study at the College of Law in Chancery Lane in the City of London.

He was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1976 and is a practising barrister specialising in libel. He took silk in 1995 (Queen's Counsel) and was appointed as a Crown Court Assistant Recorder in 1998 and as a Recorder (part-time Circuit Judge) in 2000.

Politics

Garnier unsuccessfully contested the safe Labour seat of Hemsworth in West Yorkshire at the 1987 general election. He was elected MP for Harborough with a majority of 13,543 at the 1992 general election following the retirement of the veteran Tory Sir John Farr and made his maiden speech just after midnight on 20 May 1992.

In parliament, he served on the home affairs select committee from 1992 until he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Alastair Goodlad and David Davis for a year in 1994. In 1996 he became the PPS to the Attorney General Nicholas Lyell, in 1997 he was briefly the PPS to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Roger Freeman. He joined the frontbench under William Hague as a spokesman on the Lord Chancellor's Department in 1997 and entered the Shadow Cabinet in 1999 as the Shadow Attorney General, "earning wide acclaim for a thoughtful performance in that role, in which he demonstrated his legal expertise without becomingly excessively partisan". He returned to the backbenches after the 2001 general election but became spokesman on home affairs after the 2005 general election and later Shadow Attorney General. In 2009 he was elected Chair of the newly formed All Party Parliamentary Group on Privacy.

Compulsory annuity purchases

Garnier has long campaigned against compulsory annuity purchases for sums above the minimum income threshold and has introduced or supported several Private members bills on the issue. On 21 November 2002, he came 4th in the ballot for Private members bills. With cross party support from leading back bench pensions experts Sir John Butterfill, Frank Field and Libdem pensions spokesman Steve Webb he introduced the Retirement Income Reform bill. This bill was dropped in July 2003, reintroduced on 7 January 2004 and eventually withdrawn in April 2004.

Constituency issues

Pennbury eco-town.

Garnier raised the issue of eco-towns, around 20 times in Parliament. One of them, Pennbury, housing 40,000 people, was to be near Stoughton, Leicestershire. Garnier was granted an Adjournment debate on 29 January 2008 He argued that although the eco-town principle was sound, Pennbury, a rural not a Brownfields site lacked the necessary transport infrastructure and was unlikely to be able to provide jobs. Furthermore, building a suitable road from the M1 Motorway, "a distance of about 20 miles ..would cost the thick end of £1 billion" The Pennbury proposal was dropped in July 2009.

British United Shoe Machinery

Garnier's constituents were amongst 544 British United Shoe Machinery workers who lost their pensions following the company entering Administration in 2000. Workers joined Dr Ros Altmann's Company Pensions campaign blaming Venture Capitalist Apax Partners for having engineered the collapse and Garnier was the first East Midlands MP to question Apax's role. Apax's chairman at the time was a major donor to the Labour Party and Garnier asked what discussions "ministers have had with Sir Ronald Cohen ..about the collapse of the pension scheme". Garnier raised the issue again with the new Minister for Pensions Reform Stephen Timms citing the "mysterious circumstances" under which the pensions disappeared. Timms agreed to "look into" the complaints saying that "in recent years, there have been too many instances of that kind." The press expected a proper enquiry but although in September 2005 Timms wrote back to Garnier refusing this, December 2007 saw compensation of £2.9 Billion awarded nationally to failed Company Pension Scheme workers. In all Garnier referenced BUSM twelve times, and "was a really valuable advocate in the campaign to recover the pensions".

Personal life

He married Anna Caroline Mellows on 17 April 1982 and they have two sons (born July 1986 and January 1991) and a daughter (born September 1983). He was a visiting fellow at St. Antony's College, Oxford in 1996, and is a follower of cricket. He speaks French very well and enjoys 19th century francophone literature.

Publications

• Halsbury's Laws of England contribution by Edward Garnier, 1985, Butterworth ISBN 0-406-03000-6
• Bearing the Standard: Themes for a Fourth Term contribution by Edward Garnier, 1991, Conservative Political Centre ISBN 0-85070-824-9
• Facing the Future by Edward Garnier, 1993

External links

• Edward Garnier QC MP official constituency website
• Harborough Conservative Association
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
• Voting record at PublicWhip.org
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Website at ePolitix.com
• BBC Democracy Live

News articles

• Prisons in April 2006
• Hoax callers in November 2002

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Sir John Farr	Member of Parliament for Harborough 1992–present	Incumbent
Legal offices
Preceded by Vera Baird	Solicitor General for England and Wales 2010–present	Incumbent