Eric Ollerenshaw

Eric Ollerenshaw OBE MP
Member of Parliament for Lancaster and Fleetwood
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 May 2010
Majority	333 (0.8%)
Personal details
Born	26 March 1950 (1950-03-26) Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	London School of Economics

Eric Ollerenshaw OBE (born 26 March 1950) is a British Conservative politician and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lancaster and Fleetwood.

He was born and grew up in Lancashire and was educated at the London School of Economics where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics in 1971. He has previously been an elected member of the London Assembly and head of the Cities and Diversity section of the Conservative Party at Conservative Campaign Headquarters.

Teaching career

Before moving into politics, Ollerenshaw was a full time teacher of History. He taught in three comprehensive schools - two of which were social priority schools - and in 1986 gained his first elected position on the Inner London Education Authority. After rising to lead the Conservative group on the Authority in 1988, he worked with the Government and the Boroughs to abolish the Authority in 1990.^{[citation needed]}

Political career

In 1990, he was awarded his OBE for Public and Political Service. The same year he was elected to the London Borough of Hackney representing Springfield as one of its three Conservative councillors. In 1992 he stood as the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate in Heywood and Middleton.^{[citation needed]}

In 1998, he rose to lead the Conservative group on Hackney London Borough Council when Joe Lobenstein, the previous leader of the group, became mayor of Hackney.

Between 2000 and 2001, he was the joint leader of Hackney Council with Labour's Jules Pipe during Hackney's most troubled period.

In 2000, Ollerenshaw was elected as a member of the Greater London Authority and in 2002 rose to become the Conservative Group Leader. He was elected Member of Parliament for Lancaster and Fleetwood at the 2010 general election with a majority of 333 votes.

Ollerenshaw campaigned on the NO side during the lead up to the 2011 Referendum on the Alternative Vote. In common with many Conservative and Labour MPs one of his arguments was the erroneous claim that the AV system is contrary to the principle of 1 person 1 vote. He stated that "under AV, supporters of minority parties often get multiple votes, but supporters of mainstream parties only one – and that is what is unfair".

Lancaster and Fleetwood

In March 2007 he was selected as the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Lancaster and Fleetwood, which he won in the General Election held on 6 May 2010, and now lives in Lancaster.

Eric Ollerenshaw with Lancaster Councillor Susie Charles

Personal

Ollerenshaw is openly gay.

External links

• The Hackney Conservative Party

Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Lancaster and Fleetwood 2010–present	Incumbent