Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (born 1953)

For other people named Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, see Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (disambiguation).

Geoffrey Robert Clifton-Brown MP FRICS
Member of Parliament for The Cotswolds Cotswold (1997-2010) Cirencester and Tewkesbury (1992-1997)
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 April 1992
Preceded by	Nicholas Ridley
Majority	12,864 (23.5%)
Personal details
Born	23 March 1953 (1953-03-23) Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Children	Jacqueline, Edward
Alma mater	Royal Agricultural College
Profession	Politician and Farmer
Website	Clifton-Brown.co.uk

Geoffrey Robert Clifton-Brown MP FRICS (born 23 March 1953) is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of The Cotswolds and a Vice-President of the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists as well as the Head of the International Office. He has interests in wild life conservation and country living.

Early life

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown was born in Cambridge and educated at Tormore School, in Upper Deal, Kent and Eton College before attending the Royal Agricultural College where he qualified as a chartered surveyor in 1975. He began his career as a graduate estate surveyor at the Property Services Agency in Dorchester in 1975 and later in that year became an investment surveyor with Jones Lang Wootton. He has been the managing director of a farming company since 1979. Clifton-Brown is a Freeman of the City of London and became the vice chairman of the Norfolk North Conservative Association in 1984, before being elected as chaiman in 1986. He resigned as chairman in 1991.

Parliamentary career

Clifton-Brown is related to seven other MPs, including Douglas Clifton Brown and Harry Hylton-Foster who both became Speaker, the former from 1943 to 1951 and the latter from 1959 to 1965. He was selected for the exceptionally safe Conservative parliamentary constituency of Cirencester and Tewkesbury following the retirement of the former Cabinet minister Nicholas Ridley. Clifton-Brown won the seat during the 1992 general election, with a majority of 16,058, and made his maiden speech on 12 June 1992. When newly elected he became a member of the Environment Select Committee, where he worked until 1995. Clifton-Brown was then appointed the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Douglas Hogg. His constituency was abolished, but he contested and won the newly drawn constituency of Cotswold during the 1997 general election. He returned to Parliament as a backbencher whilst William Hague was the Leader of the Opposition. After Iain Duncan Smith beame leader of the Conservative Party, Clifton-Brown became the Shadow Minister for Local and Devolved Government Affairs in 2002. After the 2005 general election, he retained the seat of Cotswold and returned to Westminster as assistant Chief Conservative Whip. On the accession of David Cameron as Leader of the Conservative Party, he was appointed the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Investment.

After the 2010 election and the formation of the Coalition Government, Clifton-Brown returned to the backbenches allowing him to devote more time to his Constituency and to overseas visits in his role as Chairman of the Conservative Party's International Office.

External links

• Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP official constituency website
• Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP Conservative Party profile
• The Cotswolds Conservatives
• 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
• Profile at BBC News Democracy Live

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Nicholas Ridley	Member of Parliament for Cirencester & Tewkesbury 1992 – 1997	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Cotswold 1997 – present	Incumbent