Greg Knight
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| The Right Honourable Greg Knight MP |
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| Member of Parliament for East Yorkshire |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 7 June 2001 |
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| Preceded by | John Townend |
| Majority | 13,486 (26.3%) |
| Member of Parliament for Derby North |
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| In office 9 June 1983 – 1 May 1997 |
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| Preceded by | Philip Whitehead |
| Succeeded by | Bob Laxton |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 4 April 1949 Blaby, Leicestershire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Janet Ormond[1] |
| Profession | Solicitor |
| Website | www.gregknight.com |
Gregory Knight (born 4 April 1949) is a British politician and author. He is Conservative Member of Parliament for East Yorkshire.
Contents |
[edit] Education and professional life
Born in Blaby, Leicestershire, he was educated at Alderman Newton’s Grammar School Leicester and the College of Law Guildford, qualifying as a solicitor in 1973.
[edit] Political career
He was MP for Derby North from 1983 until the 1997 election, when he lost his seat. He returned to the House of Commons in 2001 after successfully contesting the East Yorkshire seat.
He had been deputy Chief Whip under John Major between 1993 and 1996 and was Minister of State for Industry at the Department of Trade and Industry from 1996 until the Conservative defeat at the 1997 election.
He served under Michael Howard as a shadow minister for Environment and Transport until 2005. In the 2005–10 Parliament he was Chairman of the House of Commons Procedure Committee and on four other House of Commons select committees: the Liaison Committee, Administration Committee, the Committee on Modernisation of the House and the Standards and Privileges Committee. He was re-elected unopposed to the chair of the Procedure Committee in 2010.
As a backbencher he succeeded in amending the UK's licensing law by doubling UK ‘drinking up time’ on licensed premises from ten to twenty minutes.
He is in favour of bringing back capital punishment and spoke out against the Apartheid government of South Africa during the 1980s.
Knight is against unnecessary government regulation.[2] He is a Eurosceptic and is against Britain joining the euro.
An avid motorist, he is critical of initiatives seen as 'anti-car', such as congestion charging, pedestrianisation schemes, speed humps and some ‘park and ride’ proposals. He is Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Historic Vehicles Group.
He was made a Privy Councillor in 1995, entitling him to the style "Right Honourable".
In 2011 he successfully piloted the Estates of Deceased Persons, a Private Member’s Bill through Parliament and which has now become law. The Estates of Deceased Persons Act attracted unanimous support from both Houses of Parliament and the Law Commission. The Estates of Deceased Persons Act makes the distribution of estates fairer. [3]
In October 2011 he was shortlisted as the ‘Industry Champion of the Year’ by the International Historic Motoring Awards, for his work in supporting the historic and classic car movement.[4]
[edit] Personal life
He is a classic car enthusiast and owns a number of classic cars.
He plays the drums and is a founder member of MP4[5]—the world's only parliamentary rock group. The others are fellow MPs Kevin Brennan and Peter Wishart and former MP Ian Cawsey. He has backed several other artists on the drums in live shows including George McCrae “Rock your Baby” and Fergal Sharkey “A Good Heart”.[6] Welsh chart-topping singer Duffy has described him as ‘a great drummer’.[7]
He has written six books, mostly on the subject of political quips and insults.
[edit] Publications
- Westminster Words (1988), published by Buchan and Enright
- Honourable Insults (1990), published by Robson Books
- Parliamentary Sauce (1993), published by Robson Books
- Right Honourable Insults (1998), published by Chrysalis Books
- Naughty Graffiti (2005), published by Anova Books
- Dishonourable Insults (2011), published by The Robson Press (ISBN 9781849541619)
[edit] References
- ^ "Siedmere event hailed a success - "also enjoying the evening were the Rt Hon Greg Knight, MP, his wife Janet"". driffieldintouch.com. http://www.driffieldintouch.com/news/126/. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
- ^ http://conservativehome.blogs.com/platform/2009/07/shane-frith-why-you-should-support-the-campaign-to-amend-the-smoking-ban-.html
- ^ http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110304/debtext/110304-0001.htm#11030451000004
- ^ http://historicmotoringawards.com/categories.php?category=company&page=shortlist
- ^ http://mp4theband.co.uk
- ^ http://www.gregknight.com/mp4news.php
- ^ http://www.gregknight.com/1january2011.php
[edit] External links
- gregknight.com
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Greg Knight
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Philip Whitehead |
Member of Parliament for Derby North 1983–1997 |
Succeeded by Bob Laxton |
| Preceded by John Townend |
Member of Parliament for East Yorkshire 2001–present |
Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by David Heathcoat-Amory |
Treasurer of the Household 1993–1996 |
Succeeded by Andrew MacKay |
- 1949 births
- Conservative Party (UK) MPs
- Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies
- Living people
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- People from Blaby
- UK MPs 1983–1987
- UK MPs 1987–1992
- UK MPs 1992–1997
- UK MPs 2001–2005
- UK MPs 2005–2010
- UK MPs 2010–
- Politics of the East Riding of Yorkshire
- Derbyshire MPs
- People educated at Alderman Newton's School, Leicester
- Treasurers of the Household
