Malcolm Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch

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Lord Pearson in 2009

Malcolm Everard MacLaren Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch (born 20 July 1942) is a businessman and UKIP member of the House of Lords.

Educated at Eton College, Pearson is chairman of the Pearson Webb Springbett (PWS) Group of reinsurance brokers, which he founded in 1964. He was made a life peer on 18 June 1990 as Baron Pearson of Rannoch, of Bridge of Gaur in the District of Perth and Kinross, sitting as a Conservative.

Pearson is a euro-sceptic of long standing[1]. In May 2004, he called for voters to back the UK Independence Party (UKIP). Along with three other Conservative peers, he was then expelled by the Conservative Party on 30 May. He subsequently said that he would probably sit as an "independent Conservative". He threatened to quit the Tories to join UKIP, which he did on 7 January 2007[2], along with Lord Willoughby de Broke[3]. He criticised the Conservative Party's leadership for being "silly" and argued that they should try to get UKIP members back into the fold by adopting more anti-European Union policies themselves. He has tabled a number of unsuccessful bills in the House of Lords demanding Britain's immediate withdrawal from the European Union. In November 2006 he tabled the European Union (Implications of Withdrawal) Bill[4] which called for the establishment of a Committee of Inquiry into the implications of UK withdrawal from the European Union. Also, he joined the United Kingdom Independence Party sometime afterwards, citing David Cameron's refusal to tell the British people about the disadvantages they suffer because Britain is a member of the EU.

He is also the co-founder of an anti-EU think-tank, Global Britain, which has campaigned against alleged pro-EU bias at the BBC[5].

He is a strong supporter of the pro-hunting Countryside Alliance, serving as chairman of its deerstalking committee.

Pearson has been married three times: to Francesca Frua de Angeli in 1965, with whom he had one daughter and whom he divorced in 1970; to the Hon. Mary Charteris in 1977, with whom he had two daughters and whom he divorced in 1995; and to Caroline St Vincent Rose in 1997.

In February 2009, Lord Pearson further courted controversy when he and right-wing cross-bencher Lady Cox invited Dutch Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders to show the anti-Islam film Fitna before the House of Lords[6]. However, Wilders was prevented from entering the UK on the instructions of the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith.[7] In response, Pearson and Cox accused the Government of "appeasing" militant Islam.[8]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Euro-sceptic peer attacks BBC's 'raging Europhiles'". The Daily Telegraph. 6 December 2000. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1377214/Euro-sceptic-peer-attacks-BBCs-raging-Europhiles.html. Retrieved on June 4, 2009. 
  2. ^ The Times
  3. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6243807.stm
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ [2]
  6. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7882953.stm
  7. ^ The Guardian, "Far-right Dutch MP refused entry to UK", 12 February 2009
  8. ^ The Daily Telegraph, "Dutch MP Geert Wilders deported after flying to Britain to show anti-Islamic film", 12 February 2009

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Pearson,_Baron_Pearson_of_Rannoch"
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