Stephen Dorrell

The Right Honourable Stephen Dorrell MP
Speaking at the NHS Confederation annual conference, Manchester on 11 July 2011
Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Employment
In office 11 June 1997 – 2 June 1998
Leader	William Hague
Preceded by	Gillian Shephard
Succeeded by	David Willets
Shadow Secretary of State for Health
In office 2 May 1997 – 11 June 1997
Leader	John Major
Preceded by	Frank Dobson
Succeeded by	John Maples
Secretary of State for Health
In office 5 July 1995 – 2 May 1997
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Virginia Bottomley
Succeeded by	Frank Dobson
Secretary of State for National Heritage
In office 20 July 1994 – 5 July 1995
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Peter Brooke
Succeeded by	Virginia Bottomley
Financial Secretary to the Treasury
In office 11 April 1992 – 11 July 1994
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Francis Maude
Succeeded by	George Young
Member of Parliament for Charnwood
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Constituency Created
Majority	15,029 (28.1%)
Member of Parliament for Loughborough
In office 3 May 1979 – 1 May 1997
Preceded by	John Desmond Cronin
Succeeded by	Andy Reed
Personal details
Born	25 March 1952 (1952-03-25) Worcester, Worcestershire, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Penelope Taylor
Alma mater	Brasenose College, Oxford

Stephen James Dorrell (born 25 March 1952) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet of Prime Minister John Major as Secretary of State for National Heritage (1994–95) and Secretary of State for Health (1995–97). He is the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Charnwood in northern Leicestershire, and is a Patron of the Tory Reform Group.

Early life and education

Dorrell was born in Worcester. He was educated at Uppingham School, an independent school for boys in the small market town of Uppingham in Rutland in central England, followed by Brasenose College, Oxford, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree. Dorrell was a member of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve for two years from 1971.

Political career

During the February 1974 general election, Dorrell acted as a personal assistant to Conservative minister Peter Walker. He contested the safe Labour seat of Hull East at the October 1974 general election, when aged only 22, but was soundly defeated by the sitting MP and later Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who was returned with a majority of 25,793 votes.

At the 1979 general election, the Conservatives were returned to office under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher. Dorrell, still only 27, was elected to the House of Commons for the marginal seat of Loughborough, ousting the veteran Labour MP John Cronin by 5,199 votes. He has remained an MP since.

On his election he was the Baby of the House of Commons, an informal title for the youngest member. He was succeeded as the Baby of the House on 9 April 1981 when Bobby Sands was elected at the April 1981 Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election, however Sands died on 5 May 1981 whilst on hunger strike in Long Kesh Prison. Dorrell again became the Baby of the House until 20 August 1981, when Sands' successor Owen Carron was elected at the August 1981 Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election.

Following his election to parliament in 1979 he was a member of the Transport Select Committee. After the 1983 general election he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to his old boss Peter Walker, who had now become the Secretary of State for Energy.

In government

Dorrell was promoted to government after the 1987 General Election by the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as an Assistant Government Whip, and in 1988 became a Lord Commissioner to the Treasury 'full whip'. He was appointed as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health in 1990 under the premiership of John Major. After the 1992 General Election he became the Financial Secretary to the Treasury.

Dorrell was promoted to the Major Cabinet as the Secretary of State for National Heritage in 1994, and on appointment became a Member of the Privy Council. He headhunted Jennie Page for the job of Millennium Dome Chief Executive according to The Observer. Page was sacked shortly after the Dome's opening night fiasco. He was transferred to become the Secretary of State for Health in 1995, and remained in position until the end of the Conservative administration at the 1997 general election.

Dorrell was often deployed in the media as a spokesman for the Major government, as it was felt he conveyed an air of approachability and popular appeal. During party conference season in the late nineties he was followed by a camera crew from the BBC's Breakfast show, capturing the behind-the-scenes build-up to his conference speech. The actual speech was also shown, including his joke (at the height of tensions in the Conservative party over Europe) that he considered himself a 'bureausceptic'. Unfortunately the joke, a reference to trying to reduce the level of red tape in the Health Service fell on deaf ears. As a nineties Conservative Ministerial remark, it was on a par with that of Roger Freeman, another 'approachable Tory'.

After government

When constituency boundaries were revised for the 1997 election, he moved with his key rural voters into the new Charnwood Constituency. He won the seat comfortably with a majority of 5,900, Loughborough itself being lost to Andy Reed of Labour.

He launched a bid for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 1997 but withdrew before the first ballot when it became clear his support amongst Conservative MPs was negligible. Instead he threw his support behind Kenneth Clarke's bid. Under William Hague he became shadow Secretary of State for Education and Employment, but left the shadow cabinet in 1998, and has remained a backbencher since.

When David Cameron was elected to lead the Conservative party in December 2005, Dorrell was appointed co-chairman, with Baroness Perry, of the Public Service Improvement policy group.

In June 2010, Dorrell was elected Chairman of the Health Select Committee.

Business interests

Dorrell is a company director of the Faithful Group Ltd, his family's industrial clothing firm, which went into administration in 2009. His family business Wensum PLC went into administration in the first half of 2009, and was bought out using a controversial pre-pack deal, leaving behind an estimated £4 million of debts and avoiding its pension liabilities.

Personal life

Dorrell has been married to Penelope Anne Wears Taylor since 1980 and they have three sons (one called Phil) and a daughter. He lives within his constituency, and is a former patron of Christian Aid.

External links

• Stephen Dorrell MP official constituency website
• Loughborough Conservatives
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• 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
• Articles authored at Journalisted
• Profile: Stephen Dorrell MP, BBC News, 18 October 2002

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by John Desmond Cronin	Member of Parliament for Loughborough 1979–1997	Succeeded by Andy Reed
Preceded by David Alton	Baby of the House 1979–1981	Succeeded by Bobby Sands
Preceded by Bobby Sands	Baby of the House 1981	Succeeded by Owen Carron
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Charnwood 1997–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Francis Maude	Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1992–1994	Succeeded by George Young
Preceded by Peter Brooke	Secretary of State for National Heritage 1994–1995	Succeeded by Virginia Bottomley
Preceded by Virginia Bottomley	Secretary of State for Health 1995–1997	Succeeded by Frank Dobson
Preceded by Chris Smith	Shadow Secretary of State for Health	Succeeded by John Maples