Nicholas Winterton
Sir Nicholas Raymond Winterton, (born March 31, 1938, Rugeley, Staffordshire) is a British politician, and Conservative Member of Parliament for Macclesfield. Sir Nicholas was educated at Rugby School. He undertook his National Service from 1957-59 and was commissioned into the 14th/20th King's Hussars serving in Germany before leaving to work as a sales executive.
He served as a member of the West Midlands Conservative Council from 1967 to 1971 and was a Warwickshire County Councillor representing a coal mining and industrial division in North Warwickshire from 1967-72. From 1960-71, he was a Sales and General Manager of a construction machinery company. and In 1971, he easily won a by-election for the parliamentary constituency of Macclesfield and has held the seat comfortably at every election since. He has never been promoted to a ministerial or shadow role due to his reputation for being bold and outspoken.
When dealing with the concerns of his constituents, he prefers to visit their residence rather than call them to his office. It is a much more effective way of 'finding the seat of a problem' as Sir Nicholas said.
Sir Nicholas is considered a right-wing Tory, opposing the reduction of the age of consent for same-sex sex to 16, the ban on fox hunting and supported Section 28. For some years he was a member of the Conservative Monday Club and as far back as 26 January 1981, he was the Guest-of-Honour at the Club's Africa Group Dinner at St Stephen's Club, Westminster, where Harold Soref was in the chair. He is also a signatory to the Freedom Association's Better Off Out campaign.
Sir Nicholas wears a small badge in the design of the pound sterling symbol to signify his opposition to any plans for the Euro being instated as Great Britain's national currency.
He is currently the senior member of the Speaker's Panel of Chairmen, and one of the four members of the panel who takes sittings in Westminster Hall on a frequent basis with the honorary title of Deputy Speaker. In 2002, he was knighted for his services to Parliament.
He is also Patron, and Chairman, of The Zimbabwe-Rhodesia Relief Fund, a registered charity.
Sir Nicholas married Ann Winterton (nee Jane Ann Hodgson), MP for the neighbouring constituency of Congleton, in 1960 in Sutton Coldfield. They have two sons and one daughter. In May 2002, Ann was sacked from her position as Shadow Rural Affairs Minister for telling an ethnic joke at a dinner at Congleton Rugby Club. Speaking to reporters about the incident, Nick said: "Would you condemn your wife? I will not condemn my wife. Am I a racist? No. Is my wife a racist? No. If she offended anybody, she has apologised. I hope you will leave it at that."[1]
Winterton supported a bill put forth in June 2005 by Laurence Robertson that would almost entirely ban abortion. [2]
Sir Nicholas was one of the few MPs to ask a question[3] at Tony Blair's last Prime Minister's Questions, he demanded a referendum on the EU Reform Treaty to the groans, roars, and chuckles of the House.
Sir Nick is famous amongst local Macclesfield residents for always appearing in the local paper, The Macclesfield Express. He is known locally as Heinz because his head resembles a baked bean.
In February 2008 he was caught up in an expenses scandal when it was revealed that both Nick and his wife Ann claimed rent for a London flat over a 6 year period, despite having already bought the flat, and placed it into a family trust to avoid paying inheritance tax. The revelations were met with a mixture of outrage and disappointment by his Macclesfield constituents.