 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
| About Oliver Heald I was elected as Member of Parliament for North Hertfordshire in 1992. For the 1997 General Election, the boundaries were changed and since then, I have been Member of Parliament for North East Hertfordshire. I have lived in the Constituency at Royston since 1981 and am married to Christine. We have three children: Sarah, William and Victoria. I was born in Reading, Berkshire in 1954 and attended Reading School. After school, I went to Pembroke College, Cambridge, where I studied Law. I qualified as a barrister and practised in East Anglia from Chambers in Cambridge, starting in 1979. I undertook criminal cases for both prosecution and defence and later specialised in Employment Law and Family Law. I have been an active Conservative since 1974 and in the late 1970s I was a Speaker with the Hyde Park Tories, when we were the only major political Party to have a presence at Speakers' Corner. In 1984 I became Chairman of the North Hertfordshire Conservative Association and later served on the Eastern Area Executive Council of the Conservatives. In the General Election of 1987, I was the Conservative Candidate for the Southwark and Bermondsey Constituency in London and in 1991 I was selected to succeed Sir Ian Stewart MP (now The Rt Hon Lord Stewartby) as the Conservative Candidate for North Hertfordshire. In Parliament I have specialised in employment issues, law and order and environment. I was the Vice Chairman of the Conservative Employment Committee from 1992 - 1994 and also served on the All-Party Select Committee for Employment. In 1994 I was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Sir Peter Lloyd (Home Office Minister). Later that year, I was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Rt Hon William Waldegrave MP, (Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food). I also piloted a Private Member's Bill through Parliament, which was designed to help the insurance industry keep premiums down by establishing equalisation reserve funds. In 1995, I was appointed as a Minister in the Department of Social Security, leading the Government's campaign against benefit fraud. In 1996 I introduced legislation to provide greater powers to benefit fraud investigators. I was also the Junior Minister dealing with pension issues. After the General Election of 1997, I spent a period in the Opposition Whips' Office, but continuing to speak on issues from the Front Bench. Early in 2000, I was appointed Shadow Home Affairs Spokesman with responsibility for Police matters. In September 2001, I was appointed as Shadow Health Minister. In November 2002, I was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions. In November 2003, I was appointed Shadow Leader of the House a position I held until May 2005. In addition to this in September 2004, I was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs. Following the General
Election in May 2005 I was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet as
Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional
Affairs. In July 2007 I returned to the back benches
having had 13 years’ continuous service on the Conservative Front
Bench. |
||||||||||||