Caroline Spelman

The Right Honourable Caroline Spelman MP
Second Church Estates Commissioner
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 May 2015
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Tony Baldry
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
In office 12 May 2010 – 4 September 2012
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Hilary Benn
Succeeded by	Owen Paterson
Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
In office 19 January 2009 – 12 May 2010
Leader	David Cameron
Preceded by	Eric Pickles
Succeeded by	John Denham
In office 15 March 2004 – 2 July 2007
Leader	Michael Howard David Cameron
Preceded by	David Curry (Local and Devolved Government Affairs)
Succeeded by	Eric Pickles
Chairman of the Conservative Party
In office 2 July 2007 – 19 January 2009
Leader	David Cameron
Preceded by	Francis Maude
Succeeded by	Eric Pickles
Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment
In office 10 November 2003 – 15 March 2004
Leader	Michael Howard
Preceded by	David Lidington (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Succeeded by	Richard Ottaway
Shadow Minister for Women
In office 14 September 2001 – 15 March 2004
Leader	Iain Duncan Smith Michael Howard
Preceded by	Theresa May
Succeeded by	Eleanor Laing
Shadow Secretary of State for International Development
In office 18 September 2001 – 10 November 2003
Leader	Iain Duncan Smith
Preceded by	Gary Streeter
Succeeded by	John Bercow
Member of Parliament for Meriden
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Iain Mills
Majority	16,253 (31.2%)
Personal details
Born	4 May 1958 Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Mark Spelman
Children	3
Alma mater	Queen Mary University of London
Religion	Anglicanism[1]
Website	Official website

Caroline Alice Spelman (née Cormack; born 4 May 1958) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Meriden in the West Midlands since 1997. From May 2010 to September 2012^[2] she was the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in David Cameron's coalition cabinet, and was sworn as a Privy Counsellor on 13 May 2010.^[3]

Education

Born in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, Spelman attended Herts and Essex High School for Girls (now called The Hertfordshire and Essex High School), in Warwick Road, Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, and received a BA First Class in European Studies from Queen Mary College, University of London.

Early career

She was Sugar Beet commodity secretary for the National Farmer's Union from 1981 to 1984. She was deputy director of the International Confederation of European Beet Growers (officially known as La Confédération Internationale des Betteraviers Européens – CIBE) in Paris from 1984–9, then a research fellow for the Centre for European Agricultural Studies (part of the University of Kent and since 2000 known as the Centre for European Agri-Environmental Economics) from 1989 to 1993. She co-owns Spelman, Cormack & Associates, a lobbying firm for the food and biotechnology industry, with her husband.^[4]

Parliamentary career

Before entering Parliament in 1997, she stood unsuccessfully in the Bassetlaw constituency in Nottinghamshire at the 1992 general election.

In 2001, Iain Duncan Smith appointed Spelman Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, a post she maintained until Duncan Smith's departure as Conservative Party leader. Duncan Smith's successor, Michael Howard, opted for a streamlined Shadow Cabinet and omitted Spelman; however, he later appointed her as a front bench spokeswoman on Environmental Affairs working for Theresa May. In March 2004, Spelman re-entered the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Local and Devolved Government Affairs, succeeding David Curry. Under David Cameron's leadership of the Conservative Party, in 2007 she was promoted further to become Conservative Party Chairman. In 2009 she was moved in another reshuffle to the role of Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, replacing Eric Pickles. Since the reshuffle, Spelman has returned to the Commons backbenches.

In January 2016, Spelman became a Founding MP of Conservatives For Reform In Europe, the campaign to remain in the EU, subject to the Prime Minister's renegotiations, alongside Nick Herbert and Eric Pickles.

Expenses

In 2009, during the expenses scandal it was reported that Spelman had received £40,000 for cleaning and bills for her constituency home; this was despite her husband claiming it was their main home. In 2008 she reportedly over-claimed hundreds of pounds towards her council tax.^[4]

"Nannygate" controversy

On 6 June 2008, Spelman was the subject of controversy when it was suggested that for around twelve months from May 1997 she paid her child's nanny, Tina Haynes, from her parliamentary staffing allowance, contrary to the rule governing such allowances and fears of the misuse of them. Spelman claims that her nanny also acted as her constituency secretary and was paid from the public taxpayers' purse for this aspect of her further employment. Haynes confirms that occasionally she would answer phone calls and post documents but initially she denied such happenings when interviewed on BBC Two's Newsnight via telephone. The accusations came at a time when Conservative Party leader David Cameron had tasked Spelman with reviewing the use of parliamentary allowances by Conservative MPs and MEPs in the wake of the Derek Conway affair.^[5] The allegation against Spelman came shortly after two Conservative MEPs, Giles Chichester (Leader of the Conservatives in the EU Parliament) and Den Dover (Conservative Chief Whip in the EU Parliament), were forced to resign amid claims they misused their parliamentary allowances. However, Spelman was not urged to resign by party leader, David Cameron. She referred the matter pertaining to herself, her nanny and parliamentary funds to John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.^[6] Senior Conservative colleagues including former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis stated their support for Spelman.^[7]

New revelations were exposed on the BBC's Newsnight programme that nine years previously Mrs Spelman's secretary, Sally Hammond, complained to the Conservative Party leadership that she was using Parliamentary allowances to pay her nanny and that the arrangement with the nanny was over a two-year period and not one. ^[8]

In March 2009, the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee ruled Mrs Spelman had misused her allowances to pay for nannying work in 1997 and 1998.

Privacy injunction

On 24 February 2012, the High Court in London refused to continue a privacy injunction previously granted to prevent the publication of a news item in the Daily Star Sunday involving her son. Judge Michael Tugendhat said that the injunction was "not necessary or proportionate".^[9] On 2 March 2012, the Spelmans decided not to appeal against the decision, which permitted the publication of a story about her son.^[10] The Spelman family was required to pay the legal costs of the Daily Star Sunday, in addition to their own legal costs of £60,994.^[11][12]

Personal life

She married Mark Spelman, a senior partner at Accenture, on 25 April 1987 in south-east Kent. They have two sons and a daughter. Her husband stood as a Conservative candidate in the 2009 European elections for the West Midlands region.

The couple own a constituency home, a London townhouse and a villa in Algarve, Portugal,^[13] Her wealth is estimated as £1.5m.^[14]

She is a Patron of the Conservative Christian Fellowship.^[15]

References

1. The Committee Office, House of Commons. "House of Commons – Mrs Caroline Spelman – Standards and Privileges Committee". Publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
2. "Green groups' concern over Owen Paterson record". BBC News. 4 September 2012. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
3. "Privy Council appointments, 13 May 2010". Privy Council. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
4. "The new ruling class". NewStatesman. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
5. Tory MP paid nanny from expenses, BBC
6. Tory chairman Caroline Spelman to meet standards commissioner over nanny expenses, Daily Telegraph 7 June 2008
7. Tories rally round Spelman Yahoo! News 8 June 2008
8. "MPs call for Spelman to be sacked". BBC News. 26 June 2008. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
9. "Caroline Spelman's son loses privacy injunction bid". BBC News. 24 February 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
10. "Caroline Spelman's son 'took drugs after sports injury'". BBC News. 2 March 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
11. "Cabinet Minister's Son Sorry Over Drug Use". Sky News. 2 March 2012.
12. Tom Savage (26 February 2012). "Court Win for the Daily Star Sunday". (The Daily Star Sunday was party to the legal action)
13. Worden, Tom (15 March 2009). ""Nannygate" Tory Caroline Spelman's properties worth nearly £5million". Sunday Mirror. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
14. Glen Owen The coalition of millionaires: 23 of the 29 member of the new cabinet are worth more than £1m... and the Lib Dems are just as wealthy as the Tories Mail on Sunday 23 May 2010
15. "CCF Patrons". Conservative Christian Fellowship. Retrieved 15 June 2014.

External links

• Caroline Spelman MP official constituency website
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
• Articles authored at Journalisted
• Profile: Caroline Spelman, BBC News, 16 October 2002

Audio clips

• Discussing forced marriages On Women's Parliamentary Radio

Video clips

• At Coventry Transport Museum on YouTube