Phillip Lee (politician)

Dr
Phillip Lee
MP
Member of Parliament
for Bracknell
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded by Andrew MacKay
Majority 20,650 (38.9%)
Personal details
Born (1970-09-28) 28 September 1970[1]
Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England[2]
Political party Conservative
Spouse(s) Catherine Day
Alma mater King's College London
Keble College, Oxford
Imperial College London
Profession Physician
Website www.phillip-lee.com

Dr Phillip James Lee (born 28 September 1970) is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bracknell since winning the seat at the 2010 general election.

Early life and career

Phillip Lee was born and raised in Buckinghamshire, England, and went to his local grammar school, Sir William Borlase's Grammar School. Lee studied Human Biology and Biological Anthropology at King's College London and Keble College, Oxford, where his research interests included the psychodynamics of anti-Semitism; the psychology of the child sex offender; the influence of the pre-natal environment on adult disease; and infertility clinic outcomes.

He went on to study medicine at Imperial College London[2] and qualified as a doctor in 1999. He has worked in hospitals across the Thames Valley, including Wexham Park Hospital, Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Wycombe General Hospital, St Mark's (Maidenhead) and Heatherwood Hospital as well as at St Mary's Hospital, London. Lee qualified as a general practitioner (GP) in 2004 and continues to practise locally part-time.[3]

Lee's roots are working class and branches of his family come from County Durham, Buckinghamshire and Gorseinon near Swansea, where Lee's great-grandfather was a coal miner. His grandfather served as a tail gunner in a Handley Page Halifax bomber during the Second World War and later worked in the local Hoover factory and as a painter-decorator. Lee's father and brother run local small businesses.

Political career

Lee's political career began in local politics. He joined the Conservatives in Beaconsfield in 1992, becoming a member of its Executive Board in 1997 and its deputy chairman in 2005. Lee ran successfully for the local council in 2001. In the 2005 general election, he campaigned as the party's candidate for what was the safe Labour seat of Blaenau Gwent in South Wales. After being appointed a priority national candidate on the party's first A-List in 2006,[4] Lee was elected in an open primary in 2009 to be the candidate to represent the local seat of Bracknell in Berkshire at the 2010 general election. The seven-person short-list also included prominent Conservative commentator Iain Dale, and Rory Stewart.[3][5] At the 2010 general election, Lee retained the seat for his party with a majority of 15,704 votes.[6]

Lee's parliamentary interests include:

Energy. He serves as a member of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee and has been at the forefront of questioning UK energy companies' price hikes.[7] Lee has called for energy efficiency to be the primary target of the UK Government's policy and supports increasing energy security with more nuclear power and an interconnector with Norway. He has drawn attention to the limited potential of free markets in the energy sector and called for cooperative ways of retailing and distributing electricity and gas.[8]

Lee's voting record is loyal and he has rarely rebelled against the Conservative whip and has not voted against anything in the Conservative's manifesto.[20] However, he did not support the UK Government's High Speed 2 project which he said is of the past and not of the future, profligate and not a priority for infrastructure investment.[21] Neither did he support the UK Government's proposals for House of Lords reform or military action in Syria in 2013.[18] Lee abstained over Same-sex marriage legislation, noting that Parliament's role should be limited to legislating for equal civil union while calling on the Church to find a way to recognise same-sex relationships.[22][23]

In his constituency of Bracknell, Lee has campaigned for better services and facilities. He called for improved health service outcomes and in 2012 launched a plan to achieve this which would consolidate acute healthcare in a new, regional centre of excellence and deliver a greater proportion of care in the community - including through the recently opened Bracknell Urgent Care Centre.[10] He has lobbied for better transport links into, and across, the region and South West Trains is now increasing passenger rail capacity from Bracknell.[24] Lee supports expanding London Heathrow Airport and has endorsed the Heathrow Hub proposal to extend capacity [25] alongside the extension of Crossrail to Reading. Lee lobbied BT Group to improve the delivery of superfast broadband and coverage across the constituency is now almost 90%.[26]

Lee has spoken on the importance of MPs being "in touch". In his constituency, he reports annually to all constituents, holds quarterly public 'Question and Answer' open meetings as well as issuing monthly e-newsletters.

Personal life

Lee is a keen sportsman. He has played competitive football, and followed Queens Park Rangers F.C. since the age of six. He attended the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Japan, 2004 UEFA European Championships in Portugal and 2006 World Cup in Germany. He has played competitive rugby union for Marlow Rugby Union Football Club and was a member of Oxford University RFC and has also played cricket for the 'Old Grumblers'. Lee plays for the Conservative Party's Parliamentary football team and is a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Boxing.

Lee combines his medical background and interest in international development as a Member of Colalife’s Virtual Advisory Board. The organisation uses Coca-Cola's distribution networks to get essential medication to mothers and newborn babies to tackle the biggest cause of infant mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa - dehydration because of diarrhoea.

References

  1. "Phillip Lee MP". BBC Democracy Live (BBC). Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  2. 1 2 "LEE, Phillip James". Who's Who. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  3. 1 2 "Dr Phillip Lee – Caring for Bracknell Constituency : Biography". Bracknell Conservative Association. 1 January 2010. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  4. "ConservativeHome's Seats & Candidates blog: Where are the original A-Listers now? The 27 who are still looking for a seat". Conservativehome.blogs.com. 2009-04-23. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  5. Fort, Hugh (12 October 2009). "Tory hopefuls stress links to Bracknell Forest". Bracknell Forest Standard. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  6. "Phillip Lee wins Bracknell General Election 2010". The Wokingham Times. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  7. Morris, Nigel (2013-10-29). "The Independent: All in it together? Big Six energy chiefs feel heat from MPs". London: http://www.independent.co.uk/. Retrieved 2014-09-10. External link in |publisher= (help)
  8. "Only full-scale reform of our energy market will prevent endless price rises". http://www.theguardian.com/. 2013-10-26. Retrieved 2014-09-10. External link in |publisher= (help)
  9. Lee, Phillip (2014-06-11). "Daily Telegraph: The NHS is collapsing under the weight of demand". London: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/. Retrieved 2014-09-10. External link in |publisher= (help)
  10. 1 2 "Bracknell News: MP plans hospital vision meeting". http://www.bracknellnews.co.uk/. 2012-07-14. Retrieved 2014-09-10. External link in |publisher= (help)
  11. "BBC News: Theresa May MP supports calls for new M4 hospital". http://www.bbc.co.uk/news. 2013-01-10. Retrieved 2014-09-17. External link in |publisher= (help)
  12. Hope, Christopher (26 November 2012). "Spending on medicines must be cut because Britons cannot put up with aches and pains like their wartime forebears says Tory MP". The Daily Telegraph (London). Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  13. "Huffington Post: HIV Positive Immigrants Should Be Banned From Entering UK, Tory MPs Say". http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/. 2014-01-30. Retrieved 2014-09-17. External link in |publisher= (help)
  14. "House of Commons: Summary Agenda Wednesday 22 February 2012". http://www.publications.parliament.uk/. 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2014-09-17. External link in |publisher= (help)
  15. 1 2 "They Work For You: Backbench Business — Summer Adjournment". http://www.theyworkforyou.com/. 2014-07-22. Retrieved 2014-09-17. External link in |publisher= (help)
  16. "ConservativeHome: Dr Philip Lee MP: China may be big – but it has big, big problems". http://www.conservativehome.com/. 2012-11-16. Retrieved 2014-09-17. External link in |publisher= (help)
  17. "ConservativeHome: Dr Phillip Lee MP: When it comes to Germany, yesterday should be no guide for tomorrow". http://www.conservativehome.com/. 2012-11-28. Retrieved 2014-09-17. External link in |publisher= (help)
  18. 1 2 "The Telegraph: If we must fight in Syria, we must have a plan". London: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/. 2013-09-06. Retrieved 2014-09-17. External link in |publisher= (help)
  19. "They Work For You: Microgravity Research". http://www.theyworkforyou.com/. 2011-09-13. Retrieved 2014-09-17. External link in |publisher= (help)
  20. "They Work For You: Voting Summary". http://www.theyworkforyou.com/. 2010-05-05. Retrieved 2014-09-17. External link in |publisher= (help)
  21. "They Work For You: High Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) Bill". http://www.theyworkforyou.com/. 2014-04-28. Retrieved 2014-09-17. External link in |publisher= (help)
  22. "Voting Record — Phillip Lee MP, Bracknell". publicwhip.org. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  23. Lowther, Ed (5 March 2013). "Yes but, no but... MPs who vote both ways". BBC. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  24. "MP Dr Phillip Lee campaigns for better train services to and from Bracknell". http://www.getreading.co.uk/. 2013-05-05. Retrieved 2014-09-10. External link in |publisher= (help)
  25. "They Work For You: Thames Valley, Berkshire". http://www.theyworkforyou.com/. 2014-05-01. Retrieved 2014-09-17. External link in |publisher= (help)
  26. "Dr Phillip Lee hears broadband concerns". http://www.getreading.co.uk/. 2012-07-31. Retrieved 2014-09-10. External link in |publisher= (help)

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Andrew MacKay
Member of Parliament for Bracknell
2010–present
Incumbent
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