Tom Sackville

For other people named Thomas Sackville, see Thomas Sackville (disambiguation).
The Honourable
Thomas Geoffrey Sackville
Born (1950-10-26) October 26, 1950
Nationality English
Occupation Politician
Political party Conservative
Board member of FECRIS, Committee Against Cults, The Family Survival Trust
Parent(s) William Sackville, 10th Earl De La Warr
Relatives William Sackville, 11th Earl De La Warr (brother)

Thomas Geoffrey Sackville (born 26 October 1950) is a British Conservative politician.

Family and early life

He is the second son of William Sackville, 10th Earl De La Warr (d. February 1988), and brother to William Herbrand Sackville, the 11th Earl De La Warr.[1] He was educated at Eton College and Lincoln College, Oxford.[1]

Parliamentary career

Sackville fought Pontypool in 1979, being beaten by Labour's Leo Abse.

He was MP for Bolton West from 1983 until he was defeated by Ruth Kelly at the 1997 general election. Sackville is a former Home Office minister.[2]

Work against cults

In 1985 he started All-Party Committee Against Cults[3] and 20 October 2000 he become first chairman of The Family Survival Trust (formerly Family Action Information Resource, FAIR), an anti-cult organisation.[2]

In 1997 he ended government funding for the independent research group Information Network Focus on Religious Movements (Inform). Funds were reinstated in 2000.[2] In his article for The Spectator (2004) he accused INFORM and its president Eileen Barker of “refusing to criticise the worst excesses of cult leaders”, and congratulated the Archbishop of Canterbury for declining to become a patron of INFORM. The allegations were described by INFORM as unfounded.[3]

In 2005 he was elected as Vice-President of European Federation of Centres of Research and Information on Sectarianism (FECRIS), an umbrella organization for anti-cult groups in Europe, and from 2009 he has served as its President.[3]

Sackville is the current CEO of the International Federation of Health Plans.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage 1 (107th ed.). p. 1074. ISBN 978-0971196629. Cited in Lundy, Darryl Roger (ed.). "Hon. Thomas Geoffrey Sackville". The Peerage. Archived from the original on 2016-03-07.
  2. 1 2 3 Telegraph staff (2000-07-31), "Cult advisers in clash over clampdown", The Daily Telegraph, retrieved 19 December 2009
  3. 1 2 3 Regis Dericquebourg, A Case Study: FECRIS, Journal for the Study of Beliefs and Worldviews, 2012/2, p.188–189, ISBN 978-3-643-99894-1
  4. "Speakers Health Insurance Counter Fraud Group". hicfg.com. Retrieved 2014-06-01.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Ann Taylor
Member of Parliament for Bolton West
1983 1997
Succeeded by
Ruth Kelly
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