Stewart Jackson

Stewart James Jackson (born 31 January 1965) is a British politician who is the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Peterborough.

Early life

Jackson was born in Woolwich and brought up in South East London. He attended the London Nautical School in Lambeth, and Chatham House Grammar School in Ramsgate, Kent. He studied at Royal Holloway, University of London, where he was awarded a BA (Hons) degree in Economics & Public Administration in 1988.^[1] Jackson was elected President of the University of London Union for the 1988-89 academic year. During his tenure as president, he faced a no-confidence motion in January 1989 and resigned before he was required to leave office.^[2] He also earned an MA in Human Resource Management from University of West London in 2001, and is a Graduate Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

Before joining Business Link, Jackson worked for Lloyds Bank for nine years, and ran his own branch as a Branch Manager in London's West End, as well as being a small business manager. He was a board member and Trustee of the London City YMCA for five years.

Prior to being elected, Jackson was a Business Services Manager with Business Link in London.

Political career

Jackson served on Ealing Borough Council in West London from 1990 to 1998, during which time he was Conservative Party spokesman on planning and housing. He is Vice-President of the Local Government Association.^[3] He also sat on the Board of Management of the local government think tank the New Local Government Network between 2010 and 2013.

Jackson unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary constituency of Brent South at the 1997 general election. He was then selected as the Conservative candidate for the Peterborough seat in October 2000, and fought the 2001 general election, where he reduced the Labour Party's majority in the constituency from 7,323 votes to 2,854 votes, but lost to the incumbent Labour MP Helen Brinton. Jackson was re-adopted as the Conservative candidate for Peterborough in August 2002, and defeated Brinton at the 2005 general election to become the MP. He was re-elected with an increased majority at the 2010 general election.

In the House of Commons, Jackson was a member of the Regulatory Reform Select Committee and from 11 December 2006, the Health Select Committee leaving it in July 2007 when he became an Opposition Whip. Jackson was unanimously readopted as the Conservative candidate for the Peterborough constituency by the Executive Council of the Peterborough Conservative Association in July 2007. He was Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Pakistan from 2007–2010. In January 2008, he became Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government, with responsibility for the fire service, flooding, housing renewal areas and the Thames Gateway.

In the General Election held on 6 May 2010, Stewart Jackson increased his majority to 4,861 votes over the Labour candidate, Ed Murphy and was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in June 2010, a position he resigned from on 24 October 2011, after he voted against a three-line whip on an EU referendum.^[4] He was elected to the Commons Public Accounts Committee in February 2012. Jackson was unanimously readopted by the Peterborough Conservative Association at their 2013 Annual General Meeting to contest seat again at the 2015 General Election.

After Theresa May's selection as new Conservative Prome Minister, following David Cameron's resignation, Stewart Jackson was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Rt Hon David Davis MP, Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union in July 2016.

Conservative Voice

Together with other centre-right Conservative MPs such as Nadine Dorries, Jackson assisted in establishing the Conservative Voice parliamentary grouping led by the former Defence Secretary Liam Fox and David Cameron's principal opponent to win the leadership of the Tory Party, David Davis. In explaining his decision to join the new right-wing grouping, Jackson said that he hoped it could "get Cameron back on election-winning ground" and away from the "current social liberal mush". He stated that he would vote against the government's legislation to introduce same-sex marriage, and controversially accused his party leader of being "arrogant" for pressing ahead with it.^[5]

Policy positions

Jackson moved a 10 Minute Rule Bill in the House of Commons on 31 October 2012 entitled EU Free Movement Directive(Disapplication) Bill which would have varied the UK's obligations under the Directive and restricted access to social assistance and other public benefits to some European Union citizens. Although not acted upon at the time, a number of its provisions have subsequently been adopted by the Coalition Government.

In 2014 Jackson along with six other Conservative Party MPs voted against the Equal Pay (Transparency) Bill which would require all companies with more than 250 employees to declare the gap in pay between the average male and average female salaries.^[6]

Jackson opposed the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013. In March 2015, Jackson told a constituent: "The feeling's fully mutual. Please feel free to never bother me again" after she requested to be removed from his campaign mailing list because she disagreed with his position on the act.^[7][8]

Controversies

Referendum of the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union

On 26 June 2016 Rupert Myers, a well-known and respected political correspondent, Tweeted about the outcome of the Referendum of the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union "I can't get over the fact that the winning side lied about a whole bunch of stuff & yet expect us to live cheerfully with the result". Stewart Jackson replied from his verified Twitter account "Suck it up whiner...".^[9] He also attracted attention in October 2016 when he used Twitter to claim that patriots should not subscribe to the liberal, free market paper The Economist because of its arguments about the problems leaving the EU would entail.^[10]

Parliamentary expenses

Articles in the Daily Telegraph reported that Jackson had claimed more than £66,000 in three financial years for housing costs in his constituency: on 11 May 2009 the newspaper reported that he had claimed £11,000 in professional, legal and mortgage fees on buying a new constituency home. However, Jackson argued that there were legitimate 'one-off costs' relating to the purchasing of a home base in the constituency after his election as an MP, and claimed that until the house was purchased, he, his wife and infant daughter were renting one bedroomed accommodation in the constituency.^[11] On 12 May 2009, both BBC Newsnight, and a second article published by The Daily Telegraph reported that Jackson had claimed £55,000 on housing costs for the constituency house, bringing the total sum to over £66,000.^[12] When asked about how MPs should be housed in their constituencies, Jackson was quoted in The Daily Telegraph as saying that any ban on the second home allowance would be "draconian and unfair".^[13] In May 2013, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) issued a High Court action in an attempt to recover £54,000 in alleged notional Capital Gains arising from Jackson's Peterborough home.^[14] The case was settled when a Tomlin Order was sealed in the High Court in February 2014, permanently staying the civil proceedings which had allegedly cost IPSA over £20,000 in legal fees. In 2013, Jackson attacked The Sun newspaper after they criticised him over his expenses record. "I see I've been attacked by The Sun for having the temerity to seek legal redress," he tweeted. "Police bribing, phone hacking scumbags."

Wikipedia biography

IP addresses from inside the Houses of Parliament have often edited the Wikipedia biographies of politicians including Jackson in an attempt to remove details on the parliamentary expenses scandal,^[15] and attempts have been made to remove details of Jackson's interaction with a lesbian constituent.^[16] Ben Riley-Smith, a correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, argues that it is impossible to prove that changes are made by staff of any particular MP.^[15]

Personal life

In July 1999, Jackson married Sarah O'Grady, Social Affairs and Property Correspondent with the Daily Express, at the College Chapel at Royal Holloway in Egham, Surrey. One of the bridesmaids was Clare Moody, who would later become a Labour MEP. The couple have one daughter (born 2005), and live in central Peterborough.

Citizen's arrest attempt

In July 2012 Jackson attempted to tackle a vandal in Peterborough. Jackson, who was shopping with his wife and daughter, tried to perform a citizen's arrest after seeing a bus shelter being vandalised. The vandal got away, but only after kicking the MP. Cambridgeshire Police subsequently arrested a twenty-year-old man in connection with the incident who was subsequently found guilty of assault and criminal damage at Peterborough Magistrates Court.^[17][18][19]

References

External links

• Peterborough candidate Stewart Jackson criticised over 'stupid' email exchange
• Stewart Jackson MP official site
• Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Stewart Jackson MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com – Stewart Jackson MP