Daniel John Rogerson (born 23 July 1975,

St Austell St Austell (; kw, Sans Austel) is a town in Cornwall, England, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon. St Austell is one of the largest towns in Cornwall; at the 2011 census it had a population of 19,958. History St Austell ...

) is a British

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties See also *Liberal democracy *Lib ...

politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Cornwall from the 2005 general election until his defeat at the 2015 general election. In October 2013, he became the Liberal Democrat Minister at the

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, holding the office until losing his Parliamentary seat to Conservative candidate Scott Mann.

Early life and career

Born in Cornwall, Rogerson grew up in Bodmin, attending

Bodmin College Bodmin College is a secondary academy school that serves the community of Bodmin, Cornwall, England. The principal is Emmie Seward-Adams. The college converted to an academy on 1 January 2011. Curriculum In 2007, the college decided to cha ...

(

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is re ...

), before studying Politics at the

University of Wales Aberystwyth , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

. Whilst a student, Rogerson worked at the Proper Cornish pasty factory in Bodmin. Dan Rogerson joined the Liberal Democrats whilst still at school in 1991 to help fight for the election of Paul Tyler at the 1992 general election. He worked at Bedford Borough Council before being elected to the Council himself in 1999 for the ward of Kingsbook. He served as councillor, and later Deputy Group Leader, until 2002. Following his election as a local councillor he worked in University administration. Rogerson first stood for Parliament in 2001, contesting the North East Bedfordshire seat, increasing the Liberal Democrats' share of the vote by 2.1%.

Political career

In 2005 he was elected for the North Cornwall seat and used the

Cornish language Cornish (Standard Written Form: or ) , is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family. It is a revived language, having become extinct as a living community language in Cornwall at the end of the 18th century. However, ...

during the swearing of allegiance in Parliament along with Andrew George in an effort to support the preservation of Cornish identity and culture. In 2006 Rogerson asked the government to make 5 March a public holiday in Cornwall to recognise celebrations for

St Piran's Day Saint Piran's Day ( kw, Gool Peran), or the Feast of Saint Piran, is the national day of Cornwall, held on 5 March every year. The day is named after one of the patron saints of Cornwall, Saint Piran, who is also the patron saint of tin miners ...

. Rogerson was chair of the

All-Party Parliamentary Group An all-party parliamentary group (APPG) is a grouping in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that is composed of members of parliament from all political parties, but have no official status within Parliament. Description and functions All-party ...

on cheese, and opposed

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's inclusion of cheese in its new regulations restricting television advertising of

junk food "Junk food" is a term used to describe food that is high in calories from sugar and/or fat, and possibly also sodium, but with little dietary fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, or other important forms of nutritional value. It is also known ...

s to children aged under 16. He was also a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on religious education. On 14 July 2009, Dan Rogerson presented a Cornish "breakaway" Bill to Parliament. The Bill proposed a devolved

Cornish Assembly A Cornish Assembly ( kw, Senedh Kernow) is a proposed devolved law-making assembly for Cornwall along the lines of the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) and the Northern Ireland Assembly in the United Kingdom. The campaign fo ...

, similar to the Welsh and Scottish set-up. He was Liberal Democrat Shadow Minister for

Communities and Local Government The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for housing, communities, local government i ...

until the 2010 election and was the youngest male MP in the House of Commons during the 2005–2010 Parliament. He was appointed the co-chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Committee for Education, Families and Young People in July 2010. In the 2010 general election Dan Rogerson successfully held his seat in North Cornwall with a majority of 6.36%. He repeated his parliamentary oath in Cornish as he did after the previous election. In December 2010, Rogerson was one of the twenty-one Liberal Democrat MPs who voted against the tuition fee rise. Following a government reshuffle, Rogerson was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Water, Forestry, Resource Management and Rural Affairs at the

, a role he held until the 2015 general election. Rogerson stood for re-election as MP for North Cornwall, but was defeated by Conservative candidate Scott Mann by 6,621 votes - a swing of over 9,000. In July 2018, Rogerson announced that he would not contest the North Cornwall seat again at the next

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

and that a new Liberal Democrat candidate would have to be selected. At the

2021 Cornwall Council election The 2021 Cornwall Council election took place on 6 May 2021 as part of the 2021 United Kingdom local elections. It was contested under new division boundaries as the number of seats on the council falls from 123 to 87. The election was won by t ...

, he was a candidate for the Launceston South ward, but was defeated by a margin of 3 votes.

Personal life

He married Heidi Purser in August 1999 in Bodmin. They have two sons and one daughter. They were divorced in 2021.

References

External links

Dan Rogerson MP
''official constituency website''
Profile
at the Liberal Democrats *
Cornish Assembly
official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Rogerson, Dan 1975 births Living people UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for North Cornwall Politicians from Cornwall People from St Austell Liberal Democrats (UK) MPs for English constituencies Alumni of Aberystwyth University Cornish nationalists People from Bodmin Councillors in Bedfordshire Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors