Anne Caroline Ballingall McIntosh, Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (born 20 September 1954) is a British politician who has been a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

since 2015. A member of the Conservative Party, McIntosh served as Member of Parliament (MP) for

Thirsk and Malton Thirsk and Malton is a Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, constituency in North Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 United Kingdom general el ...

from

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, having been the MP for

Vale of York The Vale of York is an area of flat land in the northeast of England. The vale is a major agricultural area and serves as the main north–south transport corridor for Northern England. The Vale of York is a broad area of flat land in northe ...

from

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, as well as previously a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) from

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

. McIntosh was not reselected by her Thirsk and Malton

constituency association An electoral district association (), commonly known as a riding association () or constituency association, is the basic unit of a political party at the level of the electoral district (" riding") in Canadian politics. Major political parties a ...

on 31 January 2014, although she continued to represent the Conservative Party in Parliament until the 2015 general election. She was given a life peerage in the 2015 Dissolution Honours and created Baroness McIntosh of Pickering, of the

in the County of

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, on 6 October 2015, and introduced into the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

on 27 October.

Early life

Born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, the daughter of a Scottish doctor father and Danish mother, Anne McIntosh was educated at Harrogate Ladies College in

and at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

where she read Law, graduating in 1977 as LLB. She also pursued post-graduate studies at the University of Aarhus in the

Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...

region of Denmark. In 1978, she became a trainee at the

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

(EEC) Competition Directorate, before joining Didier and Associates in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

in 1979 as a legal advisor. She trained for the Scottish Bar in Edinburgh from 1980, being admitted to the

Faculty of Advocates The Faculty of Advocates () is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary. The Faculty of Advocates is a const ...

in June 1982. She worked as an

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...

with the Community Law Office in Brussels, before becoming a political advisor to the

European Democrats The European Democratic Group, more commonly known as European Democrats, was a conservative political group that operated in the European Parliament between 1979 and 1992. At its height in July 1979, it had 63 MEPs. Ideologically, ED was mor ...

group in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

in 1983 until 1989.

European Parliament

After an unsuccessful attempt at a UK Parliamentary

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...

( 1987 general election at

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...

), where she was defeated by the sitting Labour MP Dale Campbell-Savours, McIntosh was elected for Essex North East at the

1989 European Parliament election The 1989 European Parliament election was a held on June Wednesday 15 to Sunday 18 across the 12 European Union member state in June 1989. It was the third European Parliament election but the first time that Spain and Portugal voted at the sam ...

and later for its successor seat of Essex North and Suffolk South at the 1994 election. She served as a

until she stood down at the 1999 elections.

Member of Parliament

MP for Vale of York (1997-2010)

McIntosh was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

in the 1997 general election for the Vale of York which she won by a comfortable 9,721 majority and held the seat without difficulty until it was abolished in 2010. She was promoted to the Opposition frontbench in 2001 as Spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport and has since held a number of front bench positions including

Transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

(2003–2005),

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership or ...

(2005), Work and Pensions (2005–2007), and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2007–2010), though never at Shadow Cabinet level. McIntosh was elected as Chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee in 2010. In 2014 she received wide acclaim for her "robust chairmanship" and "tackling the establishment head on". After boundary changes agreed in 2006, the Vale of York constituency was divided up leaving no obvious successor; the seat most closely associated was

which was the successor to

Ryedale Ryedale was a non-metropolitan district in North Yorkshire, England. It was in the Vale of Pickering, a low-lying flat area of land drained by the River Derwent, Yorkshire, River Derwent. The Vale's landscape is rural with scattered villages ...

, held since 1987 by John Greenway. McIntosh and Greenway went head-to-head for the newly created seat. On 18 November 2006, the newly formed

Conservative Association chose McIntosh as their

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group (sociology), group or election to an offic ...

for the ensuing general election.

Expenses

Following an inquiry by Sir Thomas Legg into parliamentary expenses, Anne McIntosh was asked to repay £948. In her statement, she welcomed the lead in expenses reform from David Cameron, despite being one of only 21 Conservative MPs to vote against expenses reform on 4 July 2008.

MP for Thirsk and Malton (2010-15)

Following the death of

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of parliament (both through defect ...

candidate John Boakes, the 2010 election in

was delayed until 27 May, some three weeks after the rest of the country. McIntosh won being returned to Parliament with a majority of 11,281. After the 2010 election, McIntosh was not appointed a Minister from her shadow portfolio, but was elected Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee. She was also elected Chair of the all-party parliamentary groups on

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, Water, Floods and Environmental Quality. As Chairman of the EFRA Committee, McIntosh has worked on: the EU Council Directive on the Welfare of Laying Hens, EU Common Fisheries Policy, the Farming in the Uplands Report and the CAP after 2013 report. During 2010/11, McIntosh had been campaigning for the reopening of Ryedale Ward at Malton Community Hospital following its temporary closure as part of a pilot scheme. McIntosh secured an

adjournment debate In the Westminster system, an adjournment debate is a debate on the motion, "That this House do now adjourn." In practice, this is a way of enabling the House to have a debate on a subject without considering a substantive motion. Types of deba ...

in the

on 17 November 2010 on the decision-making processes for closing hospital wards. In the run up to the budget, McIntosh tried to campaign for both a fair fuel stabilizer and a remote rural fuel duty rebate for North Yorkshire. Although McIntosh secured a debate, which took place on Tuesday 15 February, on introducing a potential fuel duty stabilizer and rebate for remote rural areas, it did not feature in the Budget. McIntosh had campaigned for the safety of some constituents living along the A64. She had been campaigning for better road safety and road speed measures in the local villages of Rillington, East Heslerton and West Heslerton.

Issues with local party and deselection

In August 2009, the local Conservative Party attempted to deselect McIntosh as their Parliamentary Candidate. McIntosh won the vote, which was held in Malton. Following this, she was elected as the new MP for Thirsk and Malton. In January 2013, it was reported that the Conservative local party 'Executive Committee' had voted not to reselect McIntosh automatically as the Parliamentary Candidate for the next general election. On 31 January 2014, it was announced that McIntosh had lost a vote of confidence, and therefore was not reselected and would not be the Conservative candidate in Thirsk and Malton at the next election. Following the result, Conservative Home speculated that McIntosh might stand as an

Independent candidate An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have polit ...

in 2015. In March 2015 McIntosh publicly announced that she would not be standing as an Independent and would be standing down from Parliament as Member of Parliament for Thirsk and Malton in May 2015.

Career in the Lords

McIntosh was given a

age in the 2015 Dissolution Honours and created Baroness McIntosh of Pickering, ''of the

in the County of

'', on 6 October. Since October 2015, she has sat in the

Personal life

Anne McIntosh married John Harvey in September 1992 in County Durham, and they have a house in the

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

near to Thirsk. An accomplished

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

, she speaks six languages: English, Danish, French,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

References

External links

Website

Anne McIntosh
Conservative Party profile
Thirsk & Malton Conservatives
Local Party Website * {{DEFAULTSORT:McIntosh, Anne 1954 births Living people Politicians from Edinburgh Scottish people of Danish descent People educated at Harrogate Ladies' College Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Aarhus University alumni Conservative Party (UK) MEPs Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Members of the Faculty of Advocates UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 20th-century women MEPs for England MEPs for England 1989–1994 MEPs for England 1994–1999 Conservative Party (UK) life peers Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Life peers created by Elizabeth II UK MPs who were granted peerages 21st-century British women politicians