David Maurice Curry (born 13 June 1944) is a British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Skipton and Ripon from

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

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 ...

Early life

Curry, the son of teachers, was educated at the

Ripon Grammar School Ripon Grammar School is a co-educational, boarding and day, selective grammar school in Ripon, North Yorkshire, England. It has been named top-performing state school in the north for ten years running by ''The Sunday Times''. It is one of the b ...

where he was

head boy The two Senior Prefects, individually called Head Boy (for the male), and Head Girl (for the female) are students who carry leadership roles and are responsible for representing the school's entire student body. Although mostly out of use, in some ...

in 1962, and then at

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517 by Richard Fo ...

where he received a bachelor's degree in modern history in 1966. He also attended the

Harvard Kennedy School The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

as a

Kennedy Scholar Kennedy Scholarships provide full funding for up to ten British post-graduate students to study at either Harvard University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Susan Hockfield, the sixteenth president of MIT, described the scho ...

. He began his career as a

reporter A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

on the Newcastle Journal in 1966. In 1970, he became the world trade editor at the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' where he remained until he was elected to 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 1977, he founded the Paris Conservative Association.

Political career

Curry contested the safe Labour seat of Morpeth at the February 1974 general election, but was beaten by the sitting Labour MP George Grant by 13,034 votes. The two met again at the October 1974 general election, when Grant won by 14,687 votes. Curry was elected 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 ...

in 1979 for Essex North East. He served until 1989. Curry 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 ...

for the safe Conservative seat of Skipton and Ripon at the 1987 general election on the retirement of the sitting Conservative MP John Watson. Curry won the seat with a majority of 17,174 and held the seat safely until he retired from Parliament in 2010. Following his election Curry became a member of the

Agriculture Select Committee The Agriculture Select Committee was a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was dissolved in 2001 and replaced by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee following the replacement o ...

until he was promoted to the government of

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

in 1989 as

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. T ...

at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. He was promoted within the same department to

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

after the 1992 general election by

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...

. Two year later he moved sideways to the Department for the Environment where he remained until the Major government fell at the 1997 general election. He became a Member of the Privy Council in 1996. In opposition Curry became the

Shadow A shadow is a dark area on a surface where light from a light source is blocked by an object. In contrast, shade occupies the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross-section of a shadow is a two-dimensio ...

Agriculture Secretary, but resigned from the Shadow Cabinet in December 1997 in protest at the policy of ruling out Britain joining the single European currency for the next ten years. In 1998, he became the chairman of the Agriculture Select Committee and, after the 2001 general election, its successor the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee until 2003 when he promoted again to the Shadow Cabinet by

Michael Howard Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who was Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposi ...

as Shadow Local and Devolved Government Secretary. He resigned again in 2004, this time citing 'family reasons' and was replaced by

Caroline Spelman Dame Caroline Alice Spelman (' Cormack; born 4 May 1958) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Meriden in the West Midlands from 1997 to 2019. From May 2010 to September 2012 she was the ...

. He was a member of the Public Accounts Select Committee from 2004. On 5 February 2009, Curry announced that he would not stand at the 2010 election. On 19 November 2009, Curry stood down from his position as chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Standards and Privileges after claims by ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' regarding his

expenses An expense is an item requiring an outflow of money, or any form of fortune in general, to another person or group as payment for an item, service, or other category of costs. For a tenant, rent is an expense. For students or parents, tuition i ...

and reportedly referred himself to the

Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) is a public body in the United Kingdom created by the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009, largely as a response to the parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009. It establishes and monitors t ...

for investigation. In January 2013, Curry was appointed editor-in-chief of ''

The Parliamentary Review ''The Parliamentary Review'' is a British pay-to-publish journal, with organisations having to write their own copy and pay £3,500 for it to be published. The journal is owned by Westminster Publications Ltd, a for-profit venture that is not a ...

''.

Publications

*''The Food War: US-EU Food Politics'' by David Curry, 1982, EDG *''The Conservative Tradition in Europe'' Edited by David Curry, 1998, Mainstream *''Lobbying Government: A practical Guide for the Housing Industry and Lobby'' by David Curry, 1999, Chartered Institute of Housing, *''The Sorcerers Apprentice: Government and Globalisation'' by David Curry, 2000, Local Government Association,

References

External links

*
Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: David Curry MP

TheyWorkForYou.com - David Curry MP

The Public Whip - David Curry MP
voting record
BBC News - David Curry MP
profile 30 March 2006 * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Curry, David 1944 births Living people Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford Conservative Party (UK) MEPs English male journalists Harvard Kennedy School alumni Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom MEPs for England 1979–1984 MEPs for England 1984–1989 People educated at Ripon Grammar School People from Burton upon Trent UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies