David Heathcoat-Amory
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David Philip Heathcoat-Amory (born 21 March 1949) is a British politician, accountant, and farmer. He was the
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
Member of Parliament for Wells from 1983 until he lost the seat in the 2010 general election. He became a member of the
British Privy Council The Privy Council, formally His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its members, known as privy counsellors, are mainly senior politicians who are current or former m ...
in 1996. Heathcoat-Amory was previously Chair of the
European Research Group The European Research Group (ERG) is a research support group and caucus of Eurosceptic Conservative Members of Parliament of the United Kingdom. In a ''Financial Times'' article in 2020, the journalist Sebastian Payne described the ERG as " ...
.


Education and professional life

David Heathcoat-Amory is the son of
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...
Roderick Heathcoat-Amory, MC (son of Sir Ian Heathcoat-Amory, 2nd Baronet) and the nephew of
Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986), was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Nickn ...
's
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...
Derick Heathcoat-Amory Derick Heathcoat-Amory, 1st Viscount Amory ( ; 26 December 1899 – 20 January 1981) was a British Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1958 and 1960, and later as Chancell ...
. He was educated at
Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...
and Christ Church,
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
, where he received an MA in PPE. He was President of the Oxford University Conservative Association. Heathcoat-Amory qualified as an accountant in 1974 and joined
Price Waterhouse PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along ...
as a chartered accountant. In 1980, he was appointed as the assistant finance director of the British Technology Group (BTG) where he remained until he was elected to
Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
in 1983.


Political career

Heathcoat-Amory contested the
London Borough of Brent Brent () is a London boroughs, borough in north-west London, England. It is known for landmarks such as Wembley Stadium, the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London, Swaminarayan Temple and the Kiln Theatre. It also contains the Brent Reservoir, W ...
seat at Brent South at the 1979 general election but was defeated by the sitting Labour MP Laurence Pavitt by 11,616 votes. He 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 ...
at the 1983 general election for the
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
seat of Wells, whose sitting MP
Robert Boscawen Robert Thomas Boscawen (17 March 1923 – 28 December 2013) was a British Conservative politician. He was the last member of the House of Commons to hold a Military Cross for action during the Second World War. Background and education Robert ...
had decided to move to Somerton and Frome following boundary changes. He held the seat with a majority of 6,575. In Parliament, he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the
Financial Secretary to the Treasury The Financial Secretary to the Treasury is a mid-level ministerial post in HM Treasury. It is nominally the fifth most significant ministerial role within the Treasury after the first lord of the Treasury, the chancellor of the Exchequer, the ch ...
John Moore in 1985, and was also the PPS to his successor from 1986
Norman Lamont Norman Stewart Hughson Lamont, Baron Lamont of Lerwick, (born 8 May 1942) is a British politician and former Conservative MP for Kingston-upon-Thames. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1990 until 1993. He was created a life peer i ...
. Following the 1987 general election he became the PPS to the
Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...
Douglas Hurd Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, (born 8 March 1930) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1979 to 1995. A career diplomat and ...
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 ...
as an Assistant Government Whip in 1988. He was promoted to become a Lord Commissioner to the Treasury and Government Whip in 1989. Later in the year he became the
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 Department for the Environment, until moved by the new prime minister
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 ...
in the same position at the
Department of Energy A ministry of energy or department of energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-rela ...
in 1990. He was appointed as the Treasurer of the Household (Deputy Chief Whip) following the 1992 general election and was the
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 ...
at the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 ...
in 1993. He was appointed as the
Paymaster General His Majesty's Paymaster General or HM Paymaster General is a ministerial position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The position is currently held by Nick Thomas-Symonds of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. History The post was ...
in 1994 where he served until resigning from the government in 1996 over the single European currency. He became a member of the Privy Council in 1996. In 1997 Heathcoat-Amory joined the shadow cabinet of
William Hague William Jefferson Hague, Baron Hague of Richmond (born 26 March 1961) is a British politician and life peer who was Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1997 to 2001 and Deputy Leader from 2005 to 2010. He was th ...
as the
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury The shadow chief secretary to the treasury is the most junior member of the Shadow Cabinet, and is the deputy to the shadow chancellor of the exchequer. The shadow chief secretary to the treasury acts as the primary opposition to the equivalent ...
, and was the
Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 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-dimensional ...
from 2000. He left the frontbench on the election of
Iain Duncan Smith Sir George Iain Duncan Smith (born 9 April 1954), often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who was Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Le ...
as the leader of the Conservative Party in 2001. He was a member of the
Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry; in a business context, corporate treasury. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be ...
Select committee from 2004 until he was briefly, in 2005, a spokesman on work and pensions under the leadership of
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 ...
, but returned to the backbenches later in the year when
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...
became Conservative leader. He served as the chairman of the all party group on the
British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
; the vice chair of the group on
astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...
and
space environment Space environment is a branch of astronautics, aerospace engineering and space physics that seeks to understand and address conditions existing in space that affect the design and operation of spacecraft. A related subject, space weather, deals wit ...
; and the secretary of the group on
boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...
. From late 2001 until July 2003, Heathcoat-Amory was one of the two British parliamentary delegates to the
Convention on the Future of Europe The Convention on the Future of the European Union, also known as the European Convention, was a body established by the European Council in December 2001 as a result of the Laeken Declaration. Inspired by the Philadelphia Convention that led ...
, which drafted the
European Constitution The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European ...
. He is well known for his strong
euroscepticism Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek reform ...
and was, through the work of the Convention, a fierce opponent of the official drafts being prepared by the presidium of the Convention, criticising them as being too federalist. Heathcoat-Amory was selected by the Power 2010 democracy and constitutional reform campaign as one of six MPs accused of "failing our democracy" and who "stand in the way of a reforming Parliament". Heathcoat-Amory lost his seat in the 2010 general election to the Liberal Democrat's Tessa Munt who achieved a 6.1% swing. At the election,
UKIP 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 Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...
's Jake Baynes was requested by his party to stand down owing to UKIP's policy of not standing a candidate in a constituency where there is already a committed eurosceptic, but he refused to do so. In interviews, Baynes said he was "offering the public a service no other candidate is". Heathcoat-Amory partly blamed the presence of a UKIP candidate on the ballot paper for his defeat during his speech after the result of the ballot was announced. He also admitted that his involvement in the expenses scandal played a part in his defeat. He was criticised in 2008 after remarking, regarding the presence of a Black MP,
Dawn Butler Dawn Petula Butler (born 3 November 1969) is a British Labour Party politician who is member of parliament (MP) for Brent East. She previously served as MP for Brent Central (2015–2024) and Brent South (2005–2010). Born in London to Jama ...
, "They're letting anybody in nowadays". Heathcoat-Amory denied the accusation that his remarks were racist. Having lost by a relatively narrow 800 votes in the General Election in June 2010, Heathcoat-Amory announced to the local party members and media that he would not be contesting the next general election.


Expenses claims

On 12 May 2009, it was reported in ''
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 ...
'' that Heathcoat-Amory had charged the taxpayer for manure costing £380 over 3 years on expenses, under the controversial Additional Costs Allowance. In February 2010 it was revealed that he had been asked to repay a total of £29,691.93. ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' dubbed the scandal 'The Manure Parliament' when singling out Heathcoat-Amory's claim.


Personal life

He enjoys
angling Angling (from Old English ''angol'', meaning "hook") is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated with a fishing rod, although rodless te ...
, growing trees, gardening and astronomy. He married Linda Adams on 4 February 1978 in north
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
. The couple lives on an estate in west London with a significant art collection. They have a son, John, and a daughter, Florence (born September 1988). His younger son, Matthew, took his own life at their second home in
Perthshire Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...
in 2001. Heathcoat-Amory and his wife Linda said the family was "deeply shocked".


Notes and references

;Notes ;References


Publications

* ''A Single European Currency: Why the United Kingdom Must Say No'' by David Heathcoat-Amory, 1996, Nelson & Pollard Publishing * ''A Market Under Threat: How the European Union Could Destroy the British Art Market'' by David Heathcoat-Amory, 1998,
Centre for Policy Studies The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) is a centre-right think tanks, think tank and advocacy group in the United Kingdom. Its goal is to promote coherent and practical policies based on its founding principles of: free markets, "small state," lo ...
* ''The European Constitution'' by David Heathcoat-Amory, 2003, CPS


External links

*
Official Website


* ttps://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/david_heathcoat-amory/wells TheyWorkForYou.com – David Heathcoat-Amory MP
The Public Whip – David Heathcoat-Amory MP
voting record {{DEFAULTSORT:Heathcoat-Amory, David 1949 births Living people Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Treasurers of the Household United Kingdom Paymasters General Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Presidents of the Oxford University Conservative Association UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford People educated at Eton College Politicians from Somerset British Eurosceptics