Fleur Josephine Butler (born 24 April 1967) is an English

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 ...

politician and novelist. A former member of the

Congress of the Council of Europe The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities is the pan-European political assembly representing local and regional authorities from the forty-six member states of the Council of Europe. Its role is to promote local and regional democracy, imp ...

and leader of

Richmondshire District Council Richmondshire District Council was the administration body covering Richmondshire, a large area of the northern Yorkshire Dales including Swaledale and Arkengarthdale, Wensleydale and Coverdale, with Scots' Dyke and Scotch Corner at its centr ...

, she is president of the

National Conservative Convention The National Conservative Convention (NCC), is the most senior body of the Conservative Party's voluntary wing. The National Convention effectively serves as the Party's internal Parliament, and is made up of its 800 highest-ranking Party Office ...

and a past chairman of the Conservative Women's Organisation.

Early life

Born in 1967, a daughter of the Hon. Samuel James Butler and his wife Lucilla Blanche Borthwick, Butler is also a granddaughter of the Conservative politician

Rab Butler Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden (9 December 1902 – 8 March 1982), also known as R. A. Butler and familiarly known from his initials as Rab, was a prominent British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politici ...

. She has two brothers and four sisters.''

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...

'', vol. I (2003), p. 441 She was educated at the

School of Oriental and African Studies The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...

of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

and then at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

Political career

In 2007, Butler was elected as a Conservative to

Richmondshire {{Infobox settlement , name = Richmondshire District , type = Non-metropolitan district , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = , image_blank_emblem= Richmondshire arms.png , blank_em ...

District Council in

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 ...

, representing

Leyburn Leyburn is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, sitting above the northern bank of the River Ure in Wensleydale. Historic counties of England, Historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire, the name was derived from 'Ley' ...

, and was re-elected in 2011.Richmondshire District Council election results, 1973–2019
richmondshire.gov.uk, accessed 22 December 2022 From 2009 to 2011 she was Leader of the council and in 2012 was leader of its Conservative group. In 2015 she stood in Richmond West and lost to two independents. At the European Parliament elections of 2009, Butler was an unsuccessful Conservative

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...

candidate in

Yorkshire and the Humber Yorkshire and the Humber is one of the nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It is one of the three regions covering Northern England, alongside the North West England and North East England regio ...

. In 2010, Butler was appointed to the Local Chamber of the Congress of the Council of Europe and was re-appointed in 2014. She took part in Congress election observation missions in

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

in October 2011, in

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

in September 2012, and in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

in June 2014. From 2007 to 2015, Butler was an appointed member of the Yorkshire Energy Partnership and served as its chairman. In 2017, Butler wrote in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' of the Conservative Party's "problem with feminism", insisting that it had an imbalance between men and women in the ranks of members of parliament and councillors which needed to change. She also complained of "a shocking shortfall of 12,000 women councillors needed across all parties". In 2019, she was elected as national chairman of the Conservative Women's Organisation and in 2022 as president of the

. In October 2022, ''

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 ...

'' ran an article about a call by Butler for older Conservative men in the House of Commons to make way for younger women.

Personal life

On 8 December 1991, Butler married Richard Selwyn Sharpe, son of

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

Roger Sharpe and Mary Gordon Selwyn. They set up home in

Exelby Exelby is a village in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is south-east of Bedale and west of the A1(M) motorway and is part of the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Exelby, Leeming and Londonderry. The civil parish had a to ...

, and have four sons born between 1992 and 1999. Her novel ''Blue Murder: A Political Murder Mystery in the Yorkshire Dales'' was self-published in 2022.Fleur Butler, ''Blue Murder: A Political Murder Mystery in the Yorkshire Dales'' (November 2022),

Notes

External links

"Fleur Butler: Why Conservatives need to reclaim their feminist heroines"

ConservativeHome ConservativeHome is a politically conservative news website and events company. It was first established by Tim Montgomerie in 2005 with the aim of arguing for a broad conservative spectrum, which is serious about both social justice and a fair ...

, 7 February 2018
Fleur Butler, Building your political CV
Equality & Diversity Hub,

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Fleur Josephine 1967 births Alumni of Newcastle University Congress of the Council of Europe Councillors in North Yorkshire Living people Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire