John Robert Greenway (born 15 February 1946) is a former British politician who sat as 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 (MP) for Ryedale 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 ...

until the constituency's abolition in

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

John Greenway was born in Northwich, Cheshire and was educated locally at the Sir John Deane's Grammar School and The College of Law, London. He joined Midland Bank in 1964 before joining the Metropolitan Police Service in 1965, after his Hendon Police College training he worked in the

West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, Central London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster. It is west of the City of London an ...

, leaving the force in 1969 to sell

life insurance Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typical ...

for Equitable Life. He joined National Provident in 1970, before setting up his own insurance and finance company in 1971. He was a financial journalist at '' Post Magazine'' (Post Weekly), and still writes for financial publications.

Parliamentary career

He was the treasurer of the Ryedale Conservative Association for two years from 1984 and was elected to the

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 ...

County Council in 1985 for two years. He was the vice-chairman of the North Yorkshire Police 1986–7. 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 1987 general election, when he regained the seat for the Conservatives from the Liberal MP Elizabeth Shields who won the seat at the 1986 Ryedale by-election. Greenway won the seat with a majority of 9,740 and remained the MP until the seat's abolition for the 2010 general election. He served in

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 ...

as a member of the home affairs select committee 1987–97, and was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Jean Trumpington for a year from 1991. He was promoted to the frontbench by William Hague in 1997 as a spokesman on home affairs, before being moved in 2000 as a spokesman for culture, media and sport where he remained throughout the leadership of Iain Duncan Smith until he was sacked by Michael Howard in 2003. He was briefly a member of the education and skills select committee in 2005 before the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

. He was the chairman of the all party opera group. He introduced the Bill for the Ragwort Control Act 2003. He maintained a strong interest in the financial services sector and chaired the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Insurance and Financial Services. In boundary changes agreed in 2006, Greenway's constituency was enlarged and renamed Thirsk and Malton, taking in a large part of the divided Vale of York constituency. Unexpectedly on 18 November 2006, the Thirsk and Malton Conservative Association selected Anne McIntosh (sitting MP for Vale of York) over Greenway as their candidate for the next general election. He was criticised in some quarters for his poor attendance record in the House of Commons. According to the theyworkforyou website, he attended only half of Parliamentary votes, and contributed to very few debates. In the scandal concerning MP's expenses it was alleged Mr. Greenway claimed £500 for

petunia ''Petunia'' is a genus of 20 species of flowering plants of South American origin. The popular flower of the same name derived its epithet from the French, which took the word , 'tobacco', from a Tupi–Guarani language. A tender perennial plan ...

s and fuchsia for his London flat

Personal life

He was married to Sylvia Ann Gant in 1974. They have two sons and a daughter. He now lives in Chiswick with divorcee Hanneke Dannhorn (born 1953), mother of Emily and Mark Dannhorn, and managing director of the Brook Green UK travel group, since 2004. A

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

enthusiast, he won an

animal welfare Animal welfare is the quality of life and overall well-being of animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures ...

award in 2003, and is the president of York City F.C. As a former police officer he has called for the death penalty for police murders, specifically mentioning Winston Silcott, after narrowly avoiding being shot. Greenway fought for an amendment to the Criminal Justice Act 1991 to provide for capital punishment for the murder of a police officer. He later tried to sponsor a similar bill commanding that "A person aged 18 years or above who is convicted of the murder of a police officer acting in the execution of his duty shall on conviction be sentenced to death." Both attempts were soundly defeated.

References

News items

Bats in the belfry in October 2004

Splitting up from his wife
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenway, John 1946 births Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Living people Metropolitan Police officers People educated at Sir John Deane's College UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 People from Northwich

Early life

Parliamentary career

Personal life

References

External links

News items