Richard James Simmonds, CBE (born 2 August 1944) is a retired English Conservative Party politician. He was a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been 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 Steel Commu ...

(MEP) for Midlands West from

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast As ...

and then for Wight and Hampshire East from 1984 to

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...

Biography

Richard J. Simmonds was born on 2 August 1944 in

Maidenhead, Berkshire Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Bu ...

. He was elected to the Parliament in 1979 for the Conservative Party, and started his service on 17 July 1979. During his first term, he joined the Committee on Development and Cooperation on 20 July of the same year, and at the time the Parliament adjourned, was serving on the Committees on Youth, Culture, Education, Information and Sport and on Agriculture until the Parliament adjourned on 23 July 1984. He was re-elected in 1984, again for the Conservative Party, and served until 24 July 1989. He served as a member of both the Committees on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and on Budgetary Control; and also participated in diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. He was re-elected in 1989, again for the Conservative Party, and served until 18 July 1994. He served as a member of the committees on Budgets; on External Economic Relations; on Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development; and on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection; and participated in diplomatic relations with South America. He was also the Chief Whip for the Conservative Party's European Parliament group. During the vote on the

1995 enlargement of the European Union The 1995 enlargement of the European Union saw Austria, Finland, and Sweden accede to the European Union (EU). This was the EU's fourth enlargement and came into effect on 1 January of that ...

, Simmonds took a plane to Strasbourg to join the other Conservative MEPs in their vote. Simmonds did not stand in 1994 due to being physically incapacitated by a stroke. He was also chairman of the

Countryside Commission The Countryside Commission (formally the Countryside Commission for England and Wales, then the Countryside Commission for England) was a statutory body in England and Wales, and later in England only. Its forerunner, the National Parks Commissio ...

. In 2018, Simmonds, by then a

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

consultant, informed the ''

Maidenhead Advertiser The ''Maidenhead Advertiser'' is a weekly local paper which has been published in the Berkshire town of Maidenhead since 1869. It is an independent publication run by the family firm Baylis Media Ltd, and is unique in that it is owned by a ch ...

'' of his concern regarding the need of a post-Brexit United Kingdom for regulations to be in pace with other European Union members.

Family

His sister is the cartoonist Posy Simmonds.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simmonds, Richard 1943 births Living people People from Maidenhead Conservative Party (UK) MEPs MEPs for England 1979–1984 MEPs for England 1984–1989 MEPs for England 1989–1994 Commanders of the Order of the British Empire