Stephen Daniel Double (born 19 December 1966) is a British
Conservative Party politician. He has been the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...
(MP) for
St Austell and Newquay since 2015. He has been serving as a junior
Lord Commissioner of the Treasury since November 28, 2022.
Double served on
Cornwall Council
Cornwall Council ( kw, Konsel Kernow) is the unitary authority for Cornwall in the United Kingdom, not including the Isles of Scilly, which has its own unitary council. The council, and its predecessor Cornwall County Council, has a traditio ...
and as a town councillor and mayor of
St Austell before his selection as Conservative candidate for St Austell and Newquay in the general election.
Early life and career
Double was born on 19 December 1966 in
St Austell. The son of the evangelist Don Double, he was educated at
Poltair School
Poltair School is a coeducational secondary school located on the site of the former St Austell Grammar School in St Austell, Cornwall, England.
Admissions
It has educational links with schools in Dithmarchen, Germany, notably the Gymnasium Hei ...
in the town.
[ ] He worked in Cornwall across a variety of sectors, including working for a bank, local church and charity.
From May 2001, he was Director of Bay Direct Media Ltd, a
direct marketing company. In May 2011, he additionally became Director of Phoenix Corporate Ltd, a company selling branded merchandise; he remains as Director and primary shareholder of both companies since becoming an MP.
At its establishment in 2009, Double was one of four candidates elected onto St Austell Town Council for the Poltair Ward; he was re-elected in 2013 and served as deputy mayor of the town. He declined to stand at the following election in 2017, having since become an MP. Double was also elected as the Conservative Party candidate onto the new unitary Cornwall Council in 2009 for the
St Austell Poltair division, but the seat was subsequently won by the Liberal Democrats candidate at the following election in 2013. Double did not stand for re-election to Cornwall Council in 2013.
Parliamentary career
Double was first elected as the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...
(MP) for
St Austell and Newquay at the
2015 general election, when he defeated the incumbent Liberal Democrat
Steve Gilbert
Stephen David John Gilbert (born 6 November 1976) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was elected at the 2010 general election the Member of Parliament (MP) for the new constituency of St Austell and Newquay,
but lost his seat at the ...
.
He was re-elected at the
2017 general election
This national electoral calendar for 2017 lists the national/federal elections held in 2017 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*5 November ...
.
In Parliament, Double has joined twelve All Party Parliamentary Groups. He chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group Ocean Conservation, working with Cornish charity Surfers Against Sewage. The group has campaigned against marine litter and seeks to protect the coastline. He is also co-chair of the Regional Airports APPG which works to lobby government on behalf of small regional airports, such as Cornwall Airport Newquay.
Double is also vice-chair of the Parliamentary Beer Group which works to support pubs and breweries. In this role, he has been able to promote the work of
St Austell Brewery, who operate from his constituency. He is also a member of the Ceramics All Party Parliamentary Group which represents the ceramics industry which includes
China Clay. He also sits on the Parliamentary Space Committee where he has promoted Newquay as a frontrunner for the location of the UK's first spaceport. He is the vice-chair of the Parliamentary Group for Fatherhood.
Double has helped secure Government backing for a new link road between the A30 and St Austell. He has led several debates in Parliament on subjects ranging from school term time holiday rules to the cost of car insurance for young people.
Double supported
Brexit
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAE ...
in the
2016 EU membership referendum
The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...
.
Double has served in Parliament as a Member of the
Petitions Committee, the European Scrutiny Committee and the Transport Committee.
In September 2017, Double was one of five MPs who backed the Government Departments (Abolition) Bill, which would have resulted in the abolition of the Department for International Development – effectively ending the management of UK aid to foreign countries. He also backed a Bill calling for a new bank holiday to celebrate
Brexit
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAE ...
.
In December 2018, during the
no-confidence vote against
Theresa May as leader of the party, Double said he would vote against the then-Prime Minister.
In August 2019, Double was appointed
Parliamentary Private Secretary to the
Department of Health and Social Care.
In December 2019, Double was re-elected as Member of Parliament for St Austell & Newquay with an increased majority of 16,526. He received 31,273 votes – up by 6.5 percentage points since his previous election in 2017.
On 17 September 2021, Double was appointed an
Assistant Government Whip in the second
cabinet reshuffle of the
second Johnson ministry.
In July 2022, he was appointed
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. He was sacked in September 2022 by new Prime Minister
Liz Truss. He joined a number of colleagues in calling for Truss's resignation, after confusion over a vote on
fracking.
On 28 October 2022, Double was made Government Whip to the Ministry of Defence by new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and King
Charles III
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...
accordingly named him a junior
Lord Commissioner of the Treasury by letters patent dated November 28, 2022.
[
]
Personal life
Double has been married to Anne Bird since 1986; they have two sons.[ Double employs his wife as a Senior Caseworker on a salary up to £30,000. He was listed in an article in '']The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' which criticised the practice of MPs employing family members, on the lines that it promotes nepotism. Although MPs who were first elected in 2017 have been banned from employing family members, the restriction is not retrospective – meaning that Double's employment of his wife is lawful.
In June 2016, Double admitted an extra-marital affair with a married 26-year-old aide.[, ] Double had reportedly kept this secret from his wife of 30 years. The BBC later reported that Double's constituency party deputy chairman had resigned, suggesting Double, who had claimed to promote family life, should do the same. They also examined the public's changing view of morality and quoted political historian Matt Cole who said that whilst the public was now more tolerant of infidelity, it did object to hypocrisy.
Double is an evangelical Christian.[
]
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Double, Steve
1966 births
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Living people
Conservative Party (UK) councillors
People from St Austell
People from Newquay
Members of Cornwall Council
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Cornwall
British Eurosceptics
Place of birth missing (living people)
British environmentalists
UK MPs 2015–2017
UK MPs 2017–2019
UK MPs 2019–present