David Ruffley | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament forBury St Edmunds | |
| In office 1 May 1997 – 30 March 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Richard Spring |
| Succeeded by | Jo Churchill |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1962-04-18)18 April 1962 (age 63) Bolton,Greater Manchester, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Alma mater | Queens' College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | Solicitor (1985–91) Special adviser (1991–96) |
| Committees | Treasury Select Committee |
| Website | davidruffleymp |
David Laurie Ruffley (born 18 April 1962,Bolton) is a formerConservative Party politician in theUnited Kingdom. He was theMember of Parliament (MP) for the constituency ofBury St Edmunds inSuffolk, which encompassesBury St Edmunds andStowmarket, having first taken his seat at the1997 general election.
A solicitor by profession, Ruffley served asspecial adviser toKen Clarke (1991–96). He sat on theTreasury Select Committee from 1999 to 2004, on which he was an arch-critic ofGordon Brown,[1] before becoming awhip in 2004. Ruffley served asShadow Minister for Welfare Reform from 2005 to 2007 and Shadow Minister for Police Reform from 2007 to 2010. In 2010, he was unanimously re-elected to the Treasury Select Committee.
Ruffley was born inBolton,Lancashire. He went to theBolton School (Boys' Division), an independent school in the town. He studied atQueens' College, Cambridge, receiving aBA in law in 1985. From 1985 to 1991, he worked for solicitorsClifford Chance in London. He was then aspecial adviser toKen Clarke, first asSecretary of State for Education and Science (1991–92), then asHome Secretary (1992–93), and finally asChancellor of the Exchequer (1993–96). From 1996 to 1997, he was an economic consultant to the Conservative Party and Vice President of the Small Business Bureau.[2]
During this time, he was an adviser to theGrant Maintained Schools Foundation (1993–96), as well asgovernor ofSt Marylebone School (1992–94) andPimlico School (1994–96). He would later be a governor ofBolton School (1997–99), which he had attended himself.[2]
Ruffley sought selection for parliamentary seats, being beaten to selection inHarrogate and Knaresborough byNorman Lamont.[3] AfterRichard Spring was selected to fightWest Suffolk, selection for Spring's former seat ofBury St Edmunds with changed boundaries, was won by Ruffley. He won by a majority of 368 in 1997,[4] increasing this at subsequent elections to 2,503, 9,930 and 12,380.[4] In December 2013 he was reselected as the Bury St Edmunds Conservative parliamentary candidate for the 2015 election.
Ruffley served onWilliam Hague's campaign team in the1997 party leadership election.[5]
Ruffley was voted onto the powerfulTreasury Select Committee in 1999. He remained on the committee until 2004, and criticised then-ChancellorGordon Brown's handling of the economy, dubbing him 'Gambling Gordon' in 2002.[6] He criticised Brown for hiding higher taxes by countingtax credits as anegative income tax,[7] citing theOECD's classification of it as an increase in spending.[8]
In the2001 leadership election, Ruffley initially supportedMichael Portillo, and publicly declared support for his former bossKen Clarke after Portillo was knocked out in the final MPs' ballot.[5] He voted againstIain Duncan Smith in 2003.[citation needed] In the leadership election that followed thevote of no confidence in Duncan Smith, Ruffley was variously described as being a 'likely supporter' ofMichael Howard[9] or a member ofDavid Davis's 'wider [campaign] team'.[10]
On his return to the backbenches, Ruffley resumed an active role in representing his constituents. He voted against equal marriage for same sex couples[11]
With Howard as leader, Ruffley became awhip on 15 March 2004, after the resignation ofDavid Curry.[12]
In December 2005, he was appointed byDavid Cameron as theShadow Minister forWelfare Reform.
In 2006, a group that includedBBC Radio Suffolk and theEast Anglian Daily Times saw the failure of their programme to getSt Edmund named as the patron saint of England. Ruffley had taken up the cause and helped deliver a large petition to the government inLondon.[13]Prime MinisterTony Blair rejected the request, but St Edmund was named patron saint of Suffolk.[13]
From July 2007 to 2010, Ruffley wasShadow Minister for Police Reform replacingNick Herbert MP. In 2008, he took charge of reducing thesafety and health burden on police officers,[14] and obtained figures showing police spent less than two-thirds of their time on patrol.[15] He said that there was an 'emerging crisis of public confidence' in theCriminal Records Bureau (CRB), after 700 people were falsely accused of having criminal records in the year to February 2008,[16] and highlighted the risk posed by CRB checks towork experience.[17] He pledged to end police moonlighting, after it was discovered in January 2009 that 4,300 officers held second jobs.[18] He campaigned againstspeed cameras being used to 'milk' motorists of £250,000 a day.[19]
He was voted back onto theTreasury Select Committee in November 2010, replacingDavid Rutley.[20]
On the select committee, Ruffley has opposed thePayments Council's plans to withdrawpersonal cheques by 2018, saying that it 'scared the pants off Middle England', accusing the Council of 'rank incompetence',[21] and calling for the council's chairman to resign.[22] He has also criticised the withdrawal ofcheque guarantee cards in July 2011, saying that the public were not given sufficient warning.[23]
In January 2011 Ruffley interrogated bankers appearing before the select committee, includingBarclays'chief executiveBob Diamond, whom Ruffley asked whether he was "grateful to the British taxpayer" for the estimated £100bn of benefit of the2008 United Kingdom bank rescue package to the wider banking system.[24] Ruffley has opposed theLiberal Democrats' plan to give the government's shares in the partly nationalisedLloyds andRBS to each of the 46 million people on theelectoral roll, and called instead for them to be sold to raise money for a cut in the basic rate ofincome tax.[25]
In July 2011, Ruffley supportedSajid Javid'sprivate member's bill to limit government debt to 40% ofgross domestic product.[26]
He voted against theCameron–Clegg coalition government in 2013 on the issue ofBritish military intervention in theSyrian civil war.[27]
On 24 July 2014, it was reported that Ruffley was under investigation by the Conservatives'Chief Whip,Michael Gove, with the possibility that disciplinary measures may be taken against him.[28] This follows hispolice caution from theMetropolitan Police for Ruffley's common assault of his former partner.[29][30]
On 28 July 2014 he announced that he would stand down at the2015 general election as a result of the "protracted media debate" regarding his future as an MP, because he believed it would not "serve the interests" of theConservative Party.[31] In November 2014Jo Churchill was selected as the Conservative PPC for the constituency[32]
On 17 June 2010, Ruffley suffered minor injuries after jumping into the path of an oncoming train atVictoria Station, London. He missed thelive rail and the train safely passed over him, inflicting only cuts and bruises. The police treated the incident as "non-suspicious".[33][34] Ruffley was reported to have been suffering fromdepression at the time and was grantedsick leave to recover.[35] He returned to work in October 2010.[36]In March 2016 Ruffley was reported to have been convicted for drink-driving following his arrest on 27 January when he was found slumped over the wheel of his car following a crash in Page Street, Westminster. He was reported to be nearly three times over the legal limit and received a two-year ban and ordered to do 80 hours of unpaid community service.[37]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forBury St Edmunds 1997–2015 | Succeeded by |
