Sir Edward Leigh | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2020 | |
| Father of the House | |
| Assumed office 5 July 2024 | |
| Speaker | Sir Lindsay Hoyle |
| Preceded by | Sir Peter Bottomley |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry | |
| In office 2 November 1990 – 27 May 1993 | |
| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher John Major |
| Preceded by | John Redwood |
| Succeeded by | Neil Hamilton The Baroness Denton |
| Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee | |
| In office 7 June 2001 – 9 June 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Sir David Davis |
| Succeeded by | Dame Margaret Hodge |
| Member of Parliament forGainsborough Gainsborough and Horncastle (1983–1997) | |
| Assumed office 9 June 1983 | |
| Preceded by | Marcus Kimball |
| Majority | 3,532 (7.5%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (1950-07-20)20 July 1950 (age 75) London, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 6 |
| Residence(s) | Westminster, London Lincolnshire, England |
| Alma mater | University College, Durham (BA) |
| Profession | Barrister |
| Website | www.edwardleigh.org.uk |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | British Army |
| Rank | Trooper |
| Unit | HAC |
Sir Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (born 20 July 1950) is a BritishConservative Party politician who has been theMember of Parliament (MP) forGainsborough, previouslyGainsborough and Horncastle, since1983.[1]Parliament's longest-serving MP since2024, Leigh isstyledFather of the House[2] and, in July 2024, acted as aTemporary Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons.[3] He is also dean of Lincolnshire's Parliamentary Delegation.
Leigh has a reputation atWestminster for his independence of mind as a "serial rebeller",[4] who is prepared to vote against his own political party if it conflicts with his own principles.[5] He was one of the originalMaastricht Rebels and was reportedly sacked for organising Euro-rebels among ministers.[5] In 2003 Leigh opposed military intervention in Iraq;[6] he has since called for those who voted for theIraq War, and are still seeking to justify their support for it, to be held to account.[7]
Leigh served as theChairman of thePublic Accounts Committee from 2001 to 2010, investigating government waste and seeking value for money inpublic expenditure. Leigh stepped down at the end of theparliamentary session in2010, it being customary for anOpposition MP to hold this post.[8] Leigh wasknighted in theQueen's 2013 Birthday Honours for "public and political service" and has also been honoured by theFrench andItalian governments.
A prominent Roman Catholic politician and formerPresident of theCatholic Union of Great Britain,[9] Leigh has edited and authored four books:Right Thinking (1988);The Nation That Forgot God (2008);[10]Monastery of the Mind (2012);[11] andAnother Country (2025).[12]
Edward Leigh was born on 20 July 1950 in London, the son of a civil servant,Sir Neville Leigh, and his wife Denisenée Branch. Sir Neville served in RAF intelligence during World War Two and wasClerk to the Privy Council between 1974 and 1984. The Leigh family hails from theCheshirelanded gentry family ofWest Hall, High Legh, descendants of theEgertons, earls of Bridgewater.
Leigh is a descendant of the family of the Roman Catholic martyr, blessedRichard Leigh who was hanged atTyburn during the Reformation in 1588 for being a Catholic priest, and beatified byPope Pius XI in 1929.[13]
His maternal grandfather,colonel Cyril Denzil Branc, was a nephew ofNikolai Golitsyn, the lastPrime Minister of Imperial Russia.[14]
Leigh was privately educated atthe Oratory School and theLycée Français Charles de Gaulle, before going up toUniversity College, Durham, where he read history (BA) and was elected President of theDurham Union Society.
After graduating Leigh wascalled to the Bar at theInner Temple and practised in arbitration and criminal law at Goldsmith Chambers (abarristers' chambers),[15] then elected aFellow of theChartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb). He also served as anArmy ReservistTrooper[16] in theHonourable Artillery Company.[17]
Leigh worked in the private office ofMargaret Thatcher from 1976 to 1977 as a political secretary when she wasLeader of the Opposition. Elected as aCouncillor onRichmond Borough Council in 1974, Leigh was then elected to theGreater London Council, representingRichmond, from 1977 to 1981. He lost his GLC seat to theLiberal candidate,Adrian Slade by 115 votes.[18]
Leigh first stood for Parliament at theOctober 1974 general election, when he unsuccessfully contestedMiddlesbrough, coming second with 24.4% of the vote behind the incumbentLabour Party MPArthur Bottomley.[19]
Leigh was elected to Parliament as MP forGainsborough and Horncastle at the1983 general election, winning with 50.9% of the vote and a majority of 5,067.[20] He was re-elected as MP for Gainsborough and Horncastle at the1987 general election with an increased vote share of 53.3% and an increased majority of 9,723.[21][22]
A strong supporter of Margaret Thatcher, Leigh visited10 Downing Street with fellow MPMichael Brown on the morning of Thatcher's resignation asPrime Minister in 1990 to try to persuade her to carry on.[23] AlthoughCharles Powell advised them it was a forlorn task, they were nonetheless granted access tothe Cabinet which was in process at the time. Leigh and Brown departed 10 Downing Street and walked downWhitehall back to theHouse of Commons reputedly with "tears in their eyes". After Thatcher resigned, in the ensuing leadership election, Leigh supportedMichael Heseltine, under whom he had served at theDepartment of Trade and Industry (DTI), preferring to support someone who had stabbed Thatcher in the front to those who had stabbed her in the back.[24]
At the1992 general election, Leigh was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 54% and an increased majority of 16,245.[25]
Leigh served as aParliamentary Under-Secretary of State underJohn Major's premiership but was sacked in May 1993 over his opposition to theMaastricht Treaty. Whilst aMinister he was a keen advocate of privatisation of the Post Office. In the1995 Conservative leadership election, Leigh supportedJohn Redwood.[24]
Leigh's constituency of Gainsborough and Horncastle was abolished prior to the1997 general election, and replaced with the new constituency ofGainsborough. At this election Leigh was elected, winning the seat with 43.1% of the vote and a majority of 6,826.[26] He was re-elected as MP for Gainsborough at the2001 general election with an increased vote share of 46.2% and an increased majority of 8,071.[27]
From 2001 until 2010, Leigh served asChairman of the Public Accounts Committee, the principal parliamentary body auditing the Budget, investigating government waste and seeking value for money in public expenditure. During his two terms as chairman, the PAC took evidence on 420 separate government projects and programmes and was responsible for saving the taxpayer over £4 billion.[28]
At the2005 general election, Leigh was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 43.9% and a decreased majority of 8,003.[29]
Leigh was President of the socially-conservativeCornerstone Group representing the views of over 40 Conservative Members of Parliament and was author of the group's inaugural pamphletFaith, Flag and Family in 2005.[30]
In October 2006, Leigh was vocal in stating that afterDavid Cameron becameleader of the party, core supporters were drifting away from voting Conservative.[31] Nonetheless, his effective chairmanship of thePublic Accounts Committee led to the rejuvenation of his parliamentary career.[32]
Early in 2008, as Chairman of the PAC, Leigh was embarrassed by relying on flawedDepartment for Transport (DfT) statistics to attack motorcyclists fortax evasion. Accusing 38% of motorcyclists of evadingvehicle excise duty, he later apologised for this following the admission by the DfT that 95.5% of motorcycles are entirely legal.[33]
At the2010 general election, Leigh was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 49.3% and an increased majority of 10,559.[34][35]
From 2010 to 2011, Leigh served as an Independent Financial Advisor toHM Treasury, appointed byGeorge Osborne to bring external challenge to the development and implementation of a new financial management strategy for central government. He stood down in 2011, but was then reappointed to report directly to theChancellor of the Exchequer on improving Parliament's financial scrutiny of the Budget. He was a member of the Treasury Financial Reporting & Advisory Board and, in 2010, Leigh became a delegate to theParliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, speaking regularly and serving on theCulture, Science, Education and Media Committee.[36] Leigh also supportedBoris Johnson's call to George Osborne in 2011 for lowering the rate of taxation in the UK so as to assist its economic recovery following thecredit crunch.[37]
At the end of 2010 Leigh was offered but declined theBritishambassadorship to theHoly See.[38] Leigh, anAssembly Member of theCouncil of Europe,[39] opposed further human rights legislation, as proposed by theEuropean Court of Human Rights.[40]
In 2011, Leigh was appointed Chairman of thePublic Accounts Commission, the body which audits theNational Audit Office.
In 2012, Leigh, together with a record number of fellow Conservative MPs, including numerousPrivy Counsellors, successfully voted against theCoalition Government's attempted railroading ofHouse of Lordsreform by limiting time for meaningful parliamentary debate on this major constitutional issue.[41]
In September 2014, Leigh criticised the Government's decision to allowmitochondrial replacement therapy[broken anchor] to prevent the birth of the children with incurable diseases such as muscular dystrophy. These diseases affect up to 1 in 6,500 babies which Leigh stated could lead to people being "harvested for their parts" and a divide between what he referred to as "the modified and the unmodified". TheDepartment for Health asserted no genetic modification is involved.[42]
In 2015, the French PresidentFrançois Hollande appointed him to theLégion d'honneur for his role as "a bridge between our parliaments, our governments and our societies", as stated byAmbassador Sylvie Bermann at his investiture.[43]
Sir Edward was again re-elected at the2015 general election with an increased vote share of 52.7% and an increased majority of 15,449.[44][45]
In March 2016, he joined three other Conservative MPs in "talking out" a Bill introduced byGreen Party MPDr Caroline Lucas, which aimed to reverse moves to privatise theNHS. Byfilibustering for three and a half hours, Lucas was left with just 17 minutes to present her Bill, which was subsequently shelved without a vote.[46]
Leigh was again returned to Parliament at the snap2017 general election with an increased vote share of 61.8% and an increased majority of 17,023.[47] He was one of 21 MPs who, in March 2019, voted against LGBT-inclusive sex and relationship education in English schools.[48][49]
Re-elected at the2019 general election, with an increased vote share of 66.4% and an increased majority of 22,967,[50] in August 2020, Leigh suggested that the UKtake backCalais to prevent migrants seeking asylum bycrossing the English Channel from France.[51]
On 1 March 2022, Leigh praised Home SecretaryPriti Patel's 'proportionate response' over admission of refugees into the UK from theRussian invasion of Ukraine. Speaking in the Commons, Sir Edward urged the Government "to listen to the voices of people from, for instance in Lincolnshire, where we feel we have done our bit in terms of migration from eastern Europe where we are under extreme pressure in terms of housing and jobs." Despite receiving criticism for these remarks by Labour councillors on Lincolnshire County Council,[52] at the2024 general election, Leigh was again re-elected, albeit with a decreased vote share of 35.6% and a decreased majority of 3,532.[53]
SucceedingSir Peter Bottomley asFather of the House after the election,[54] in July 2024, Leigh was appointed aTemporary Deputy Speaker acting asChairman of Ways and Means until Deputy Speakers for the new parliament were elected.[55]
Leigh is aRoman Catholic, and maintains a personal blog calledThoughts from a Christian perspective.[56] He is a Patron of theLatin Mass Society, which promotes the use of the1962 form of theMass.[57] He supportssocially conservative causes in Parliament to promote traditionalfamily values, including introducing policies to reduce the tax burden on working families.[58] He has argued for tightening ofabortion law regardinghuman embryonic research.[59][60][61]
He defendedSection 28 and opposed theCivil Partnership Act 2004, voting against it in Parliament at itsSecond Reading. Leigh later proposed an amendment to extend the property and pension rights afforded bycivil partnerships to siblings who had lived together for more than 12 years. This was opposed by many backers of the initialBill, such as fellow Conservative MPSir Alan Duncan, who dubbed it awrecking amendment.[62][63] He voted against recent amendments to theHealth and Social Care Bill which has made permanent the permission for at-home medical abortions to take place.[64]
Following an interim report on the connections betweencolonialism and properties now in the care of theNational Trust, including links withhistoric slavery, Leigh was among the signatories of a letter toThe Telegraph in November 2020 from the "Common Sense Group" of Conservative Parliamentarians. The letter accused the National Trust of being "coloured bycultural Marxist dogma, colloquially known as the 'woke agenda'".[65]
Leigh identifies as a socially ConservativeThatcherite and believes in "free enterprise, deregulation, low taxation and a smaller state". In June 2018 he suggested reforming theNational Health Service, stating: "I personally feel we have to look at social insurance, which they have in France and Germany, because there is no room for increases in general taxation."[66]
During the COVID lockdown, Leigh advocated for keeping churches open for worship, arguing that there was no scientific evidence to justify a total ban on public worship.[67]
In June 2023, Leigh, along with Conservative MPsSir Christopher Chope andIan Liddell-Grainger, were photographed with the Hungarian prime ministerViktor Orbán at a gathering of theEuropean Conservatives Group and Democratic Alliance, an increasingly populist block in theCouncil of Europe's parliamentary assembly.Christine Jardine, Cabinet spokesperson for theLiberal Democrats, condemned the image, stating: "Conservative MPs should not be cosying up to a far-right leader who has enforcedhomophobic and anti-democratic policies."[68]
In November 2024, Leigh co-wrote a piece inThe Guardian withLabour MPDiane Abbott opposingTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) onAssisted Suicide Bill.[69]
On a number of occasions Leigh has voted against the leadership of his party where it conflicts with his personalprinciples.[5] In 2003, Leigh rebelled against the leadership of his own party and the Labour government tooppose military intervention in Iraq in 2003.[6] He was one of only 15 Conservative rebels who opposed it at the time.
Since the2016 European Union Referendum, Leigh has supportedBrexit.[70]
In October 2017, the House of Commons overwhelmingly passed an Opposition motion to delay the introduction ofUniversal Credit and iron out problems with the system first. Leigh strongly criticised the Government decision to ignore the vote, stating: "the road to tyranny is paved by executives ignoring parliaments."[71]
A veteranbackbencher, Leigh was encouraged to run for thespeakership of the House of Commons, and after the2010 general election for one of theDeputy Speakerships, but chose not to stand then asparliamentary convention was that governing party members were not to be elected to such offices unless alreadyin situ.[72][73]
Leigh ran for the speakership of the House of Commons in2019 afterSpeakerJohn Bercow retired; he stated that, if elected Speaker, he would be fair to all sides and assume a traditional role.[74] He was eliminated after receiving 12 votes in the first ballot.
Fluent inFrench, Leigh currently serves as Chairman of theAll-Party Parliamentary Group on France and theAll-Party Parliamentary Group on Italy, delivering a speech inItalian at thePalace of Westminster to visitingDeputies of the Italian Parliament. He is also the Chairman of the newAll-Party Parliamentary Group on Russia, Secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Insurance, and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs, Defence, and International Development subcommittee of the1922 Committee.[75]
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Leigh received theaccolade of the Realm for "public and political service":[76][77]
Knight Bachelor (2013)
Officier of theLégion d'honneur (2015)
Commander of theOrder of the Star of Italy (2017)
Knight of Honour and Devotion of theSovereign Military Order of Malta (1994).svg)
Privy Counsellor (13 February2019).[78][79]Leigh married Mary Goodman in London on 25 September 1984, the granddaughter ofCountess Maria von Carlow and great-granddaughter ofDuke Georg Alexander of Mecklenburg-Strelitz through her mother,[80] and the great-grandchild of the Arts patronLady Ottoline Morrell and British politicianPhilip Morrell, through her father.
Sir Edward and Lady Leigh have six children (Natalia, Tamara Shah, Benedict, Marina, Nicholas, and Theodore) and divide their time between homes inWestminster and hisLincolnshire constituency. Their three eldest children work forHM Government ascivil servants. The family are parishioners at theBrompton Oratory,Westminster Cathedral in London andHoly Rood Church inMarket Rasen, in his Gainsborough constituency, and members ofthe Serpentine Swimming Club.[67]
Suffering from the skin conditionrosacea, Sir Edward spoke out in March 2020 about being mocked onsocial media for his appearance.[81]
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| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forGainsborough and Horncastle 1983–1997 | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forGainsborough 1997–present | Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee 2001–2010 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Father of the House 2024–present | Incumbent |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| People | |
