The Lord Davies of Stamford | |
|---|---|
 Davies in 2015 | |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence Equipment and Support | |
| In office 5 October 2008 – 11 May 2010 | |
| Prime Minister | Gordon Brown |
| Preceded by | The Baroness Taylor of Bolton |
| Succeeded by | Peter Luff |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland | |
| In office 14 September 2001 – 11 November 2003 | |
| Leader | Iain Duncan Smith |
| Preceded by | Andrew MacKay |
| Succeeded by | David Lidington |
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| In office 7 July 2010 – 25 July 2023 Life Peerage | |
| Member of Parliament forGrantham and Stamford Stamford and Spalding (1987–97) | |
| In office 11 June 1987 – 12 April 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Kenneth Lewis |
| Succeeded by | Nick Boles |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1944-05-29)29 May 1944 Oxford, England |
| Died | 13 January 2025(2025-01-13) (aged 80) |
| Political party | Labour (since 2007) |
| Other political affiliations | Conservative (until 2007) |
| Spouse | [1] |
| Alma mater | Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge |
John Quentin Davies, Baron Davies of Stamford[2] (29 May 1944 – 13 January 2025) was a BritishLabour politician andlife peer who served as theMember of Parliament (MP) forGrantham and Stamford from 1987 to 2010. He served as a junior defence minister in theBrown ministry from 2008 to 2010.
AConservative until his high-profile defection in 2007, Davies was a member ofIain Duncan Smith'sShadow Cabinet from 2001 to 2003 as theShadow Northern Ireland Secretary.
Quentin Davies was born inOxford, the son of adoctor who had served in theRoyal Air Force in the Second World War.
He was educated: firstly at theDragon School, apreparatory school in Oxford, and then at theQuakerLeighton Park School atReading.
Davies then studied atGonville and Caius College, Cambridge, graduating with a first classBachelor of Arts degree inhistory in 1966. After graduating he became aFrank Knox Fellow atHarvard University.
After his education, he joined thediplomatic service and was appointedThird Secretary at theForeign and Commonwealth Office in 1967, and became a Second Secretary atHM EmbassyMoscow in 1969, before returning to London as one of several First Secretaries at the Foreign Office in 1972.
Davies left the diplomatic service in 1974 when he joinedMorgan Grenfell. In turn he was an assistant director, the president of the firm inFrance in 1978, and a director of the international company in 1981, in which capacity he remained until his election toParliament in 1987. He continued as a consultant to Morgan Grenfell until 1993.
Davies contested the1977 Birmingham Ladywood by-election for the Conservatives. The by-election, caused by the resignation ofBrian Walden, was won by Labour'sJohn Sever with a majority of 3,825. He was elected to theHouse of Commons ten years later at the1987 General Election for the safe Conservative seat ofStamford and Spalding on the retirement of the sitting MP,Kenneth Lewis. Davies held the seat with a majority of 13,991 votes. The constituency was abolished in 1997, and he represented the redrawn seat ofGrantham and Stamford until his retirement from the House of Commons at the2010 General Election.
In Parliament, he was appointed theParliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to theMinister of State at theDepartment of Education and ScienceAngela Rumbold in 1988, and remained her PPS in her incarnation as the Minister at theHome Office. After the1992 General Election he was a member of theTreasury Committee until he was promoted to the Oppositionfrontbench byWilliam Hague in 1998 as a spokesman onsocial security, moving in 1999 to speak on Treasury matters, moving again in 2000 as a spokesman ondefence. After the2001 General Election he joined theShadow Cabinet ofIain Duncan Smith, even though he had backedKenneth Clarke's leadership bid. UnderIain Duncan Smith, he became theShadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, continuing until the election ofMichael Howard in 2003, when he became a member of theInternational Development Committee, a role that he continued in until he joined the Labour Party in 2007.
Prior to becoming a Minister, Davies held many directorships and consultancies with several companies.[3] He was awarded the 'Parliamentarian of the Year Award' byThe Guardian in 1996, the same year he was named 'Backbencher of the Year' byBBC Radio 4. He was the Chairman of the Conservative Group for Europe from March 2006 until his defection to Labour in June 2007. In 1991, he was fined on two charges of animal cruelty, having been legally responsible for his farm employees’ failure to feed the sheep on his estate. Following his conviction and the immediate dismissal of the shepherd who had been left in charge, he was greeted by Labour MPs with calls of 'Baaa!'[4]
Davies announced in 2010 that he would not stand for re-election in the coming general election. At the general election of 6 May 2010,Nick Boles, a Conservative (later an independent Conservative), was elected in his place. On 28 May 2010 it was announced Davies would be made alife peer in theDissolution Honours List[5] and he was createdBaron Davies of Stamford,ofStamford in the county ofLincolnshire on 7 July.[6]
Davies leftthe Conservative Party to jointhe Labour Party benches on 26 June 2007, the night beforeGordon Brown becamePrime Minister of the United Kingdom.[7] Davies made his decision public in a letter to the Conservative leaderDavid Cameron in which he wrote: "Under your leadership the Conservative Party appears to me to have ceased collectively to believe in anything, or to stand for anything. It has no bedrock. It exists on shifting sands. A sense of mission has been replaced by a PR agenda."[7] He went on, "I am looking forward to joining another party...which has just acquired a leader I have always greatly admired, who I believe is entirely straightforward, and who has a towering record, and a clear vision for the future of our country which I fully share."[8] He accused Cameron of "superficiality, unreliability and an apparent lack of any clear convictions." He said that these qualities ought to "exclude you from the position of national leadership to which you aspire and which it is the presumed purpose of the Conservative Party to achieve."[9]
Two years prior to his defection, in a speech in theHouse of Commons Davies described Gordon Brown as "extraordinarily incompetent", "imprudent", "extraordinarily naïve" and said in conclusion "I trust and believe that something nasty will happen to the Chancellor in electoral terms before too long. He will have no one but himself to blame."[10]
On 5 October 2008, Davies was promoted to the government, becoming aParliamentary Under-Secretary of State forDefence Equipment and Support at theMinistry of Defence. Davies replacedLady Taylor as both Parliamentary Under-Secretary and Defence Procurement Minister. Davies came under fire less than a month after taking over the Defence Equipment brief when anSAS reservist commander in Afghanistan resigned because of what he described as a 'chronic underinvestment' in troops' equipment and called the government's attitude to the consideration of the lack of military equipment 'cavalier at best, criminal at worst'.
Major Sebastien Morley resigned after four soldiers under his command were killed whilst serving in the Army'sSnatch Land Rovers which are lightly armoured and cannot withstand roadside bombs; the Snatches have been described as 'mobile coffins' by the soldiers. The government subsequently ordered new armoured vehicles to the areas in an effort to increase the security of those serving in the warzone and indeed to prevent more troop fatalities.[11]
Davies added it was not the attitude of the government to be dismissive of the lives of British soldiers and he said it was 'very surprising and sad' to hear the claims of the former SAS commander and when on visiting troops in Afghanistan recently all those he spoke to were pleased with the equipment supplied.[12] He said: "Obviously, there may be occasions when, in retrospect, a commander chose the wrong piece of equipment, the wrong vehicle, for the particular threat that the patrol or whatever it was encountered and we had some casualties as a result."[13] The comment drew much criticism from fellow MPs and family members of military personnel for the lack of sensitivity.[14][15][16]
In 2009, during therow over parliamentary expenses, theSunday Mirror stated that Davies claimed £10,000 for repairs to window frames at his "second home", an 18th-century mansion, while staying at his "main home", a flat in Westminster.[17] In 2008, his Member's Claim Form for Additional Costs Allowance was filled out with a figure of £20,700 relating to maintenance to a Bell Tower. The form was later amended to read £5,376. Davies' total expense claims were often higher than the average[18] of all MPs.
| Year | Total Expenses | Ranking | out of |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001/02 | £93,681 | 192nd | 657 |
| 2002/03 | £129,018 | 37th | 657 |
| 2003/04 | £124,592 | 212th | 658 |
| 2004/05 | £131,912 | 151st | 659 |
| 2005/06 | £132,651 | – | – |
| 2006/07 | £140,733 | 268th | 645 |
| 2007/08 | £142,857 | 381st | 645 |
Davies married Chantal Tamplin (daughter of Lt.Col. Richard Tamplin) in 1983 at St Andrew's church inIrnham,Lincolnshire; she was his Parliamentary Assistant and they have two sons (Alexander born May 1987 and Nicholas in August 1988). They lived at Frampton Hall (built in 1725 by Coney Tunnard) inFrampton, in the borough ofBoston.[citation needed]
In January 2010, Quentin Davies's niece, former model Jessica Davies, was found guilty of murder inParis and sentenced to 15 years in jail after admitting to stabbing to death a man in her apartment. She was reportedly high on drink and drugs at the time of the murder.[19]
Quentin Davies died on 13 January 2025, at the age of 80.[20]
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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forStamford and Spalding 1987–1997 | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forGrantham and Stamford 1997–2010 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 2001–2003 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of State for Defence Equipment and Support 2008–2010 | Succeeded byas Minister of State for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
