Dame Caroline Spelman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Official portrait, 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Second Church Estates Commissioner | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 21 May 2015 – 12 December 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | David Cameron Theresa May Boris Johnson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Tony Baldry | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Andrew Selous | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 12 May 2010 – 4 September 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | David Cameron | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Hilary Benn | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Owen Paterson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman of the Conservative Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 2 July 2007 – 19 January 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader | David Cameron | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Francis Maude | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Eric Pickles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Member of Parliament forMeriden | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1 May 1997 – 6 November 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Iain Mills | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Saqib Bhatti | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Caroline Alice Cormack (1958-05-04)4 May 1958 (age 66) Bishop's Stortford,Hertfordshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Conservative | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Residence(s) | London, England Algarve, Portugal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Queen Mary College, University of London | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | Official website | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dame Caroline Alice SpelmanDBE (néeCormack; born 4 May 1958) is a BritishConservative Party politician who served as theMember of Parliament (MP) forMeriden in theWest Midlands from 1997 to 2019. From May 2010 to September 2012[1] she was theSecretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs inDavid Cameron's coalition cabinet, and was sworn as aPrivy Counsellor on 13 May 2010.[2]
Born inBishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, Spelman attended the Hertfordshire and Essex High School for Girls (now calledThe Hertfordshire and Essex High School), in Bishop's Stortford, and received aBA First Class in European Studies fromQueen Mary College, University of London.
She wassugar beet commodity secretary for theNational Farmers' Union from 1981 to 1984. She was deputy director of the International Confederation of European Beet Growers (officially known asLa Confédération Internationale des Betteraviers Européens – CIBE) in Paris from 1984–9, then a research fellow for the Centre for European Agricultural Studies (part of theUniversity of Kent and since 2000 known as the Centre for European Agri-Environmental Economics) from 1989 to 1993. She co-owns Spelman, Cormack & Associates, a lobbying company for the food and biotechnology industry, with her husband.[3]
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Before entering Parliament in 1997, she stood unsuccessfully in theBassetlaw constituency in Nottinghamshire at the1992 general election.[4]
In 2001,Iain Duncan Smith appointed Spelman Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, a post she maintained until Duncan Smith's departure as Conservative Party leader. Duncan Smith's successor,Michael Howard, opted for a streamlined Shadow Cabinet and omitted Spelman; however, he later appointed her as afront bench spokeswoman on Environmental Affairs working forTheresa May. In March 2004, Spelman re-entered the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Local and Devolved Government Affairs, succeedingDavid Curry. UnderDavid Cameron's leadership of the Conservative Party, in 2007 she was promoted further to becomeConservative Party Chairman.
In 2009, Spelman was moved in another reshuffle to the role of ShadowSecretary of State for Communities and Local Government, replacingEric Pickles.
Between 2010-2012, Spelman served as Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs. In this role, she helped secure a UN agreement on biodiversity in Nagoya, and theSustainable Development Goals agreement in Rio.[5] In an interview with theInstitute for Government, Spelman highlighted her Nature Environment White Paper laying out the Government's vision to 2060, as one of her "greatest achievements" in office.[6][7]
In 2012, Spelman returned to the Commons backbenches.
Spelman served asSecond Church Estates Commissioner from 2015 to 2019.[8]
Spelman was opposed to Brexit prior to the2016 referendum.[9]
In January 2019 MPs approved a symbolic, non-binding amendment, tabled by Spelman, to prevent a no-dealBrexit, by 318 votes to 310.[10][11]
Following abuse and death threats over Brexit, Spelman announced in September 2019 that she would not seek re-election at the next general election.[12]
In 2009, during theexpenses scandal it was reported that Spelman had received £40,000 for cleaning and bills for her constituency home; this was despite her husband claiming it was their main home. In 2008 she reportedly over-claimed hundreds of pounds towards her council tax.[3]
On 6 June 2008, Spelman was the subject of controversy when it was suggested that for around twelve months from May 1997 she paid her child's nanny, Tina Haynes, from her parliamentary staffing allowance, contrary to the rule governing such allowances and fears of the misuse of them. Spelman claims that her nanny also acted as her constituency secretary and was paid from the public taxpayers' purse for this aspect of her further employment. Haynes confirms that occasionally she would answer phone calls and post documents but initially she denied such happenings when interviewed on BBC Two'sNewsnight via telephone. The accusations came at a time when Conservative Party leader David Cameron had tasked Spelman with reviewing the use of parliamentary allowances by ConservativeMPs andMEPs in the wake of theDerek Conway affair.[13]
The allegation against Spelman came shortly after two Conservative MEPs,Giles Chichester (Leader of the Conservatives in the EU Parliament) andDen Dover (Conservative Chief Whip in the EU Parliament), were forced to resign amid claims they misused their parliamentary allowances. However, Spelman was not urged to resign by party leader, David Cameron. She referred the matter pertaining to herself, her nanny and parliamentary funds toJohn Lyon, theParliamentary Commissioner for Standards.[14] Senior Conservative colleagues including formerShadow Home SecretaryDavid Davis stated their support for Spelman.[15]
New allegations were reported on the BBC'sNewsnight programme that nine years previously Spelman's secretary, Sally Hammond, complained to the Conservative Party leadership that she was using Parliamentary allowances to pay her nanny and that the arrangement with the nanny was over a two-year period and not one.[16]
In March 2009, the CommonsStandards and Privileges Committee ruled that Caroline Spelman had misused her allowances to pay for nannying work in 1997 and 1998.[citation needed]
On 24 February 2012, theHigh Court in London refused to continue a privacy injunction previously granted to prevent the publication of a news item in theDaily Star Sunday involving her son. JudgeMichael Tugendhat said that the injunction was "not necessary or proportionate".[17] On 2 March 2012, the Spelmans decided not to appeal against the decision, which permitted the publication of a story about her son.[18] The Spelman family was required to pay the legal costs of theDaily Star Sunday, in addition to their own legal costs of £60,994.[19][20]
She married Mark Spelman, a senior partner atAccenture, on 25 April 1987 in south-east Kent. Her husband stood as a Conservative candidate in the2009 European elections for theWest Midlands region. They have two sons and a daughter. In 1997, Spelman was the only Conservative MP who was also a mother of school-age children; the Conservative party instructed that her children should be educated in her constituency as a condition of her selection as MP. As a result, Spelman rarely saw her children and she found this period of her life very stressful, losing a significant amount of weight.[21]
The couple own a constituency home, a London townhouse and a villa inAlgarve, Portugal.[22]
She is a Patron of theConservative Christian Fellowship.[23]
Spelman was made aDame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for political and public service as part of theResignation Honours of the outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron.[24]
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| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forMeriden 1997–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for International Development 2001–2003 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Minister for Women 2001–2004 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byas Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment 2003–2004 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byas Shadow Secretary of State for Local and Devolved Government Affairs | Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 2004–2007 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 2009–2010 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 2010–2012 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chair of the Conservative Party 2007–2009 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
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