Chris Huhne
 | This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly and initial news reports may be unreliable. The latest updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. (October 2007) |
The Hon Chris Huhne | |
|---|---|
| File:Chrish Huhne photo.jpeg | |
| Lib Dems Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | |
| In office 3 March 2006 – present | |
| Leader | Menzies Campbell |
| Preceded by | Norman Baker |
| Lib Dems Chief Secretary to the Treasury | |
| In office 16 May 2005 – 3 March 2006 | |
| Leader | Charles Kennedy |
| Preceded by | David Laws |
| Succeeded by | Colin Breed |
| Member of Parliament for Eastleigh | |
| In office 5 May 2005 – present | |
| Preceded by | David Chidgey |
| Majority | 19,216 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 2, 1954 Westminster, North London, UK |
| Political party | Liberal Democrats |
| Alma mater | Magdalen College, Oxford |
Christopher Murray Paul Huhne, known as Chris Huhne, (born 2 July 1954) is a British Liberal Democrats politician and the current Member of Parliament for the Eastleigh constituency in Hampshire. He finished second to Sir Menzies Campbell in the 2006 election for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats[1] and is the party's spokesman on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the House of Commons.
Early life
He was educated at Westminster School, a boys' independent school in London, and then at the Sorbonne and Magdalen College, Oxford where he was a scholar (Demy), edited Isis, the university magazine, served on the Executive of the Oxford University Labour Club, and achieved a first-class degree in PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics). At Oxford, Huhne was active in student politics.
Before his political career, he was a City economist, founding what became one of the largest teams of economists in the private sector. Before that, Huhne was an economic commentator for The Guardian, The Independent and The Independent on Sunday. He was the business editor – head of department – on the Independent and the Independent on Sunday notably during its investigations into Robert Maxwell's fraud on the Mirror group pension fund. He started in journalism as an undercover freelance reporter in India during Mrs Gandhi's emergency when western journalists had been expelled. He also worked as a journalist for the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo and The Economist.
Huhne contested the 1983 general election as a Parliamentary Candidate for the SDP-Liberal Alliance in Reading East. In the 1987 general election, he was the SDP-Liberal Alliance candidate in the Oxford West and Abingdon seat and turned it for the first time into a marginal. The seat was won ten years later by Evan Harris.
Member of European Parliament
Huhne was elected as a member of the European Parliament for South East England from 1999 to 2005, where he was deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat group in the European Parliament. While coming second in the regional poll of party members to select candidates for the 1999 Euro election, Huhne came a comfortable first in the selection for the 2004 Euro elections.
During his time in the European Parliament, Huhne was the only Liberal Democrat MEP in a ranking by the Economist of the three most high-profile UK MEPs (the others being Glenys Kinnock and Caroline Lucas). He was a member of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, concerned with economic and financial policy including regulation of the financial sector. He was economic spokesman for the pan-European Liberal group in the European Parliament and was responsible for introducing "sunset clauses" – time limits on powers – into European legislation for the first time; for radically amending Commission proposals on financial services; and for opening up the European Central Bank to greater scrutiny.
In addition to his European Parliament responsibilities, he was also active in the development of Liberal Democrat policy as chairman of four policy groups: broadcasting and the media; globalisation; the introduction of the euro and the reform of public services. On public services, he argues that money was a necessary condition of improvement, but that the key is now decentralised and democratic control. Local voters need to be able to hold local decision-takers to account.
Member of Parliament
He was first elected to represent Eastleigh at the general election on 5 May 2005, a constituency within the area for which he was previously the Member of the European Parliament. The previous MP for the constituency, David Chidgey, was also a Liberal Democrat who won his seat in what was historically a Conservative area in a by-election in 1994 following the accidental death of Stephen Milligan. The result in 2005 was close, with the swing away from the Liberal Democrats being half the average swing away when a Liberal Democrat MP stands down.
Charles Kennedy appointed Huhne a Treasury spokesman for the party, as Shadow Chief Secretary. Huhne led the opposition in the House of Commons to new rules allowing full top-rate tax relief for the purchase of second homes, buy-to-let properties, vintage wine and other exotic assets for self invested pension plans, tabling an amendment to the finance bill in June, and repeatedly raising the issue. The Treasury reversed its position and accepted these points in the October pre-budget report.
Leadership contest, 2006
Huhne stood against Sir Menzies Campbell and Simon Hughes for the Liberal Democrat leadership after Charles Kennedy's resignation, formally launching his campaign on 13 January 2006.
Huhne was able to carve out a unique position on the issue of green taxation – he argued for a radical expansion of taxes on pollution, allowing for reductions in the income tax rate on the lowest paid [2]. This theme endeared Huhne to environmentalists and market liberals alike, allowing him to gain a march on his rivals and pick-up supporters as the campaign went on. He also argued for a repeal of elements of the Labour government's anti-terrorism legislation, which many felt had undermined British civil liberties, and for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq within a year. He described himself as a 'social liberal'.[citation needed]
Although the majority of Liberal Democrat MPs - and much of the party establishment - declared their support for Sir Menzies Campbell, Huhne did receive endorsements from some party notables including Lord Maclennan and Lord Rodgers. Amongst the media, The Economist, The Independent and The Independent on Sunday supported his leadership bid. He was backed from an early stage by a number of bloggers, and gained much momentum from a sharp internet campaign.
In the final vote, Huhne finished runner-up, trailing by 21,628 votes to Sir Menzies Campbell's 29,697. Some argue that the brevity of the campaign was never helpful to an outsider in an all-member ballot, and Huhne was still gathering momentum when the leadership race ended. Campbell appointed him as Liberal Democrat environment spokesman in the subsequent frontbench reshuffle, in order for Huhne to develop a viable programme to expand on his green campaign themes[3].
Environment spokesman, 2006-
The intellectual energy surrounding Huhne's leadership campaign has done much to inform the Liberal Democrats' recent political agenda. His proposals for realigning green taxes and income tax - the green tax switch - were at the heart of the fiscal package endorsed at the party's September 2006 conference.[4]
Huhne has continued developing his party's thoughts on climate change and the environment, including a consideration of the challenges and opportunities they create for British businesses.[5] He has also been prominent in critiquing the divergence between the Conservative Party's recent environmental rhetoric and its policies.[6]
Huhne was one of fourteen MPs forming an all-party parliamentary inquiry into anti-Semitism in the UK. Their report criticised boycotts of Israeli academics as "an assault on academic freedom and intellectual exchange" and accused "some left-wing activists and Muslim extremists [...] of using criticism of Israel as 'a pretext' for spreading hatred against British Jews" [7]. Huhne is, however, a critic of Israeli government policy in the Middle East, and strongly supports the creation of a separate Palestinian state. He described the Israeli response in Lebanon to Hizbollah's rocket attacks as disproportionate and counter-productive, arguing that a strong Lebanese state is in Israel's long-term interest.
In March 2007 it was falsely reported that he had written to executives at Channel 4 to try and stop them showing The Great Global Warming Swindle[8]. In an e-mail exchange with Iain Dale, Mr Huhne stated that he only wrote to ask for the channel's comments[9] and the Daily Telegraph later ran a correction and apologised for the misunderstanding.
After Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Nick Clegg, announced his intention during the 2007 party conference to stand for the leadership when Sir Menzies Campbell retires - widely seen as a swipe at Campbell's leadership - Chris Huhne issued a rebuke to journalists and observed that there is presently "no vacancy, and it would be premature to even talk about the position of there being a vacancy".[10]
Leadership contest, 2007
Following the resignation of Sir Menzies Campbell on 15 October 2007 - and following on from Huhne's strong performances in the 2006 contest and as environment spokesman - it is widely-assumed that Chris Huhne will run for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats. He is expected to compete with Nick Clegg amongst others.
Personal life
Huhne is married to Vicky Pryce, Chief Economist in the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, and they have five children, four of whom are now grown up.
Huhne is a member of the European Movement, Green Lib Dems, Association of Liberal Democrat Trade Unionists and the National Union of Journalists. He has also written four books that are mainly on the themes either of third world debt and development or European integration: the latest is entitled Both Sides of the Coin (1999, with James Forder), in which he argues the case for British membership of the Euro.
He was also a contributor to the Orange Book (2004), in which he advocates reforms to the United Nations and international governance. Huhne was critical of the most controversial article in the Orange Book, in which David Laws proposed an insurance-based National Health Service. He did not take part in the successor volume, Britain after Blair and has voiced dismay at the way its predecessor was presented as a break with the party's social liberal traditions.
More recently, he contributed to the book The City in Europe and the World (2005) and two articles to Reinventing the State (2007) edited by Duncan Brack, Richard Grayson and David Howarth.
Huhne has also written columns for the Financial Times, The Guardian, The Independent and the New Statesman[11].
References
- ^ BBC News - Sir Menzies wins Lib Dem contest
- ^ Huhne stands on green platform Matthew Tempest, The Guardian, 13 January 2006
- ^ Campbell fills top Lib Dem posts BBC News, 6 March 2006
- ^ Summation speech from Tax Debate, Chris Huhne, 19 September 2006
- ^ Climate Change and the Challenge for Business Chris Huhne, 9 May 2006
- ^ Blue won't be greeen, Chris Huhne, The Guardian, 27 April 2007
- ^ Critics of Israel 'fuelling hatred of British Jews', Ned Temko, The Observer, 3 September 2006
- ^ Green lobby must not stifle the debate Janet Daley, The Daily Telegraph, 12 March 2007
- ^ Chris Huhne - The Mary Whitehouse of the Climate Change debate Iain Dale, 12 March 2007
- ^ Clegg admits leadership ambitions Deborah Summers and Ros Taylor, The Guardian, 19 September 2007
- ^ Christopher Huhne MP, Eastleigh (TheyWorkForYou.com) - Register of Members' Interests
External links
- Chris Huhne MP official site
- Chris Huhne &ndqsh; Candidate for Leader of the Liberal Democrats Leader of the Liberal Democrats campaign site
- Chris Huhne MP profile at the site of the Liberal Democrats
- Eastleigh Liberal Democrats constituency party
- Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Christopher Huhne MP
- TheyWorkForYou.com – Christopher Huhne MP
- The Public Whip – Christopher Huhne voting record
- Profile: Chris Huhne (BBC News, 12 January, 2006)
- Huhne enters Lib Dem leader race (BBC News , 13 January, 2006)
- New poll puts Huhne ahead of Campbell, 9 February, 2006)
- Interview for 18 Doughty Street