Edward Garnier

The Right Honourable Sir Edward Garnier QC MP
Solicitor General for England and Wales
In office 13 May 2010 – 4 September 2012
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Vera Baird
Succeeded by	Oliver Heald
Shadow Attorney General
In office 8 September 2009 – 11 May 2010
Leader	David Cameron
Preceded by	Dominic Grieve
Succeeded by	The Baroness Scotland of Asthal
In office 19 June 1997 – 13 September 2001
Leader	William Hague Iain Duncan Smith
Preceded by	Nicholas Lyell
Succeeded by	Bill Cash
Shadow Minister for Prisons
In office 2 July 2007 – 8 September 2009
Leader	David Cameron
Preceded by	???
Succeeded by	Alan Duncan
Member of Parliament for Harborough
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 April 1992
Preceded by	John Farr
Majority	9,877 (18%)
Personal details
Born	(1952-10-26) 26 October 1952 Wuppertal, Federal Republic of Germany
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Anna Caroline Mellows
Alma mater	Jesus College, Oxford The University of Law
Religion	Roman Catholic
Website	Official website

Sir Edward Henry Garnier, QC, MP (born 26 October 1952) is a German-born barrister and Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. A former Guardian lawyer, he is on the socially liberal wing of his party and has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Harborough in Leicestershire since 1992.^[1] He most recently served as Solicitor General for England and Wales^[2] from the election of 2010 until the 2012 ministerial reshuffle.^[3][4]

Early life

Edward Garnier was born in Germany, the youngest son of Colonel William d'Arcy Garnier (3rd son of Brigadier-General Alan Garnier CB MBE MC)^[5] and the Hon Lavender née de Grey^[6] (eldest daughter of the 8th Baron Walsingham^[7]). He was educated at Wellington College, then an all-boys independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire. He studied modern history at Jesus College, Oxford. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in in 1974; as per tradition, his BA was promoted to MA (Oxon) in 1976. He then studied at the College of Law at Chancery Lane in the City of London.

Legal career

Garnier was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1976. He is a practising barrister specialising in libel. In 1995 he took silk (Queen's Counsel) and was appointed as a Crown Court Assistant Recorder in 1998 and as a Recorder (part-time Circuit Judge) in 2000.

He represented Edwina Currie following an article in the Daily Express by Peter Oborne alleging that she was the "vilest woman in Britain".^[8] Currie won £30,000 in damages in March 2000.^[8] In 2013 he also represented Lord McAlpine at the High Court following allegations made on Twitter by Sally Bercow, wife of the Commons speaker.^[9]

Politics

Garnier unsuccessfully contested the safe Labour seat of Hemsworth in West Yorkshire at the 1987 general election. He was elected MP for Harborough with a majority of 13,543 at the 1992 general election following the retirement of his Conservative predecessor Sir John Farr, and made his maiden speech just after midnight on 20 May 1992.^[10]

In Parliament, he served on the home affairs select committee from 1992 until he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Alastair Goodlad and David Davis for a year in 1994. In 1996 he became the PPS to the Attorney General Nicholas Lyell and in 1997 he was briefly the PPS to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Roger Freeman. He joined the frontbench under William Hague as a spokesman on the Lord Chancellor's Department in 1997 and entered the Shadow Cabinet in 1999 as the Shadow Attorney General, "earning wide acclaim for a thoughtful performance in that role, in which he demonstrated his legal expertise without becomingly excessively partisan".^[1] He returned to the backbenches after the 2001 general election but became Opposition Spokesman for Home Affairs after the 2005 general election and later Shadow Attorney General. In 2009 he was elected Chair of the newly formed All-Party Parliamentary Group on Privacy.^[11][12]

On 5 February 2013, Garnier voted against in the House of Commons Second Reading vote on marriage equality in Britain.^[13]

Compulsory annuity purchases

Garnier has long campaigned against compulsory annuity purchases for sums above the minimum income threshold and has introduced or supported several Private Members Bills on the issue.^[14] On 21 November 2002, he came 4th in the ballot for Private Members Bills.^[15] With cross-party support from leading backbench pensions experts Sir John Butterfill, Frank Field and LibDem Pensions spokesman Steve Webb he introduced the Retirement Income Reform Bill.^[16][17] This Bill was dropped in July 2003, reintroduced on 7 January 2004^[18][19] and eventually withdrawn in April 2004.^[18]

Constituency issues

Pennbury eco-town

Garnier has raised the issue of eco-towns around 20 times in Parliament.^[20] One of these, Pennbury, housing 40,000 people, was to be near Stoughton, Leicestershire. Garnier was granted an adjournment debate on 29 January 2008.^[21]

Garnier argued that although the eco-town principle was sound, Pennbury - a rural site not a brownfield one - lacked the necessary transport infrastructure and was unlikely to be able to provide jobs. Furthermore, building a suitable road from the M1 motorway, "a distance of about 20 miles ..would cost the thick end of £1 billion".^[22] The Pennbury proposal was dropped in July 2009.

British United Shoe Machinery

Garnier's constituents were amongst 544 British United Shoe Machinery workers who lost their pensions following the company entering Administration in 2000.^[23] Workers joined Ros Altmann's company pensions campaign blaming Venture Capitalist Apax Partners for having engineered the collapse^[24] and Garnier was the first East Midlands MP to question Apax's role. Apax's chairman at the time was a major donor to the Labour Party and Garnier asked what discussions "Ministers have had with Sir Ronald Cohen ..about the collapse of the pension scheme".^[25] Garnier raised the issue again with the new Minister for Pensions Reform Stephen Timms citing the "mysterious circumstances" under which the pensions disappeared. Timms agreed to "look into" the complaints saying that "in recent years, there have been too many instances of that kind."^[26][27] The press expected a proper enquiry^[27][28] but although in September 2005 Timms wrote back to Garnier refusing this,^[29] December 2007 saw compensation of £2.9 billion awarded nationally to failed Company Pension Scheme workers.^[23] In all Garnier referenced BUSM twelve times,^[30] and "was a really valuable advocate in the campaign to recover the pensions".^[23]

St Luke's hospital Market Harborough

In June 2015 Garnier called on Jeremy Hunt “get a grip on those allegedly in charge of the project” at St Luke’s hospital which he said had become a local joke. He claimed the project had been the subject of delays since 1992.^[31]

Solicitor General

Insignia of Knight Bachelor

Garnier was Solicitor General from May 2010 to September 2012.^[32] He was appointed a Knight Bachelor after the reshuffle that ended his time as Solicitor General.^[33]

In November 2014 the Daily Telegraph reported allegations that Garnier requested that Simon Danczuk "think very carefully" about what he said to the Home Affairs select committee about Leon Brittan and the missing Westminster paedophile dossier. Danczuk said that Brittan was in poor health and Garnier, an old friend, had been asked to intervene by Brittan's wife.^[34]

In March 2015, he was appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and therefore granted the title The Right Honourable.^[35]

Brexit

Garnier was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.^[36] Following a successful legal challenge to the use of the Royal Prerogative to invoke article 50, Garnier advised against appealing to the Supreme Court. He believed the chances of winning are low, it would be costly and would and would provide another "opportunity for ill motivated to attack the judiciary to misconstrue the motives of both parties.^[37] The former Attorney General Dominic Grieve also thought the appeal was pointless.^[38]

Personal life

Garnier married Anna Caroline Mellows on 17 April 1982; their daughter, Eleanor Garnier^[39] (born September 1983), is a BBC political correspondent, and the couple also have two sons (born July 1986 and January 1991).

Garnier was a Visiting Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford in 1996 and is a keen follower of cricket, being a member of Leicestershire CCC. He speaks proficient French and enjoys 19th-century French literature.

His cousin is Mark Garnier who has been the Member of Parliament for Wyre Forest since the 2010 general election.

Publications

• Halsbury's Laws of England contribution by Edward Garnier, 1985, Butterworth ISBN 0-406-03000-6
• Bearing the Standard: Themes for a Fourth Term contribution by Edward Garnier, 1991, Conservative Political Centre ISBN 0-85070-824-9
• Facing the Future by Edward Garnier, 1993

References

External links

• Edward Garnier QC MP official constituency website
• Harborough Conservative Association
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Website at ePolitix.com
• BBC Democracy Live
• Debrett's People of Today
• www.dodonline.co.uk

News articles

• Prisons in April 2006
• Hoax callers in November 2002