Charles Hendry (born 6 May 1959 in

Cuckfield Cuckfield ( ) is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Mid Sussex District, Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England, on the southern slopes of the Weald. It lies south of London, north of Brighton, and east northeas ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

) is a British

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. Formerly the member of parliament for High Peak between the

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

and 1997 general elections, he was returned as the MP for Wealden in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

. In May 2010 he was appointed Minister of State for the

Department of Energy and Climate Change The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom created on 3 October 2008, by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to take over some of the functions related to energy of the Department for Busin ...

and served until 2012. He stood down at the 2015 general election.

Early life

The son of a

stockbroker A stockbroker is a regulated broker, broker-dealer, or registered investment adviser (in the United States) who may provide financial advisory and investment management services and execute transactions such as the purchase or sale of stocks an ...

, Hendry was educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

and the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

where he was awarded a

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (abbreviated BComm or BCom; also, ''baccalaureates commercii'') is an undergraduate degree in business, usually awarded in Canada, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, Ghana, South Africa, Myanmar, ...

(BComm) degree in

Business Studies Business studies, often simply called business, is a field of study that deals with the principles of business, management, and economics. It combines elements of accountancy, finance, marketing, organizational studies, human resource management, a ...

in 1981. He was the president of th
Edinburgh University Conservative Association
in 1979. He worked as an account manager with Ogilvy and Mather PR for six years from 1982, and from 1988 he worked for two years as a special adviser for the successive Secretaries of State for Social Security John Moore and Tony Newton. He became a senior

consultant A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

wit
Burson-Marsteller
in 1990, where he remained until his election to

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. During his interregnum from parliament he served as the

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

to the

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

William Hague William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

Political career

Early political activities

Hendry was the vice-chairman of the Scottish

Federation of Conservative Students The Federation of Conservative Students (FCS) was the student organisation of the British Conservative Party from the late 1940s to 1986. It was created to act as a bridge between the student movement and the Conservative Party. It produced sever ...

in 1980 and was elected as the vice-chairman of the

Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batter ...

Conservative Association for two years in 1981. He unsuccessfully contested the Central Scotland seat of

Clackmannan Clackmannan ( ; gd, Clach Mhanainn, perhaps meaning "Stone of Manau"), is a small town and civil parish set in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Situated within the Forth Valley, Clackmannan is south-east of Alloa and south of Tillicoultry. Th ...

at the 1983 general election where he came third, finishing 9,988 votes behind the sitting

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playi ...

. He contested the

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

seat of

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...

at the 1987 general election where he was narrowly defeated by

Alan Meale Sir Joseph Alan Meale (born 31 July 1949) is a former British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mansfield from 1987 to 2017. Early life Meale attended St Joseph RC School in Bishop Auckland and studied at Ruskin ...

, who won by just 56 votes: this was the joint closest constituency vote in the whole election.

In parliament

Hendry was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

at the 1992 general election for the

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

seat of High Peak following the retirement of the Conservative MP Christopher Hawkins. Hendry held the seat with a majority of 4,819. In

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

he was a member of the procedure select committee for three years from 1992 and he was appointed as the

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

(PPS) to the

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

at the

Department of Social Security The Department of Social Security (DSS) was a governmental agency in the United Kingdom from 1988 to 2001. The old abbreviation is still often used informally. Advertisements for rented accommodation used to describe prospective tenants who wou ...

in 1994 for a year, and also served briefly as the PPS to the

Secretary of State for Education and Employment The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. The incumbent is a member of the Ca ...

Gillian Shephard Gillian Patricia Shephard, Baroness Shephard of Northwold, (''née'' Watts; born 22 January 1940), is a British Conservative politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Norfolk from 1987 to 2005. Shephard served as a Cabin ...

in 1995. He also served on the

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

select committee 1994–1996. He was appointed as the vice chairman of the Conservative Party in 1995 by

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...

, in which capacity he remained until he lost his seat, representing part of the

Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southe ...

, at the 1997 general election when he was defeated by Labour's

Tom Levitt Tom Levitt (born 10 April 1954) was a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for High Peak from the 1997 to 2010 general elections. Early life Born in Crewe in 1954, Levitt was raised in Leek, Staffordshire. He w ...

by 8,791 votes. He was re-elected to parliament at the 2001 general election for the

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

seat of Wealden following the retirement of the Conservative MP

Geoffrey Johnson Smith Sir Geoffrey Johnson-Smith, (16 April 1924 – 11 August 2010) was a British Conservative politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1959 to 2001, with only a brief interruption in the 1960s. He was also a television presenter. Earl ...

. Hendry retained his new seat for his party with a majority of 13,772. On his re-election in 2001, he was appointed an

Opposition Whip A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology ...

by Hague, and was appointed as a spokesman on Education and Skills in 2003 under the leadership of

Iain Duncan Smith Sir George Iain Duncan Smith (born George Ian Duncan Smith; 9 April 1954), often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. He was S ...

. In June 2003, he called for the introduction of "first time voter packs" to help to engage young people in the political process. However, he was moved in July 2003 under

Michael Howard Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet posi ...

to again become a vice-chairman of the Conservative Party before serving as a spokesman on trade and industry from early 2005. He served briefly as a member of the culture, media and sport select committee in 2004. He also served as the vice-chairman of the all-party groups on

endometriosis Endometriosis is a disease of the female reproductive system in which cells similar to those in the endometrium, the layer of tissue that normally covers the inside of the uterus, grow outside the uterus. Most often this is on the ovaries, f ...

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

and

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Charles Hendry MP at Cutting the cost of cutting carbon Policy to reduce the cost of renewables

In September 2006, Hendry became a Patron of the

Tory Reform Group The Tory Reform Group (TRG) is a pressure group associated with the British Conservative Party that works to promote "modern, progressive Conservatism... economic efficiency and social justice" and "a Conservatism that supports equality, divers ...

. Hendry was a Shadow Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change from October 2008. He became Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change in May 2010 before being replaced by John Hayes in September 2012. Five months later he was announced as the new Chairman of Forewind, the offshore wind farms joint venture, replacing Lord Deben who had resigned the chairmanship in September 2012 when he became Chair of the

Committee on Climate Change The Climate Change Committee (CCC), originally named the Committee on Climate Change, is an independent non-departmental public body, formed under the Climate Change Act (2008) to advise the United Kingdom and devolved Governments and Parliament ...

. In January 2008 he was appointed as a Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of

UK Youth Parliament The UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) is a youth organisation in the United Kingdom, consisting of democratically elected members aged between 11 and 18. Formed in 2000, the parliament has 369 members, who are elected to represent the views of young ...

. He had served as Co-Chair from late 2006 but governance changes dissolved the Co-Chair system in favour of a sole Chair. In May 2010 he took his share of the vote to the 30th largest of the Conservatives' 307 seats, on an absolute majority of votes at 56.6%. Since November 2012, he has been the

Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy A Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy is a position in British foreign policy, within the Department for International Trade since 2016, and formerly with the UK Trade & Investment government department from 2003 to 2016. Trade Envoys are appointed by ...

to Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. In March 2013, Hendry announced he would stand down as MP at the 2015 general election. In July 2013, it became known that Hendry had secured a job as adviser to the Atlantic Supergrid Corporation which plans to import power to the UK via an undersea cable from Iceland. Hendry had signed an energy pact with Iceland while he was Minister of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change. In March 2015, he was appointed to the

Privy Council of the United Kingdom The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of e ...

and therefore granted the title

The Right Honourable ''The Right Honourable'' ( abbreviation: ''Rt Hon.'' or variations) is an honorific style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations. The term is ...

. Hendry was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the

2019 Birthday Honours The 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as ...

for services to UK trade and investment.

Personal life

Hendry married Sallie Moores, who had first married into the Moores family of the Littlewoods company, in July 1995 in Westminster and has two sons and two stepchildren. In 2011 they sold their London home for £4.75 million and bought Blair Castle in

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

. Hendry was a director of London Oil & Gas, which borrowed £129 million from London Capital & Finance. Following the collapse of LC&F, administrators named Hendry as one of thirteen people they were intending to sue in order to recoup £178 million of investors funds.

Early life

Political career

Early political activities

In parliament

Personal life

References

External links