Christopher James Fraser, OBE (born 25 October 1962) is a former

British Conservative Party The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party and also known colloquially as the Tories, is one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party. It is the current governing party, ...

politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Mid Dorset and North Poole Mid Dorset and North Poole is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Michael Tomlinson, a Conservative. Boundaries 1997–2010: The District of Purbeck wards of Bere Regis, Lytchett Matravers, ...

from the 1997 general election to

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and

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from

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

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Early life

He was born in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

and educated at the

University of Westminster , mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength , type = Public , established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster , endowment = £5.1 million ...

, graduating with a BA degree. He worked as chairman of a communications company. He was elected as a councillor to the

Three Rivers District Council 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

for four years from 1992.

Parliamentary career

Fraser 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 1997 general election for the new seat of

with a majority of 681. He made his

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on 4 July 1997. He lost his seat at the 2001 general election to the

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

Annette Brooke Dame Annette Lesley Brooke, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, DBE (''née'' Kelly; born 7 June 1947) is a British Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrat politician. She was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parlia ...

. Although his percentage of the vote increased, Fraser was edged out by the Liberal Democrats by 384 votes, after a tactical voting campaign urging Dorset residents to cast their votes in the best way to defeat the incumbent Conservatives and saw his defeat, along with that of Ian Bruce in neighbouring

South Dorset South Dorset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Richard Drax, a Conservative. The constituency was created as a consequence of the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, although the area cover ...

. He returned to

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at the 2005 general election for South West Norfolk following the retirement of the former

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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 Cabine ...

. He held the seat with a comfortable majority of 10,086, and managed to achieve a small swing of 0.3 over Labour. He served as a member of the culture, media and sport

select committee Select committee may refer to: *Select committee (parliamentary system), a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues *Select or special committee (United States Congress) *Select ...

from 1997 until he lost his seat. He was appointed as the

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to Lord Strathclyde, the Shadow

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. Following his re-election in 2005 he was a member of the

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select committee and was appointed to the Northern Ireland Grand Committee. He was Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Northern Ireland Group. He was a member of the UK delegation to the

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and the Assembly of the

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(2005–2007). In 2009 his expenses claims were highlighted in the ''Daily Telegraph''; according to the newspaper, Fraser claimed £1,800 in public money for buying 215 trees and marking out the boundary of his second home in the constituency. The Lynn News reported "In February 2007 Mr Fraser claimed £1,808.28 for new fencing and hedging to provide security for his new constituency home." On 28 May 2009 he announced that he would be standing down as an MP at the next General Election citing family reasons. The Telegraph 2010 election website stated that he "stood down on account of his wife's health problems". Fraser was appointed

Officer 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 ...

(OBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for public and political service.

Personal life

Fraser married in February 1987 and he has a son and a daughter. He became a

Freeman Freeman, free men, or variant, may refer to: * a member of the Third Estate in medieval society (commoners), see estates of the realm * Freeman, an apprentice who has been granted freedom of the company, was a rank within Livery companies * Free ...

of the

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in 1992. He receives income from land and property in London and Dorset.

References

External links

Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Christopher Fraser MP

TheyWorkForYou.com – Christopher Fraser MP

South West Norfolk Conservatives

BBC Politics page

News items

Fens flooding in February 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Christopher Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2005–2010 Officers of the Order of the British Empire Councillors in Hertfordshire 1962 births Living people Alumni of the University of Westminster