Christopher James Fraser,

OBE 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 ...

(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 from the 1997 general election to

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

and South West Norfolk 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 (dwarf planet), Er ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Early life

He was born in Hertfordshire and educated at the

University of Westminster The University of Westminster is a public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first polytechnic to open in London. The Polytechnic formally received a Royal charter in Augu ...

, 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 Mid Dorset and North Poole with a majority of 681. He made his

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention ...

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

Annette Brooke Dame Annette Lesley Brooke, DBE (''née'' Kelly; born 7 June 1947) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Dorset and North Poole from the 2001 general election to 2015. At the time she left ...

. 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. He returned to

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buck ...

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

Secretary of State for Education The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. ...

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 ...

. 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 from 1997 until he lost his seat. 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 ...

Lord Strathclyde Baron Strathclyde is a title that has been created twice in British history, both times in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was first created on 15 January 1914 when the politician and judge Alexander Ure was made Baron Strathclyde, of Sa ...

, the Shadow

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

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 Council of Europe and the Assembly of the

Western European Union The Western European Union (WEU; french: Union de l'Europe occidentale, UEO; german: Westeuropäische Union, WEU) was the international organisation and military alliance that succeeded the Western Union (WU) after the 1954 amendment of the 1948 ...

(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