Christopher Newbury (born 1956) is a British

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

politician. He was a member of the

Congress of the Council of Europe The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities is the pan-European political assembly representing local and regional authorities from the forty-six member states of the Council of Europe. Its role is to promote local and regional democracy, imp ...

from 1998 to 2010 and since 2009 has been a member of the new

Wiltshire Council Wiltshire Council is a council for the unitary authority of Wiltshire (excluding the separate unitary authority of Swindon) in South West England, created in 2009. It is the successor authority to Wiltshire County Council (1889–2009) and the ...

, created that year.

Early life

Newbury was educated at Gresham's School and

Keble College Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

.Christopher Newbury CV
at westwilts-communityweb.com In 1976, he represented the

Oxford Union The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest ...

in the Observer Mace debating competition with Benazir Bhutto. In a Ravenscroft production of '' Macbeth'', he played Macbeth opposite

Guy Hands Guy Hands (born 27 August 1959) is an English financier and investor. He is most notable as the founder and chairman of Terra Firma Capital Partners, one of the largest private equity firms in Europe. Hands also served as chairman of the UK mu ...

as Lady Macbeth.

Council of Europe

Newbury was appointed to the UK Delegation to the

in 1998 to represent English and Welsh Independents. From 1999 he specialised in monitoring local democracy and observing elections,Halvdan Skard et al., ''50 Years of Local Democracy in Europe'' (Council of Europe, 2007) (
Page 67
books.google.com preparing Congress reports on local democracy in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

(2001 and 2006),

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

(2003),

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

(2004),

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarch ...

(2005),

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

(2010) and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

(2010). His report on local and regional democracy in Russia (2010) recommended the reintroduction of direct elections for regional governors, making it possible to register new political parties "without the need to demonstrate an impractically large number of members", ending the use of closed lists in elections, and measures to deal with corruption. In a report on Liechtenstein (2006), Newbury said the situation in Liechtenstein was "remarkable and indeed enviable". He also headed election observations in

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

(2001), the

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

(2002),

(2002), Gagauzia,

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...

(2003), and Palestine (2005). He was ''

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

'' for the observation of the Presidential election in Serbia of 2004, and for elections in

in 2004, and took part in other election observations. In 2000 and 2008 he represented the Congress at meetings of the

Venice Commission The Venice Commission, officially European Commission for Democracy through Law, is an advisory body of the Council of Europe, composed of independent experts in the field of constitutional law. It was created in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin ...

and in 2003 was the ''rapporteur'' of the Congress on Public Ethics at the Local Level. He also served as ''rapporteur'' on the revision of the

European Charter of Local Self-Government The European Charter of Local Self-Government was adopted under the auspices of the Congress of the Council of Europe and was opened for signature by the Council of Europe's member states on 15 October 1985. All Council of Europe member states a ...

. In 2007 he was against the Kyoto Protocol. He retired from the Congress in 2010.

Wiltshire

Newbury became a member of

Wiltshire County Council Wiltshire County Council (established in 1889) was the county council of Wiltshire in the South West of England, an elected local Government body responsible for most local government services in the county. As a result of the 2009 restructur ...

in 1997. He chaired the

Wiltshire Victoria County History The Wiltshire Victoria County History, properly called The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire but commonly referred to as VCH Wiltshire, is an encyclopaedic history of the county of Wiltshire in England. It forms part of the overall Vic ...

Committee from 2002 until its winding up in 2014. Since the 2009 election, his Wylye Valley electoral division covers the river valley south off

Warminster Warminster () is an ancient market town with a nearby garrison, and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in south west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of about 17,000 in 2011. The 11th-c ...

, and parts of Salisbury Plain. He was elected in 2013 as a

, but before that stood as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

. In 2016 he was

Vote Leave Vote Leave was a campaigning organisation that supported a "Leave" vote in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. On 13 April 2016 it was designated by the Electoral Commission as the official campaign in favour of leav ...

Coordinator for South West Wiltshire. He has complained about the concreting of the Westbury White Horse: "Chalk is a lovely white substance. Concrete starts out pale grey and gets less and less pale grey."

References

External links

Christopher Newbury (photograph)
at flickr.com

Christopher Newbury profile at Wiltshire Council
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newbury, Christopher 1956 births Congress of the Council of Europe Conservative Party (UK) councillors Living people Councillors in South West England European People's Party politicians Independent politicians in England Alumni of Keble College, Oxford People educated at Gresham's School People educated at Ravenscroft School, Somerset Members of the Bow Group Members of Wiltshire County Council Members of Wiltshire Council People from Trowbridge

Early life

Council of Europe

Wiltshire

See also

References

External links