Densmore Ronald "Den" Dover (born 4 April 1938) is a British politician. Representing the
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 ...
, he was the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) for the constituency of
Chorley
Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came pr ...
from 1979 to 1997. He then served as a
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
(MEP) for the region of
North West England
North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...
, from 1999 to 2009.
He was forced to resign the position of Chief Whip, before being expelled from the party, over investigations into his expenses, and stood down from the European Parliament at the
2009 European Elections.
Biography
Dover was born in
Stockton Heath
Stockton Heath is a civil parish and suburb of Warrington, in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England. It is located to the north of the Bridgewater Canal and to the south of the Manchester Ship Canal, which divides Stockton Heath from Lat ...
,
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
. Educated at King George V School, Southport until transferring to
Manchester Grammar School
The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) in Manchester, England, is the largest independent school (UK), independent day school for boys in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1515 as a Grammar school#free tuition, free grammar school next to Manchester C ...
where he won the bowling prize at
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
. Dover gained a First Class Honours degree in
Civil Engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...
at
Manchester University
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
.
Career
Dover worked in the
construction
Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...
industry across Europe, working for
John Laing plc
John Laing Group plc is a British investor, developer and operator of privately financed, public sector infrastructure projects such as roads, railways, hospitals and schools through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and Private Finance Initiativ ...
,
George Wimpey
George Wimpey was a British construction firm. Formed in 1880 and based in Hammersmith, it initially operated largely as a road surfacing contractor. The business was acquired by Godfrey Mitchell in 1919, and he developed it into a constructio ...
, and as Chief Executive for the ''National Building Agency''. Dover was latterly Director of Housing Construction with the
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...
, before entering politics on a full-time basis when he became an MP.
Personal life
Dover is married to Kathleen, with a son and a daughter, Amanda. He plays cricket,
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
and
hockey
Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
.
Political career
Dover served on the
London Borough of Barnet
The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London boroughs, London borough in North London. The borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It forms part of Outer London and is the largest ...
Council, and was a Member of its Education, Finance and Public Works Committees. He stood unsuccessfully for Parliament at
Caerphilly
Caerphilly (, ; cy, Caerffili, ) is a town and community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley.
It is north of Cardiff and northwest of Newport. It is the largest town in Caerphilly County Borough, and lies wit ...
in
October 1974, being beaten by
Labour's Fred Evans.
MP for Chorley
Dover served as the Conservative
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for
Chorley
Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came pr ...
, from May 1979 to April 1997, until he was defeated by
Lindsay Hoyle
Sir Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (born 10 June 1957)'HOYLE, Hon. Lindsay (Harvey)', Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012 ; online edn, Nov 201 Retrieved 31 December 20 ...
, future
Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings.
Systems that have such a position include:
* Speaker of ...
.
MEP for North West England
Dover was first elected to the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
in 1999, and was re elected in June 2004.
Resignation
Dover resigned as Conservative
Chief Whip
The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes.
United Kingdom
...
in the European Parliament on 6 June 2008. The revelation that forced the resignation was that over nine years he had paid his wife and daughter £750,000 from public funds. (This came after the
Conservatives
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 ...
' Leader in Europe,
Giles Chichester
Giles Bryan Chichester (born 29 July 1946) is a British Conservative Party politician who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South West England and Gibraltar from 1999 until he retired 2014. He was elected as Vice-President of th ...
, resigned because he put large sums of money for secretarial and office work through the account of a company of which he was a paid director).
Dover was forced to resign by acting Conservative MEP Leader,
Philip Bushill-Matthews
Philip Bushill-Matthews (born 15 January 1943 in Droitwich)
is a former British politician. He was Conservative Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the West Midlands.
Biography
At Oxford University he became President of the O.U ...
, who was appointed only a day prior. Dover was replaced as Conservative Chief Whip by
Richard Ashworth
Richard James Ashworth (born 17 September 1947 in Folkestone) is a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England for Change UK. He formerly sat in the European Parliament for the Conservative Party, and was that Party ...
MEP.
An inquiry by the European Parliament found him guilty of a
conflict of interest
A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...
, and he was ordered to repay £500,000 of the expenses. The Parliament's ruling lead to Dover being expelled from the Conservative Party. Dover's case has been passed to the
European Anti-Fraud Office
The European Anti-Fraud Office (commonly known as OLAF, from the french: Office européen de lutte antifraude) is a body mandated by the European Union (EU) with protecting the Union's financial interests. It was founded on 28 April 1999, unde ...
for investigation.
[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5141953.ece] Dover stood down from the European Parliament at the
2009 European Elections.
This ruling was later annulled in March 2011. Dover was not required to repay any expenses. Both the EU parliament and Dover were required bear their own costs
(curia.europa.eu)
References
Curia.europa.eu
External links
Profile at European Parliament website
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dover, Den
1938 births
Living people
People from Stockton Heath
People educated at Manchester Grammar School
Alumni of the University of Manchester
English civil engineers
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 1979–1983
UK MPs 1983–1987
UK MPs 1987–1992
UK MPs 1992–1997
Conservative Party (UK) MEPs
Councillors in the London Borough of Barnet
MEPs for England 1999–2004
MEPs for England 2004–2009