Fleur Josephine Butler (born 24 April 1967) is an English

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 i ...

politician and novelist. A former 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 ...

and leader of

Richmondshire District Council Richmondshire District Council is the administration body covering Richmondshire, a large area of the northern Yorkshire Dales including Swaledale and Arkengarthdale, Wensleydale and Coverdale, with Scots' Dyke and Scotch Corner at its centre. ...

, she is president of the

National Conservative Convention The National Conservative Convention (NCC), is the most senior body of the Conservative Party's voluntary wing. The National Convention effectively serves as the Party's internal Parliament, and is made up of its 800 highest-ranking Party Office ...

and a past chairman of the

Conservative Women's Organisation The Conservative Women's Organisation (CWO) represents the female members of the Conservative Party in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The Scottish Conservative Women's Council is the autonomous sister organisation of the CWO in Scotla ...

Early life

Born in 1967, a daughter of the Hon. Samuel James Butler and his wife Lucilla Blanche Borthwick, Butler is also a granddaughter of the Conservative politician

Rab Butler Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, (9 December 1902 – 8 March 1982), also known as R. A. Butler and familiarly known from his initials as Rab, was a prominent British Conservative Party politician. ''The Times'' obituary c ...

. She has two brothers and two sisters.''

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great Br ...

'', vol. I (2003), p. 441 She was educated at the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...

of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

and then at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

Political career

In 2007, Butler was elected as a Conservative to

Richmondshire {{Infobox settlement , name = Richmondshire District , type = District , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = , image_blank_emblem= Richmondshire arms.png , blank_emblem_type = Coat ...

District Council in

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

, representing

Leyburn Leyburn is a market town and civil parish in the district of Richmondshire, North Yorkshire, England, sitting above the northern bank of the River Ure in Wensleydale. Historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire, the name was derived from 'Ley ...

, and was re-elected in 2011.Richmondshire District Council election results, 1973–2019
richmondshire.gov.uk, accessed 22 December 2022 From 2009 to 2011 she was Leader of the council and in 2012 was leader of its Conservative group. In 2015 she stood in Richmond West and lost to two independents. At the European Parliament elections of 2009, Butler was an unsuccessful Conservative

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

candidate in

Yorkshire and the Humber Yorkshire and the Humber is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The population in 2011 was 5,284,000 with its largest settlements being Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Hull, and York. It is ...

. In 2010, Butler was appointed to the Local Chamber of the Congress of the Council of Europe and was re-appointed in 2014. She took part in Congress election observation missions in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

in October 2011, in

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 ''Ox ...

in September 2012, and in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

in June 2014. From 2007 to 2015, Butler was an appointed member of the Yorkshire Energy Partnership and served as its chairman. In 2017, Butler wrote in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' of the Conservative Party's "problem with feminism", insisting that it had an imbalance between men and women in the ranks of members of parliament and councillors which needed to change. She also complained of "a shocking shortfall of 12,000 women councillors needed across all parties". In 2019, she was elected as national chairman of the Conservative Women's Organisation and in 2022 as president of the

. In October 2022, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' ran an article about a call by Butler for older Conservative men in the House of Commons to make way for younger women.

Personal life

On 8 December 1991, Butler married Richard Selwyn Sharpe, son of the Rev. Roger Sharpe and Mary Gordon Selwyn. They set up home in

Exelby Exelby is a village in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. It is south-east of Bedale and west of the A1(M) motorway and is part of the civil parish of Exelby, Leeming and Londonderry. The civil parish had a total of 2,788 ...

, and have four sons born between 1992 and 1999. Her novel ''Blue Murder: A Political Murder Mystery in the Yorkshire Dales'' was published in 2022.Fleur Butler, ''Blue Murder: A Political Murder Mystery in the Yorkshire Dales'' (November 2011),

Notes

External links

"Fleur Butler: Why Conservatives need to reclaim their feminist heroines"

ConservativeHome ConservativeHome is a British right-wing blog which supports, but is independent of, the Conservative Party. It was first established by Tim Montgomerie in 2005 with the aim of arguing for a broad conservative spectrum, which is serious about bot ...

, 7 February 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Fleur Josephine 1967 births Alumni of Newcastle University Congress of the Council of Europe Councillors in North Yorkshire Living people