The Right Honourable Sir Gregory Knight (born 4 April 1949) is a British politician, author and musician. He has served as the

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 ...

MP for

East Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to th ...

since

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

, having previously served as the MP for Derby North from 1983 to

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

. He served as a minister in the governments of

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...

and

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

Education and professional life

Born in Blaby, Leicestershire, Knight was educated at Alderman Newton's Grammar School,

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, and the College of Law Guildford, qualifying as a solicitor in 1973.

Political career

Knight served as a Leicester City Councillor for Castle Ward and Leicestershire County Councillor for Evington Division from 1976 to 1981. He was MP for Derby North from 1983 until the 1997 election, when he lost his seat. He returned 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. ...

in 2001 after successfully contesting the

seat. As a backbencher, in the 1980s, he succeeded in amending licensing law in England and Wales by doubling ' drinking up time' on licensed premises from ten to twenty minutes, a concession that was welcomed by the industry and drinkers alike. However the 2003 Licensing Act ended standard permitted hours and provides for an unspecified drinking up time determined by the licensee's discretion. He is in favour of bringing back

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

and spoke out against the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

government of South Africa during the 1980s. He was deputy

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 ...

under

between 1993 and 1996 and

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

for Industry at the Department of Trade and Industry from 1996 until the Conservative defeat at the 1997 election. He was made a

Privy Councillor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

in 1995, entitling him to the style "Right Honourable". He served under

Michael Howard Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet posi ...

as a shadow minister for Environment and Transport until 2005. In the 2005–10 Parliament, he was chairman of the

Procedure Committee The Procedure Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to consider the practice and procedure of the House in the conduct of public business. The committee is ...

and on four other House of Commons select committees: the Liaison Committee,

Administration Committee The Administration Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It has a remit "to consider the services provided for and by the House of Commons". Membership As of July 2022, the members of t ...

, the Committee on Modernisation of the House and the Standards and Privileges Committee. He was re-elected unopposed to the chair of the Procedure Committee in 2010. In 2009, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' reported that Knight had claimed £2,600 in expenses for "driveway repairs" at his constituency home, though Knight stated that his cars were kept separately and paid for out of his own pocket. Knight has successfully piloted two of his Private Members Bills into law. In 2011, he was successful in taking through Parliament the

Estates of Deceased Persons (Forfeiture Rule and Law of Succession) Act 2011 The Estates of Deceased Persons (Forfeiture Rule and Law of Succession) Act 2011 (c. 7) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom altering the rules on inheritance in England and Wales. Under the forfeiture rule of English common law, ...

, a bill to make the distribution of estates fairer. He rejoined the government in September 2012 as a senior whip and Vice Chamberlain of the Royal Household, a position he held until October 2013. Knight is a Eurosceptic and is in favour of

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

. In 2018 he introduced his second Private Member's Bill, the Parking (Code of Practice) Bill, which mandates the Government to introduce a statutory code of practice for the operators of private car parks, to require transparency and good practice to ensure that motorists are not treated unreasonably. The bill was passed by Parliament and became an Act in March 2019. Knight has argued in Parliament for " double summertime", which would see the clocks go forward by two hours during summer. He is Secretary of the British American Parliamentary Group, one of the largest and most active all-party groups at Westminster. An avid motorist, he is critical of initiatives seen as 'anti-car', such as

congestion charging Congestion pricing or congestion charges is a system of surcharging users of public goods that are subject to congestion through excess demand, such as through higher peak charges for use of bus services, electricity, metros, railways, tele ...

pedestrianisation Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in whi ...

schemes,

speed humps In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quanti ...

and some '

park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuting, commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail t ...

' proposals. He is chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Historic Vehicles Group and successfully called on the Government to exempt historic vehicles from

MOT test The MOT test (or simply MOT) is an annual test of vehicle safety, roadworthiness aspects and exhaust emissions required in the United Kingdom for most vehicles over three years old. In Northern Ireland the equivalent requirement applies after ...

s. In 2011 he was shortlisted as the 'Industry Champion of the Year' by the International Historic Motoring Awards, for his work in supporting the historic and

classic car A classic car is an older car, typically 25 years or older, though definitions vary.While other languages, such as German and Dutch, may refer to classic cars as "oldtimers", this usage is unknown in English, where "old-timer" refers to an elder ...

movement.

Personal life

Knight is a classic car enthusiast and owns a number of classic cars. He plays the drums and is a founder member of MP4—the world's only parliamentary rock group. The others are fellow MPs Kevin Brennan and Peter Wishart and former MP

Ian Cawsey Ian Arthur Cawsey (born 14 April 1960) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brigg and Goole from 1997 until his defeat at the 2010 general election. Early life and career He went to Welholme Prim ...

. Knight has backed several other artists on the drums in live shows including

George McCrae George Warren McCrae Jr. (born October 19, 1944) is an American soul music, soul and disco singing, singer who is most famous for his 1974 hit "Rock Your Baby". Biography and career McCrae was the second of nine children, born in West Palm Bea ...

and Fergal Sharkey and, in the studio, he played drums backing

KT Tunstall Kate Victoria "KT" Tunstall (born 23 June 1975) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. She first gained attention with a 2004 live solo performance of her song " Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on '' Later... with Jools Holland''. Th ...

Steve Harley Steve Harley (born Stephen Malcolm Ronald Nice; 27 February 1951) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as frontman of the rock group Cockney Rebel, with whom he still tours, albeit with frequent and significant personnel changes. Ea ...

, Ricky Wilson and David Gray on the charity single "

You Can't Always Get What You Want "You Can't Always Get What You Want" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones on their 1969 album ''Let It Bleed''. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it was named as the 100th greatest song of all time by ''Rolling Stone'' ...

" released in December 2016 by

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright Ag ...

. He has written six books, mostly on the subject of political quips and insults.

Honours

* In 1995, he was sworn in as a member of

Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of e ...

. This gave him the Honorific Title "

The Right Honourable ''The Right Honourable'' ( abbreviation: ''Rt Hon.'' or variations) is an honorific style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations. The term is ...

" for life. * In October 2013, he was awarded a

Knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

for political service. This gave him the Honorific Title "

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

" for life.

Publications

*''Westminster Words'' (1988), published by Buchan and Enright *''Honourable Insults'' (1990), published by Robson Books *''Parliamentary Sauce'' (1993), published by Robson Books *''Right Honourable Insults'' (1998), published by Chrysalis Books *''Naughty Graffiti'' (2005), published by Anova Books *''Dishonourable Insults'' (2011), published by The Robson Press ()

References

External links

gregknight.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Gregory 1949 births Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Knights Bachelor Living people Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People from Blaby UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present Politics of the East Riding of Yorkshire Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Derbyshire People educated at Alderman Newton's School, Leicester Treasurers of the Household Conservative Party (UK) councillors Councillors in Leicestershire