James Lyal Clark Provan (born 19 December 1936) is a British farmer, businessman and politician who served four terms 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 ...

. A member of 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 specialised in agriculture, and became a critic of the development of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

and especially of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

Family and education

Provan was born in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and attended

Ardvreck School Ardvreck School is an independent boarding and day preparatory school for boys and girls aged 3–13. Located in Crieff in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It was established in 1883. Former pupils * Rear-Admiral Hugh Balfour (1933-1999), senior ...

Crieff Crieff (; gd, Craoibh, meaning "tree") is a Scottish market town in Perth and Kinross on the A85 road between Perth and Crianlarich, and the A822 between Greenloaning and Aberfeldy. The A822 joins the A823 to Dunfermline. Crieff has become ...

before going to

Oundle School Oundle School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire, England. The school has been governed by the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City ...

, a public school in

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

. Rather than pursue an academic career he went on to the

Royal Agricultural College ;(from Virgil's Georgics)"Caring for the Fieldsand the Beasts" , established = 2013 - University status – College , type = Public , president = King Charles , vice_chancellor = Peter McCaffery , students ...

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

. In 1960 he married Roweena Lewis; they have a daughter and twin sons.

Perthshire

In 1965 Provan became area President of

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

for the

National Farmers Union of Scotland The National Farmers' Union of Scotland is an organisation that promotes and protects the interests of the country's farming industry. It was formed in 1913, and has approximately 10,000 members who are farmers, crofters and others involved in Sc ...

, a position which he also held in 1971. He was an active member of the

in Perth and East Perthshire, being Treasurer of the local association from 1975 to 1977. He was a member of the

Lord Lieutenant A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ...

's Queen's

Jubilee A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...

Appeal Committee in 1977.

Political career

Provan was elected to

Tayside Tayside ( gd, Taobh Tatha) was one of the nine regions used for local government in Scotland from 15 May 1975 to 31 March 1996. The region was named for the River Tay. It was created by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, following recom ...

Regional Council in 1978, serving on the

Tay River The Tay River is a river in Lanark County in Eastern Ontario, Canada. Shows the course of the river on a topographic map. It is in the Saint Lawrence River drainage basin and is a left tributary of the Rideau River. The Tay River watershed, co ...

Purification Board. He was selected to be the Conservative Party candidate for North East Scotland for the

1979 European Parliament election The 1979 European Parliament election was a series of parliamentary elections held across all 9 (at the time) European Community member states. They were the first European elections to be held, allowing citizens to elect 410 MEPs to the Europea ...

, and won the seat despite only obtaining 33% of the vote when his opponents divided the rest evenly.

Agriculture committee

Immediately appointed to the Agriculture and Fisheries Committee, in March 1980 Provan voted against a proposal to increase farm prices by 7.9% because of its consequential increase in the European budget requirement and the proportion devoted to agricultural subsidies."Tory voting in Europe" (letter), ''The Times'', 24 March 1980, p. 15. That May he was a rapporteur on a report calling for a full intervention scheme in the

mutton Lamb, hogget, and mutton, generically sheep meat, are the meat of domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries''. A sheep in its first year is a lamb and its meat is also lamb. The meat from sheep in their second year is hogget. Older sheep meat is mutton. Gen ...

and

lamb Lamb or The Lamb may refer to: * A young sheep * Lamb and mutton, the meat of sheep Arts and media Film, television, and theatre * ''The Lamb'' (1915 film), a silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in his screen debut * ''The Lamb'' (1918 ...

market, which had been passed by 11 votes to 10 after French pressure and against British resistance. The Commission rejected the proposal."Full intervention scheme for mutton and lamb ruled out", ''The Times'', 21 May 1980, p. 12. Provan became the

European Democrat group The European Conservatives Group and Democratic Alliance (EC/DA) is a conservative group in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. It was founded as the Group of Independent Representatives in 1970 by British and Scandinavian members o ...

spokesman on agriculture in 1982. Provan sponsored an emergency motion in September 1983 which condemned

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

for blocking a common European response criticising the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

shooting down of

Korean Air Lines Flight 007 Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (KE007/KAL007)The flight number KAL 007 was used by air traffic control, while the public flight booking system used KE 007 was a scheduled Korean Air Lines flight from New York City to Seoul via Anchorage, Alask ...

."Euro-MPs table motion censuring Greece for blunting EEC protest", ''The Times'', 14 September 1983, p. 6. He was re-elected in the 1984 election with a slight improvement in his vote but still only polled 34%.

Mafia

On Provan's initiative the European Parliament set up a team to monitor the effect of

milk quota Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modulating ...

system in 1984."EEC team to tackle milk quota cheating", ''The Times'', 14 September 1984, p. 8. In January 1985 he endorsed the claim of a Sicilian Communist MEP that

the Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

was taking a great deal of European Community funds, stating that three former Members of the European Parliament were involved with the Mafia and that they must also have infiltrated the senior ranks of the European Commission."Mafia accused of milking millions from EEC in big farming fraud", ''The Times'', 17 January 1985, p. 7.

Defeat

Provan was elected as a

Quaestor A ( , , ; "investigator") was a public official in Ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officials who ...

in 1987, a job that gave him responsibility for the Parliament's finance and administration. The same year he became a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

. He published his analysis of the development of the European Community, "The European Community: an ever closer union?", in 1989. However, the unpopularity of the Conservative Party in Scotland made his position especially vulnerable and at the 1989 European election he was defeated, coming in third behind both the Labour Party and the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

. After leaving the European Parliament, Provan went into business, becoming Chairman of McIntosh Donald Ltd and of James McIntosh & Co. He was also executive director of Scottish Financial Enterprise from 1990 to 1991, and became a member of the

Agricultural and Food Research Council The Agricultural and Food Research Council (AFRC) was a British Research Council responsible for funding and managing scientific and technological developments in farming and horticulture. History The AFRC was formed in 1983 from its predecessor, ...

. From 1992 to 1998 he was chairman of the

Rowett Research Institute The Rowett Institute is a research centre for studies into Food science, food and nutrition, located in Aberdeen, Scotland. History The institute was founded in 1913 when the University of Aberdeen and the Scottish Agricultural College, Nort ...

Retread

Having a home in the south of England, Provan was selected as Conservative candidate for South Downs West in the run-up to the

1994 European Parliament election The 1994 European Parliamentary election was a European election held across the 12 European Union member states in June 1994. This election saw the merge of the European People's Party and European Democrats, an increase in the overall number ...

, a much better area for the Conservatives. He was elected with a 21,000 majority and became the Chief

Whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

for the Conservative Group. The tensions in the group became apparent when it split three ways in a vote on approving the

Santer Commission The Santer Commission was the European Commission in office between 23 January 1995 and 15 March 1999. The administration was led by Jacques Santer (former Prime Minister of Luxembourg). The body had 20 members and oversaw the introduction of ...

; Provan himself voted against.George Brock, "Tories in disarray on Santer team vote", ''The Times'', 19 January 1995, p. 1.

Animal welfare

Provan successfully moved a motion calling for a ban on veal crates and a maximum journey time of eight hours for live cattle being transported across Europe in 1995.Dominic Kennedy, "Protesters tried to stop Bardot going to funeral", ''The Times'', 16 February 1995, p. 1. During the 1997 general election campaign, he contradicted a claim by the

Referendum Party The Referendum Party was a Eurosceptic, single-issue political party that was active in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 1997. The party's sole objective was for a referendum to be held on the nature of the UK's membership of the European Union ...

on the extent of gold reserves which the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

would have to transfer for the

Pound sterling Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and t ...

to join the

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

."No question of moving all Bank of England reserves to Europe" (letter), ''Financial Times'', 16 April 1997, p. 26.

Reselection

He became a Vice President of the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...

and the party's Chief Whip in 1996. In the transition to a regional list system for elections to the European Parliament, Provan was chosen on top of the list for the

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of england, ...

, attributed to his support for party leader

William Hague William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

's position on the single currency.Fran Abrams, "Hague's victory for euro sceptics", ''The Independent'', 1 June 1998, p. 2. After his re-election, Provan was elected a Vice President of the European Parliament. Provan's decision to help unveil a Scottish pro-European Union poster alongside members of other parties in October 1999 caused some trouble. Provan reminded his critics that he had voted against the euro and said that he believed Britain should join a successful single European currency.Jason Allardyce, Tom Baldwin, "Top Tory backs Scottish Europe campaign", ''The Times'', 19 October 1999; p. 1. However, Provan pulled out of the event at the last minute,Ian Swanson, "Party Chiefs team up for Euro battle", ''Edinburgh Evening News'', 19 October 1999, p. 8. facing reported disciplinary action. He explained that it had not been made clear to him that he was the sole Scottish Conservative representative, and that it was wrong for him to go as his European Parliament constituency was in England.Jason Allardyce, "Tory in retreat from united front on euro", ''The Times'', 20 October 1999, p. 10.

Retirement

In November 2001 Provan pushed the Agriculture Committee of the European Parliament to undertake an inquiry into the

2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth crisis The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom in 2001 caused a crisis in British agriculture and tourism. This epizootic saw 2,000 cases of the disease in farms across most of the British countryside. Over 6 million cows and ...

, after the United Kingdom government had refused to hold one.Vic Robertson, "Strasbourg set to host FMD inquiry", ''The Herald'', 6 November 2001; p. 25. He stood down from the European Parliament in 2004.

References

*"Who's Who", A & C Black *"Debrett's People of Today", Debrett's. {{DEFAULTSORT:Provan, James 1936 births Living people Scottish Conservative Party MEPs People educated at Ardvreck School Alumni of the Royal Agricultural University MEPs for Scotland 1979–1984 MEPs for Scotland 1984–1989 MEPs for England 1994–1999 MEPs for England 1999–2004 People educated at Oundle School