Sir John Paul Stanley (born 19 January 1942) is a

British Conservative Party The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party and also known colloquially as the Tories, is one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party. It is the current governing party, ...

politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Tonbridge and Malling Tonbridge and Malling is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. Tonbridge is the largest settlement but the authority is based in the modern development of Kings Hill. Geography Tonbridge and Malling Borough covers ...

from 1974 to 2015.

Education

Stanley was educated at two independent schools: at

Copthorne Preparatory School Copthorne is a village in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. It lies close to Gatwick Airport, south of London, north of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Nearby towns include Crawley to the southwest an ...

near Crawley in West Sussex and

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, independent, day and boarding school in the English public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England. Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school whi ...

in the village of

Repton Repton is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, located on the edge of the River Trent floodplain, about north of Swadlincote. The population taken at the 2001 Census was 2,707, increasing to 2,8 ...

in Derbyshire, followed by Lincoln College at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, where he read Modern History. He also studied at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

Early career

Stanley was at the Institute for Strategic Studies from 1968 to 1969. He worked for Rio Tinto-Zinc Corp Ltd (RTZ) from 1969 to 1979. He is a Senior Network Member at the

European Leadership Network European Leadership Network (ELN) is a pan-European think-tank focusing on European foreign, defence and security issues based in London, United Kingdom. The ELN's Director is Sir Adam Thomson, former UK Permanent Representative to NATO. Histo ...

(ELN).

Parliamentary career

Stanley contested the Newton seat in 1970. He was first elected to Parliament at the February 1974 election, prior to which he had worked for the

Conservative Research Department The Conservative Research Department (CRD) is part of the central organisation of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. It operates alongside other departments of Conservative Campaign Headquarters in Westminster. The CRD has been descr ...

as an advisor on housing policy. He was

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

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 ...

from 1976 to 1979, during her time as Leader of the Opposition. He was made

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 ...

with responsibility for housing at the

Department of the Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

following the Conservative victory at the 1979 general election. Four years later he was moved to become

Minister of State for the Armed Forces The minister of state for the armed forces is a mid-level ministerial position at the Ministry of Defence in the Government of the United Kingdom. When of Minister of State rank (until the appointment of James Heappey as a Parliamentary Under- ...

in the Ministry of Defence. Following the 1987 general election Stanley was moved to the

Northern Ireland Office The Northern Ireland Office (NIO; ga, Oifig Thuaisceart Éireann, Ulster-Scots: ''Norlin Airlann Oaffis'') is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for Northern Ireland affairs. The NIO is led by the Secretary of State for N ...

, once again as Minister of State, but left the government front bench in 1988 and remained on the back benches thereafter. He was mainly interested in defence and foreign policy, having sat on the

Foreign Affairs Select Committee The Foreign Affairs Select Committee is one of many Parliamentary select committees of the United Kingdom, select committees of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, British House of Commons, which scrutinises the expenditure, administration ...

from 1992 onwards. He was re-adopted as the Conservative party candidate for his constituency in 2008 for the 2010 general election. In March 2012, Stanley announced that he would stand down at the next general election. In May 2014, ''The Independent'' reported that Stanley had received fees worth thousands of pounds for consultancy work for one of the big City investors who were granted priority access to shares in Royal Mail plc, which the Coalition government had decided to privatise.

Personal life

He married Susan Giles on 21 December 1968 in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

; they later divorced. The couple had a son and daughter.

Honours

* He was sworn in as a member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council on 16 June 1984. This was announced in the 1984 Queen's Birthday Honours List. This gave him the Honorific Prefix "

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. * He was knighted on 13 December 1988. This allowed him to be referred to as "

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 ...

John Stanley".

References

External links

Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Sir John Stanley MP

TheyWorkForYou.com – John Stanley MP

Tonbridge and Malling Conservatives

The Public Whip – John Stanley MP
voting record
BBC News – John Stanley MP
profile 10 February 2005 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stanley, John Paul 1942 births Living people Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford People educated at Copthorne Preparatory School People educated at Repton School Northern Ireland Office junior ministers Knights Bachelor