Lee Scott (born 6 April 1956)'SCOTT, Lee', 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
accessed 31 Dec 2012
/ref> 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. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Ilford North Ilford North is a constituency created in 1945 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Wes Streeting of the Labour Party. History The seat was created for the 1945 general election, from the northern part of ...

from

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

until his defeat at the 2015 general election. Scott is an officer of the Conservative Friends of Israel. In the

2021 Essex County Council election Elections to Essex County Council took place on 6 May 2021 as part of the 2021 United Kingdom local elections. All 75 councillors were elected from 70 electoral divisions, with each returning either one or two councillors by first-past-the-post v ...

he was elected to the ward of Chigwell & Loughton Broadway.

Early life and career

Scott was born in the

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

to a

British Jewish British Jews (often referred to collectively as British Jewry or Anglo-Jewry) are British citizens who identify as Jewish. The number of people who identified as Jews in the United Kingdom rose by just under 4% between 2001 and 2021. History ...

family, He was educated at Clarks College in Ilford and the London College of Distributive Trades. From 1972 to 1982, Scott was a Director of Scott & Fishell. He was a sales executive for Toshiba from 1982 to 1984, for

ITT ITT may refer to: Communication * Infantry-Tank Telephone, a device allowing infantrymen to speak to the occupants of armoured vehicles. Mathematics *Intuitionistic type theory, other name of Martin-Löf Type Theory *Intensional type theory B ...

from 1984 to 1986, and for

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from 1986 to 1988. From 1988 to 1998, he was Campaign Director for the United Jewish Israel Appeal. He became a professional fundraiser for several charities, and has also volunteered with Victim Support. He was selected as the Conservative candidate for Waveney in the 2001 general election but failed to win the seat from Labour.

Member of Parliament

In the 2005 general election, Scott gained the

seat, a key Conservative target that election, defeating the sitting Labour MP

Linda Perham Linda Perham (born 29 June 1947) is a Labour politician in the United Kingdom. Career Perham was a councillor in the London Borough of Redbridge, representing the ward of Hainault and Mayor of the Borough in 1994–95. She was elected the Memb ...

. He has a special interest in

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

and presented a

Private Member's Bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

to Parliament dealing with the care of autistic children once they reached adulthood. He was a member of the

select committee Select committee may refer to: *Select committee (parliamentary system), a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues *Select or special committee (United States Congress) *Select ...

on transport and was on the select committee on health. Scott, Patron of the UK Autism Foundation, was nominated by the charity for his work supporting parents, carers, children and adults with autism spectrum disorders across the United Kingdom. He met Prime Minister Tony Blair and autism campaigner Ivan Corea after he raised the issue of autism at Prime Minister's Questions. On 9 December 2010, he abstained from voting on the Higher Tuition Fees Bill, which meant he had to resign his position as an aide to the Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond. During a Parliamentary debate on

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

in 2014, he stated that he had received several death threats because of his espousal of Judaism, including five in the last year. From May 2018 to June 2019, Scott was Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, James Brokenshire. At the 2015 general election, despite his party gaining an overall majority, Scott lost his seat to Labour's Wes Streeting; Scott said it was like a "bereavement", commenting that he "didn't anticipate losing". Speaking to '' The Guardian'', he added "It was so close, but right up until 30 minutes before, I was being told that I'd done it – that I'd just scraped home". He stood again at the 2017 snap election called by Theresa May, but was unsuccessful, with the seat seeing an 8.5% swing from the Conservatives to Labour. He had previously said he would not stand again, but chose to do so after receiving "200 calls" from supporters who urged him to do so. In 2018, Scott said that he would not be standing again because "I wouldn't put my family through what we went through in the last three of those four elections", referring to what investigative journalist John Ware called "an antisemitic campaign aimed at ousting him from Parliament" linked to Mend (Muslim Engagement and Development).

Personal life

Scott married Estelle Dombey in 1987; he has three daughters and two sons. He supports Leyton Orient F.C.

References

External links

Lee Scott MP
biography at the site of the Conservative Party * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Lee 1956 births Autism activists Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Councillors in the London Borough of Redbridge English Jews Jewish British politicians Living people UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 Members of Essex County Council