Matthew Roger Green (born 12 April 1970,

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

) is a former British politician. He was the

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Ludlow Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The t ...

from 2001 to 2005, and his party's spokesman on the Office of the

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

Parliamentary career

He contested

Wolverhampton South West Wolverhampton South West is a constituency created in 1950 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Stuart Anderson of the Conservative Party. It was represented by the Conservative Party for 47 years after its f ...

in 1997 and was a councillor prior to his election to parliament. Green was elected MP for Ludlow at the

2001 United Kingdom general election The 2001 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 7 June 2001, four years after the previous election on 1 May 1997, to elect 659 members to the House of Commons. The governing Labour Party was re-elected to serve a second term ...

, with a majority of 1,630. He was the first

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

to represent

since 1886. Green was appointed the party's spokesman on youth affairs in November 2001, and was spokesman on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister between 2002 and 2003. He lost his seat to 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 ...

, Philip Dunne, in the 2005 general election. On 25 February 2006, he was selected as the Lib Dem candidate for Ludlow at the next general election but in May 2007 Green stood down as candidate owing to the rapid growth of his new business, Green Planning Solutions LLP. His brother Nathaniel Green was the Lib Dem candidate for

Shrewsbury and Atcham Shrewsbury and Atcham was a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Shropshire, England, between 1974 and 2009. Shrewsbury was the only town in the borough; Atcham, alth ...

at the 2019 general election.

Later life

His company, Green Planning Studio Ltd, acts as agents in high-profile public inquiries, which can take place after planning permission has been refused by local authorities or after an enforcement notice has been issued. Green has been dubbed the 'Gypsy King' for his advocacy for gypsies seeking the legitimisation of dwellings on

green belt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which hav ...

sites. Green remained involved in politics after leaving Parliament, being mentioned by the ''

Shropshire Star The ''Shropshire Star'' is reputedly the twelfth biggest-selling regional newspaper in the UK. It is based at Grosvenor House, Telford where it covers the whole of Shropshire plus parts of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Cheshire a ...

'' as a potential Liberal Democrat candidate in the

2021 North Shropshire by-election A by-election for the United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of North Shropshire was held on 16 December 2021. It was triggered by the resignation of the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Owen Paterson on 5 November 2021. The by-election ...

. Though ultimately not standing in the by-election, his contribution to the successful campaign was praised by fellow ex-Liberal Democrat MP

Stephen Lloyd Stephen Anthony Christopher Lloyd (born 15 June 1957) is a British Liberal Democrat politician who was twice Member of Parliament (MP) for the seat of Eastbourne. Born in Kenya, he was privately educated in Surrey, before working first as a co ...

Personal life

Green was born in Shropshire, living in

Ratlinghope Ratlinghope ( ) is a hamlet and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Shropshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 138. It is situated four miles (6 km) west of Church Stre ...

and

Bishop's Castle Bishop's Castle is a market town in the south west of Shropshire, England. According to the 2011 Census it had a population of 1,893. Bishop's Castle is east of the Wales-England border, about north-west of Ludlow and about south-west of ...

before moving to

Much Wenlock Much Wenlock is a market town and parish in Shropshire, England, situated on the A458 road between Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth. Nearby, to the northeast, is the Ironbridge Gorge, and the new town of Telford. The civil parish includes the villag ...

by the time of his election. Prior to entering parliament he worked as a PR and media advisor.

References

External links

Green Planning Solutions LLP

They WorkForYou.com - Matthew Green

The Public Whip - Matthew Green
voting record
BBC News - Matthew Green
profile 10 February 2005 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Matthew 1970 births Living people Liberal Democrats (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 2001–2005 Politicians from Shrewsbury Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Shropshire