Christopher James Fraser, OBE (born 25 October 1962) is a former British Conservative Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Dorset and North Poole from the 1997 general election to 2001 and South West Norfolk from 2005 to 2010.

Early life

He was born in Hertfordshire and educated at the

University of Westminster The University of Westminster is a public university, public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first Polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic to open in London. The Polyte ...

, graduating with a BA degree. He worked as chairman of a communications company. He was elected as a councillor to the

Three Rivers District Council 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

for four years from 1992.

Parliamentary career

Fraser was elected 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. T ...

at the 1997 general election for the new seat of Mid Dorset and North Poole with a majority of 681. He made his

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...

on 4 July 1997. He lost his seat at the 2001 general election to the

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

Annette Brooke Dame Annette Lesley Brooke, DBE (''née'' Kelly; born 7 June 1947) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Dorset and North Poole from the 2001 general election to 2015. At the time she left ...

. Although his percentage of the vote increased, Fraser was edged out by the Liberal Democrats by 384 votes, after a tactical voting campaign urging Dorset residents to cast their votes in the best way to defeat the incumbent Conservatives and saw his defeat, along with that of Ian Bruce in neighbouring

South Dorset South Dorset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Richard Drax, a Conservative. The constituency was created as a consequence of the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, although the area cover ...

. He returned to

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at the 2005 general election for South West Norfolk following the retirement of the former

Secretary of State for Education The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. The incumbent is a member of the C ...

Gillian Shephard Gillian Patricia Shephard, Baroness Shephard of Northwold, (''née'' Watts; born 22 January 1940), is a British Conservative politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Norfolk from 1987 to 2005. Shephard served as a Cabin ...

. He held the seat with a comfortable majority of 10,086, and managed to achieve a small swing of 0.3 over Labour. He served as a member of the culture, media and sport select committee from 1997 until he lost his seat. He was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Lord Strathclyde, the Shadow

Leader of the House of Lords The leader of the House of Lords is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Lords. The post is also the leader of the majority party in the House of Lords who acts as ...

. Following his re-election in 2005 he was a member of the

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

select committee and was appointed to the Northern Ireland Grand Committee. He was Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Northern Ireland Group. He was a member of the UK delegation to the Council of Europe and the Assembly of the

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(2005–2007). In 2009 his expenses claims were highlighted in the ''Daily Telegraph''; according to the newspaper, Fraser claimed £1,800 in public money for buying 215 trees and marking out the boundary of his second home in the constituency. The Lynn News reported "In February 2007 Mr Fraser claimed £1,808.28 for new fencing and hedging to provide security for his new constituency home." On 28 May 2009 he announced that he would be standing down as an MP at the next General Election citing family reasons. The Telegraph 2010 election website stated that he "stood down on account of his wife's health problems". Fraser was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for public and political service.

Personal life

Fraser married in February 1987 and he has a son and a daughter. He became a

Freeman Freeman, free men, or variant, may refer to: * a member of the Third Estate in medieval society (commoners), see estates of the realm * Freeman, an apprentice who has been granted freedom of the company, was a rank within Livery companies * Free ...

of the

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in 1992. He receives income from land and property in London and Dorset.

References

External links

Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Christopher Fraser MP

TheyWorkForYou.com – Christopher Fraser MP

South West Norfolk Conservatives

BBC Politics page

News items

Fens flooding in February 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Christopher Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2005–2010 Officers of the Order of the British Empire Councillors in Hertfordshire 1962 births Living people Alumni of the University of Westminster