William James Clappison (born 14 September 1956), commonly known as James Clappison, is a British

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

and

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 ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He serves as Vice Chairman of the

Conservative Friends of Israel Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) is a British parliamentary group affiliated to the Conservative Party, which is dedicated to strengthening business, cultural and political ties between the United Kingdom and Israel, as well as between the Br ...

group.

Personal life

The son of a

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

, Clappison was born in

Beverley Beverley is a market town, market and minster (church), minster town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre ...

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...

and educated at the independent

St Peter's School, York St Peter's School is a co-educational independent boarding and day school (also referred to as a public school), in the English City of York, with extensive grounds on the banks of the River Ouse. Founded by St Paulinus of York in AD 627, ...

, before attending The

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

where he graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1978. While at Oxford he was a member of the

Oxford University Conservative Association The Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) is a student Conservative association founded in 1924, whose members are drawn from the University of Oxford. Since October 2009, OUCA has been affiliated to Conservative Future and its su ...

and was elected to the presidency of the Junior Common Room of his college. In 1981 he was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

from

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

and has been a practising barrister since then. Clappison married Helen Margherita Carter in July 1984 in Leeds and they have a son (born in March 1987) and three daughters (born April 1985, August 1989 and April 1995).

Parliamentary career

He contested the safe

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...

seat of

Barnsley East Barnsley East is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency in South Yorkshire, represented since 2017 by Stephanie Peacock of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. Constituency profile The seat covers the south-east sub ...

at the 1987 general election where he came second, some 23,511 votes behind

Terry Patchett Terry Patchett (11 July 1940 – 11 October 1996) was a politician in the United Kingdom. Patchett served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament for Barnsley East (UK Parliament constituency), Barnsley East from 1983 un ...

. He also contested the Yorkshire South

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

seat at the Euro elections of 1989. He was selected to fight the

May 1990 Bootle by-election Two Bootle by-elections were held during 1990, for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons constituency of Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Bootle in Merseyside. Bootle was one of the Labour Party's safest seats, having he ...

following the death of Allan Roberts. He was defeated by Mike Carr by 23,517 votes. Carr served as the Labour MP for

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. Histo ...

for just 57 days before he died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

on 20 July 1990. Clappison contested Bootle again at the November by-election where he was defeated heavily once more by the new Labour candidate

Joe Benton Joseph Edward Benton (born 28 September 1933) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bootle from 1990 to 2015. Early life Benton was born in Bootle, Merseyside and was educated at the St Monica's Roman ...

to the tune of 19,465 votes. He was rewarded for his efforts by securing the nomination for the safe Conservative seat of Hertsmere, which became vacant on the retirement of

Cecil Parkinson Cecil Edward Parkinson, Baron Parkinson, (1 September 1931 – 22 January 2016) was a British Conservative Party politician and cabinet minister. A chartered accountant by training, he entered Parliament in November 1970, and was appointed a ...

. James Clappison was safely elected at the 1992 general election with a majority of 18,735. 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 19 May 1992, during which he spoke of the organised crimes and

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 ...

against his

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

constituents. On his election he became the

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 ...

Emily Blatch Emily May Blatch, Baroness Blatch, (née Triggs; 24 July 1937 – 31 May 2005) was a British Conservative politician. Born in Birkenhead, the daughter of Stephen and Sarah Triggs, she was educated at Prenton High School for Girls and ...

at the

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

, and from 1994 at the Home Office. He was promoted to government by

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...

in 1995 as the

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the UK government, immediately junior to a Minister o ...

at the Department for the Environment until the defeat of the Major government at the 1997 general election. After the 1997 general election, Clappison served as a Shadow Home Office Minister, before being moved to Education and Employment by

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 ...

in 1999 and then to be a Shadow Treasury Minister in 2000. Under the leadership of

Iain Duncan Smith Sir George Iain Duncan Smith (born George Ian Duncan Smith; 9 April 1954), often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. He was S ...

he was a Shadow Work and Pensions Minister until he left the

frontbench In many parliaments and other similar assemblies, seating is typically arranged in banks or rows, with each political party or caucus grouped together. The spokespeople for each group will often sit at the front of their group, and are then kno ...

in 2002. He served as a member of the Home Affairs

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 ...

afterwards. He was Shadow Work and Pensions Minister again until the 2010 general election. During the Parliamentary expenses scandal in 2009, Clappison was criticised for claiming over £100,000 in expenses on a second home whilst owning 24 properties in total, though only £38.50 of this was found to have been improperly claimed, which he claimed was an "honest mistake" In 2014, Clappison announced that he would be standing down as an MP in 2015.

References

External links

Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: James Clappison MP

TheyWorkForYou.com - James Clappison MP

The Public Whip - James Clappison MP
voting record
BBC News - James Clappison
profile 10 February 2005

News items

Arguing with David Miliband over the Reform Treaty in October 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clappison, James 1956 births Living people Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 People educated at St Peter's School, York Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford