John Robert Greenway (born 15 February 1946) is a former

British politician The United Kingdom is a unitary state with devolution that is governed within the framework of a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy in which the monarch, currently Charles III, King of the United Kingdom, is the hea ...

who sat as 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 in ...

Member of Parliament (MP) for

Ryedale Ryedale is a non-metropolitan district in North Yorkshire, England. It is in the Vale of Pickering, a low-lying flat area of land drained by the River Derwent. The Vale's landscape is rural with scattered villages and towns. It has been in ...

from

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

until the constituency's abolition in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Early life

John Greenway was born in

Northwich {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

, Cheshire and was educated locally at the Sir John Deane's Grammar School and The College of Law, London. He joined

Midland Bank Midland Bank Plc was one of the Big Four banking groups in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century. It is now part of HSBC. The bank was founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Union Street, Birmingham, England in August 1836. It ...

in 1964 before joining the

Metropolitan Police Service The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

in 1965, after his Hendon Police College training he worked in the

West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government build ...

, leaving the force in 1969 to sell

life insurance Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the dea ...

for Equitable Life. He joined National Provident in 1970, before setting up his own insurance and finance company in 1971. He was a financial journalist at ''

Post Magazine ''Post Magazine'' is a British magazine. It first appeared on Saturday 25 July 1840, just seven months after the introduction of the Penny Post postal system and was the first publication anywhere in the world to be sent by post hence its ...

'' (Post Weekly), and still writes for financial publications.

Parliamentary career

He was the treasurer of the Ryedale Conservative Association for two years from 1984 and was elected to the

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four co ...

County Council in 1985 for two years. He was the vice-chairman of the

North Yorkshire Police North Yorkshire Police is the territorial police force covering the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire and the unitary authority of York in northern England. As of September 2018 the force had a strength of 1,357 police officers, 127 ...

1986–7. He 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 1987 general election, when he regained the seat for the Conservatives from the

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 ...

Elizabeth Shields Elizabeth Lois Shields (née Teare; born 27 February 1928) is a British politician. Shields studied at the University of York and became a teacher and lecturer. She served as a councillor on Ryedale District Council from 1980 to 2019 for Norto ...

who won the seat at the

1986 Ryedale by-election The Ryedale by-election took place on 8 May 1986. The election was held on the same day as the 1986 local elections and the West Derbyshire by-election It is the latest by-election to have just three candidates standing. The seat was regained ...

. Greenway won the seat with a majority of 9,740 and remained the MP until the seat's abolition for the 2010 general election. He served in

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

as a member of the

home affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

select committee Select committee may refer to: *Select committee (parliamentary system) A select committee is a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues originating in the Westminster system o ...

1987–97, and was appointed as 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 ...

to the

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. I ...

at the

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...

Jean Trumpington for a year from 1991. He was promoted to the frontbench 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 1997 as a spokesman on home affairs, before being moved in 2000 as a spokesman for culture, media and sport where he remained throughout 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 ...

until he was sacked by

Michael Howard Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet posit ...

in 2003. He was briefly a member of the education and skills select committee in 2005 before the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

. He was the chairman of the all party opera group. He introduced the Bill for the Ragwort Control Act 2003. He maintained a strong interest in the financial services sector and chaired the

All-Party Parliamentary Group An all-party parliamentary group (APPG) is a grouping in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that is composed of members of parliament from all political parties, but have no official status within Parliament. Description and functions All-party ...

on Insurance and Financial Services. In boundary changes agreed in 2006, Greenway's constituency was enlarged and renamed

Thirsk and Malton Thirsk and Malton is a constituency in North Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Kevin Hollinrake, a Conservative. History 2010-date Anne McIntosh, a Conservative, elected for Vale of York in 19 ...

, taking in a large part of the divided

Vale of York The Vale of York is an area of flat land in the northeast of England. The vale is a major agricultural area and serves as the main north–south transport corridor for Northern England. The Vale of York is often supposed to stretch from the R ...

constituency. Unexpectedly on 18 November 2006, the Thirsk and Malton Conservative Association selected

Anne McIntosh Anne Caroline Ballingall McIntosh, Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (born 20 September 1954) is a British politician who has been a life peer since 2015. A member of the Conservative Party, McIntosh represented the Thirsk and Malton constituenc ...

(sitting MP for Vale of York) over Greenway as their candidate for the next general election. He was criticised in some quarters for his poor attendance record in the House of Commons. According to the theyworkforyou website, he attended only half of Parliamentary votes, and contributed to very few debates. In the scandal concerning MP's expenses it was alleged Mr. Greenway claimed £500 for

petunia ''Petunia'' is genus of 20 species of flowering plants of South American origin. The popular flower of the same name derived its epithet from the French, which took the word ''petun'', meaning "tobacco," from a Tupi–Guarani language. A tende ...

s and

fuchsia ''Fuchsia'' () is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees. The first to be scientifically described, '' Fuchsia triphylla'', was discovered on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic ...

for his London flat

Personal life

He was married to Sylvia Ann Gant in 1974. They have two sons and a daughter. He now lives in

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and F ...

with divorcee Hanneke Dannhorn (born 1953), mother of Emily and Mark Dannhorn, and managing director of the Brook Green UK travel group, since 2004. A

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

enthusiast, he won an

animal welfare Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevit ...

award in 2003, and is the president of

York City F.C. York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league ...

As a former police officer he has called for the death penalty for police murders, specifically mentioning

Winston Silcott Winston Silcott (born 1959),Winston Silcott: An infamous past
(

, after narrowly avoiding being shot. Greenway fought for an amendment to the

Criminal Justice Act 1991 The Criminal Justice Act 1991 (c. 53) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Most of it only applies to England and Wales, with certain clauses extended to either Northern Ireland or Scotland. The Act enabled the introduction of pri ...

to provide for capital punishment for the murder of a police officer. He later tried to sponsor a similar bill commanding that "A person aged 18 years or above who is convicted of the murder of a police officer acting in the execution of his duty shall on conviction be sentenced to death." Both attempts were soundly defeated.

References

News items

Bats in the belfry in October 2004

Splitting up from his wife
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenway, John 1946 births Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Living people Metropolitan Police officers People educated at Sir John Deane's College UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 People from Northwich

Early life

Parliamentary career

Personal life

References

External links

News items