Mark Julian Francis Pawsey (born 16 January 1957) is a British politician who has served as the

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 o ...

(MP) for

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

since the 2010 general election. He is a member of the

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 ...

. His father,

Jim Pawsey James Francis Pawsey (born 21 August 1933) is a retired British Conservative politician. He was educated at Coventry Technical School and Coventry Technical College (both later merged into City College Coventry). Pawsey was a local councillor ...

, was the MP for Rugby from 1979 to 1983 and then for Rugby and Kenilworth until 1997, when he lost the seat in 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 ( ...

to Labour's

Andy King Andrew or Andy King may refer to: * Andrew King (astrophysicist) (born 1947), British astrophysicist * Andrew King (architect), Canadian architect and cross-disciplinary artist *Andrew King (mayor) (born 1960 or 1961), former mayor of Hamilton, New ...

. On 5 December 2022 Pawsey announced his intention not to stand for re-election in the next general election.

Education and early career

Mark Pawsey grew up in

Binley Woods Binley Woods is a suburban village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. The village lies marginally beyond the eastern outskirts of Coventry, outside the formal city boundaries. Binley Woods is within the Borough of Rugby, although the ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...

, England, and was educated at Lawrence Sheriff School in Rugby. He later attended the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

, where he earned a degree in estate management. In 1982, he founded a company with his brother, supplying products to the catering trade, which was later bought by an

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company.

Local government

Pawsey was elected as a Councillor for the

for Dunchurch and Knightlow on the

Rugby Borough Council Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby unio ...

in 2002. He served on planning, borough development and housing panels and was portfolio holder and cabinet member for Housing.

House of Commons

Pawsey resigned from his position as a councillor upon selection in January 2007 for the new parliamentary constituency of

and was a member of the

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. Pawsey was first 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 ...

in 2010 for Rugby with a majority of 6,000 votes. He was subsequently reelected in 2015 and 2017 with majorities of 10,345 and 8,212. Pawsey served on the Communities and Local Government Committee, having taken over from George Freeman, between 2010 and 2015. He was also a member of the

Public Bill Committee In the British House of Commons, public bill committees (known as standing committees before 2006) consider Bills – proposed Acts of Parliament. The House of Lords does not have such committees, as Bills are usually considered by the House as a ...

for the

Defence Reform Act 2014 The Defence Reform Act 2014 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerned with defence procurement and the UK Reserve Forces, particularly the Territorial Army. It has 51 sections and seven schedules. Part 1 of the Act relates t ...

and has been a member of the all-party groups on manufacturing, microbusinesses, packaging, small business, sewers and sewerage and rugby union. He played for the Lords & Commons rugby club and is currently also secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Speedway Racing. In December 2012, Pawsey spoke out against allowing same sex people to marry by suggesting that it may lead to lower levels of heterosexual people getting married. He said in the House of Commons: "Given that marriage rates in Spain and Holland collapsed after the introduction of same-sex marriage, does she

aria Miller In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

not fear that in this country even fewer couples intending to have children will choose to marry?" Research later showed that Pawsey's evidence base for making his suggestion was problematic. Since becoming an MP Pawsey has campaigned against various measures to limit the tobacco industry. In 2012 Pawsey set up, and became Chair, of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Packaging Manufacturing Industry, with one of objectives of this APPG is "to address issues facing the industry from regulation". Pawsey was one of the MPs who voted unsuccessfully against the proposed tobacco control measure of introducing plain packaging in 2015. Later that year, Pawsey received Rugby World Cup match day hospitality, worth £1,650 from Japan Tobacco International. Pawsey was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum. In July 2017, Pawsey was accused of hypocrisy by opponents after he voted against an

Opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * '' The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Com ...

Party amendment to end a below inflation public sector pay cap – one week after saying concerns over wages needed to be addressed in a letter to his local newspaper. Pawsey defended voting against Labour's amendment, stating: "It was gesture politics by Labour as this was not a vote on primary legislation." He stated that he would support repealing the

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fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of ho ...

. Since September 2017 he has been a member of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee.

Personal life

He is married to Tracy and they live in the village of

Grandborough Grandborough is a small village and civil parish in the Rugby district, in the county of Warwickshire, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Calcutt, Grandborough Fields and Woolscott. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 cens ...

, and London. They have four children.

References

External links