Matthew Gordon-Banks (born 21 June 1961) is a British former

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 who was elected in 1992 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 of ...

for

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

, but lost his seat in 1997. Gordon-Banks left the Conservative Party in 2004 to join the Liberal Democrats. In 2016, he was suspended from his membership of the Liberal Democrats.

Early life and career

Gordon-Banks graduated with a BA (Hons) in History and Economics from

Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield railway station, while the Collegiate Cr ...

.Biography, ''

Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...

''. He served in the 1st Battalion,

51st Highland Volunteers The 51st Highland Volunteers (51 HIGHLAND) is a battalion in the British Army's Army Reserve or reserve force in the Scottish Highlands, forming the 7th Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, also known as 7 SCOTS. It is one of two Re ...

, from 1979 to 1981 before attending the

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town of ...

and being commissioned into the

Gordon Highlanders Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

in 1981.Matthew Banks appointed as PPS to Curry and Jones
/ref> After leaving the Army in 1983 with a war disablement pension he worked for

Barclays Bank Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

and in 1984 he was elected as Conservative member for the

Heswall Heswall is a town on the Wirral, Merseyside, England. At the 2001 Census, the population was 16,012, including the nearby villages of Barnston and Gayton. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974 it was part of the administr ...

Ward on

Wirral Borough Council Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council, or simply Wirral Council, is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in Merseyside and one of 36 in the metropolit ...

, serving as chairman of the Schools Committee from 1985 to 1986 and the Works Committee from 1986 to 1987. He was re-elected with 75% of the vote in 1988 before standing down from the council in 1990. From 1988 to 1989, he worked as private secretary to

Cecil Franks Cecil Simon Franks (1 July 1935 – 2 February 2014) was a British solicitor and politician from Manchester. He was the Member of Parliament for Barrow and Furness from the 1983 General Election until the 1992 General Election. Franks was bo ...

, Conservative MP for

Barrow and Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 the ...

, and from 1989 he was a senior adviser on the Middle-East affairs for LBJ Ltd. In the 1987 general election, Gordon-Banks was the Conservative candidate for Manchester Central, a safe Labour seat.

Parliamentary career

In 1990, Gordon-Banks was selected to contest

and was elected as the constituency's Member of Parliament (MP)

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, gaining the seat from 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 ...

Ronnie Fearn Ronald Cyril Fearn, Baron Fearn, (6 February 1931 – 24 January 2022) was a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was born and died in Southport. Early life Fearn was born in 1931 in Southport, the son of James (a master decorator) and Mar ...

. In Parliament, he served on the

Transport Select Committee The Transport Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the Committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Transport and its associ ...

from 1992 to 1997. He was also chairman of the Anglo-Venezuela Parliamentary Group and secretary of the Anglo-United Arab Emirates Parliamentary Group from 1993 to 1997. In 1997, Fearn regained the seat from Gordon-Banks.

Later career

Gordon-Banks represented

Northleach Northleach is a market town and former civil parish, now in parish Northleach with Eastington, in the Cotswold district, in Gloucestershire, England. The town is in the valley of the River Leach in the Cotswolds, about northeast of Cirencester ...

Cotswold District Council The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames, Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the be ...

from 2000 to 2004, sitting as an

Independent Conservative Independent Conservative is a description which has been used in the United Kingdom, Canada, United States and elsewhere, to denote a political conservative who lacks a formal affiliation to the party of that name. In the United Kingdom As a de ...

and chairing the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for two years. After re-election unopposed in May 2004, he resigned from the council in November of that year. Gordon-Banks received an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from the Donald Harrison School of Business at

Southeast Missouri State University Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) is a public university in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In addition to the main campus, the university has four regional campuses offering full degree programs and a secondary campus housing the Holland Col ...

in 2001. From 2002 to 2006, he was an adviser to the Joint Security Industry Council and in 2004, he joined the

Defence Academy of the United Kingdom The Defence Academy of the United Kingdom provides higher education for personnel in the British Armed Forces, Civil Service, other government departments and service personnel from other nations. The Director General of the Defence Academy i ...

as a Senior Research Fellow, Middle East and South Asia, a post he held until 2012. From 2006 to 2010, he was a Senior Adviser regarding the Middle East and South East Asia in the Advanced Research and Assessment Group of the Defence Academy.

Party defection and expulsion

In 2004, Gordon-Banks switched party allegiance to the Liberal Democrats, joining the party's Executive Committee in

Moray Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Between 1975 ...

, Scotland. Gordon-Banks was suspended from the Liberal Democrats in 2016 after an

antisemitic 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 ...

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

tweet: "Farron's leadership campaign was organised and funded by London Jews". Marie van der Zyl, Vice President of the

Board of Deputies of British Jews The Board of Deputies of British Jews, commonly referred to as the Board of Deputies, is the largest and second oldest Jewish communal organisation in the United Kingdom, after only the Initiation Society which was founded in 1745. Established ...

, said, "The comments by Matthew Gordon Banks on Twitter are of very deep concern. He talks about Jews and money and hints at the age-old

canard Canard is French for duck, a type of aquatic bird. Canard may also refer to: Aviation *Canard (aeronautics), a small wing in front of an aircraft's main wing * Aviafiber Canard 2FL, a single seat recreational aircraft of canard design * Blé ...

of the 'Jewish conspiracy'. He must urgently clarify and apologise for his comments, otherwise, we would expect the Liberal Democrat Party to invoke disciplinary procedures".

Personal life

Gordon-Banks married Jane Miller in 1992 and has a son and a daughter. He has a home in Charlbury, West Oxfordshire. In 2017 Gordon-Banks was jailed for crashing his

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

into a camper occupied by a 71-year-old man, for driving his motor vehicle at over twice the drink-drive limit, failing to stop for police and driving whilst banned and without insurance. In February 2017 Gordon-Banks was banned from the roads for driving whilst over the alcohol limit. In both cases his defence pled

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a ...

in mitigation.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon-Banks, Matthew 1961 births Living people Gordon Banks, Matthew Banks, Matthew Gordon Highlanders officers Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors Alumni of Sheffield Hallam University Southeast Missouri State University alumni 51st Highland Volunteers soldiers Councillors in Merseyside Councillors in Gloucestershire People from Moray