Anne McIntosh: Difference between revisions

Anne Caroline Ballingall McIntosh (born 20 September 1954) is a politician in the United Kingdom. She is the Conservative Member of Parliament for the Thirsk and Malton seat, having previously represented Vale of York. McIntosh had previously been an MEP.

Born in Edinburgh, the daughter of a Scottish doctor father and Danish mother, Anne McIntosh was educated at the Harrogate Ladies College in North Yorkshire and at the University of Edinburgh where she was a law graduate in 1977, gaining an LLB. She also studied at the University of Aarhus in the Jutland region of Denmark.

In 1978, she became a trainee at the European Community (EEC) Competition Directorate, before joining Didier and Associates in Brussels in 1979 as a legal advisor. She trained for the Scottish Bar in Edinburgh from 1980, being admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in June 1982. She worked as an advocate with the Community Law Office in Brussels, before becoming a political advisor to the European Democrats group in the European Parliament in 1983 until 1989.

McIntosh unsuccessfully contested the 1987 general election at Workington where she was defeated by the sitting Labour MP Dale Campbell-Savours. She was elected for Essex North East at the 1989 European Parliament election and for its successor seat of Essex North and Suffolk South at the 1994 election. She remained a Member of the European Parliament until she stood down at the 1999 contest.

She was elected to the House of Commons in the 1997 general election for the Vale of York which she won by a comfortable 9,721 majority and has held the seat easily since. She was promoted to the Opposition frontbench in 2001 as a spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport and has held a number of front bench positions since (Transport (2003–2005), Foreign Affairs (2005), Work and Pensions (2005–2007), and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (since 2007), though never at shadow cabinet level.

In boundary changes agreed in 2006, the Vale of York constituency was divided up leaving no obvious successor; the seat with the closest identity to it was Thirsk and Malton which was the successor to Ryedale, held since 1987 by John Greenway. McIntosh was placed on the 'A-list' of Conservative parliamentary candidates ahead of the next general election.^[1] On 18 November 2006, the Thirsk and Malton Conservative Association chose McIntosh over Greenway as their candidate for the next general election.

Following an inquiry by Sir Thomas Legg into parliamentary expenses, Anne McIntosh was asked to repay £948.^[2] In her statement, she welcomed the lead in expenses reform from David Cameron, despite being one of only 21 Conservative MPs to vote against expenses reform on 4 July 2008.^[3] She had not provided "proof" to support her claims for £621 rent/mortgage from 2000 to 2006.^[4] Her expenses claim for May 2009 included a telephone bill in the name of her husband ^[5], the same file showing receipts for claims on 8th and 12th April 2008 for cleaning fluid close to properties which are shown under her entry in the Register of Members' Interests, and 90 minutes from her "second" home for expenses purposes. Previous claims included car repairs, claimed for July 2007 and hire cars, use of which was specifically prohibited by the Green Book^[6] which might be expected to be covered by her mileage allowance of £3,677 claimed in that year ^[7] whilst enjoying free RAC breakdown cover. ^[8] During the previous financial year she also claimed for car insurance and MOT.^[9]

Following the death of UKIP candidate John Boakes, the 2010 election in Thirsk and Malton was delayed until 27 May, some three weeks after the rest of the country. McIntosh won, returning to Parliament, with a majority of 11,281.^[10][11]

Anne McIntosh married John Harvey in September 1992 in County Durham, and they live in the constituency near to Thirsk. She speaks six foreign languages: Danish, French, German, Spanish, Chinese and Italian.

• Website at ePolitix
• Anne McIntosh Conservative Party profile
• Thirsk & Malton Conservatives
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou