Member of Parliament for North West Hampshire
Sir George Young Conservative
http://www.sirgeorgeyoung.org.uk
Constituency Office
2 Church Close
Andover
Hampshire SP10 1DP
Phone: 01264 401401
Fax: 01264 391155
Email: sirgeorge@sirgeorgeyoung.org.uk
Text message: 07624 806278
Constituents: to get my help or advice as your Member of Parliament, use my Online Advice Bureau; or you can email me; or call my secretary to arrange to meet me in the constituency or at Westminster.
Your views and opinions are important to me: Tell me your opinion (click here) or see what others are writing to me about (click here).
Parliamentary ExpensesMy Parliamentary expenses have been online for over two years and are updated weekly click here.
Your views and opinions are important to me: Tell me your opinion (click here) or see what others are writing to me about (click here).
Parliamentary ExpensesMy Parliamentary expenses have been online for over two years and are updated weekly click here.
Legg Review
13 Oct 2009
“Along with other MP's, I have had a letter from Sir Thomas Legg, who has done a review of claims for accommodation from 04/05 to 08/09. He has provisionally concluded that there was an overpayment of £104.68 for electricity in 2005. I will abide by his final conclusions and repay any sum due.”
“I support the process of the Legg Review as I believe it is an important step in restoring public confidence in Parliament, and in enabling us to put right what went wrong in the past.”
“Along with other MP's, I have had a letter from Sir Thomas Legg, who has done a review of claims for accommodation from 04/05 to 08/09. He has provisionally concluded that there was an overpayment of £104.68 for electricity in 2005. I will abide by his final conclusions and repay any sum due.”
“I support the process of the Legg Review as I believe it is an important step in restoring public confidence in Parliament, and in enabling us to put right what went wrong in the past.”
Sir George joins the Shadow Cabinet
8 Sep 2009
“I am delighted to be joining David Cameron’s Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Leader of the House. I am looking forward to working with him and the rest of the team in the run-up to the General Election.”
Sir George was Shadow Leader under William Hague from 1998-2000 when he stood down to contest the Speakership. He has been Chairman of the Standards and Privileges Committee since the 2001 General Election, a post from which he will be standing down.
“I am delighted to be joining David Cameron’s Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Leader of the House. I am looking forward to working with him and the rest of the team in the run-up to the General Election.”
Sir George was Shadow Leader under William Hague from 1998-2000 when he stood down to contest the Speakership. He has been Chairman of the Standards and Privileges Committee since the 2001 General Election, a post from which he will be standing down.
My blog:
On a Lighter Note
Laughter in Paradise
23 Oct 2009
Older readers may remember a film called “Laughter in Paradise”. An elderly practical joker lies on his deathbed, attended by a nurse who is reading a newspaper at the bedside. Reaching for a box of matches, he lights the bottom of her paper; but the hilarity caused by her subsequent distress is too much for his slender frame and the laughter finishes him off. In his will, he leaves £50,000 to each of his four remaining relatives, but with conditions attached. In order to inherit this windfall – and £50,000 bought a lot when the film was made in 1951 - his spinster sister, who treats her staff with contempt, has to work as a maid and keep the job for a month. A self-effacing bank clerk has to hold up his manager at gun point and force him to hand over the keys to the safe. A gambling playboy has to marry the first woman he meets after the reading of the will; and a respectable retired army officer, played memorably by Alastair Sim, has to commit a crime that carries a custodial sentence of more than 28 days.
The film and its challenges came to mind because, in a few weeks time, I am doing Desert Island Discs. The connection will become clear in a moment.
My interview on a notional desert island is not on Radio 4 with Kirsty Young, but in St Mary Bourne with Bruce Parker. It is to raise funds for my local party and help it meet its challenging quota from Headquarters. Tickets to my surprise have sold out – possibly because a good meal follows the encounter. I haven’t looked on ebay to see whether there is a black market, but there is certainly a waiting list. The show might conceivably go on tour, starting at the Lights in the footsteps of my colleague Ann Widdecombe.
Choosing eight records is an intellectual challenge. On my short list is Charles Penrose and the Laughing Policeman – recorded not long before Laughter in Paradise. Nowadays you don’t meet many laughing policemen, unless you tell them that you were only doing 69 mph on the A303.
But I am thinking of a clause in my will inspired by Laughter in Paradise. To collect whatever is left after whoever is Chancellor of the Exchequer takes his slice, the family may have to comply with one condition. As the curtains in the crematorium close, and the vicar presses the button that propels my coffin gently towards the flames, taking my mortal remains to eternity, my last will and testament may require that, instead of some mournful dirge, the Laughing Policeman should entertain the mourners. Laughter in Paradise indeed – or, more likely after the Daily Telegraph and the Legg Review have passed judgement on MP's - Laughter in Purgatory.
The Birth Centre
10 Oct 2009
Before heading north to Manchester last week for the Party Conference, I went to the Andover Birth Centre for its Open Day. Just as the two main political parties have recruited to their ranks experienced personnel from the Armed Forces, so, less controversially, I was joined on this visit by my wife. She has front line experience of matters maternal, whereas I am better on the theory than the practical. She talked intelligently to the midwives about breech deliveries while I asked the expectant mums about the birthing pool.
The Birth Centre in Andover is a great resource for the community which I commend to those of my constituents who are great with child. With an election imminent, a picture of the MP with a new born baby was taken and put into the data base for future use.
We have four children, but my wife has delivered five, the fifth being a grandson who was born in the back of my car. Our daughter was staying with us when she informed us that, while the confinement of her second child was not imminent, it was on the horizon. She wanted to be back in London with her nominated midwife, so we popped her in the back of the car and headed east. From the sounds behind me as we bowled along the A303, it was clear that the horizon was getting closer by the minute. I offered her the services of the Royal Hampshire Hospital in Winchester; then a few miles later, those of the North Hampshire Hospital in Basingstoke; and then a range of maternity units on either side of the M3. No, all was well.
By the time we reached the outskirts of London however, all was not well. I was instructed to bring the car to a halt and dial 999. I worked out which of the three emergency services we needed and, when connected, was asked where I was. It was, as they say, a good question. But it was one to which there was no immediate answer. I was on a dual carriageway on the south west corner of the capital, on one of those roads which carried no name and with no obvious landmark. And night had fallen.
While my dialogue was taking place, a grandson was delivered by my wife on the backseat of the car. I looked straight ahead and tuned in to Radio 3, having been told that this was a drama in which I had no useful part to play. I was told that all was well, and the upholstery would clean up nicely.
The young lad is now 10 and his second name is that of the car – Sterling. He is grateful that he was born before we bought our Toyota.
23 Oct 2009
Older readers may remember a film called “Laughter in Paradise”. An elderly practical joker lies on his deathbed, attended by a nurse who is reading a newspaper at the bedside. Reaching for a box of matches, he lights the bottom of her paper; but the hilarity caused by her subsequent distress is too much for his slender frame and the laughter finishes him off. In his will, he leaves £50,000 to each of his four remaining relatives, but with conditions attached. In order to inherit this windfall – and £50,000 bought a lot when the film was made in 1951 - his spinster sister, who treats her staff with contempt, has to work as a maid and keep the job for a month. A self-effacing bank clerk has to hold up his manager at gun point and force him to hand over the keys to the safe. A gambling playboy has to marry the first woman he meets after the reading of the will; and a respectable retired army officer, played memorably by Alastair Sim, has to commit a crime that carries a custodial sentence of more than 28 days.
The film and its challenges came to mind because, in a few weeks time, I am doing Desert Island Discs. The connection will become clear in a moment.
My interview on a notional desert island is not on Radio 4 with Kirsty Young, but in St Mary Bourne with Bruce Parker. It is to raise funds for my local party and help it meet its challenging quota from Headquarters. Tickets to my surprise have sold out – possibly because a good meal follows the encounter. I haven’t looked on ebay to see whether there is a black market, but there is certainly a waiting list. The show might conceivably go on tour, starting at the Lights in the footsteps of my colleague Ann Widdecombe.
Choosing eight records is an intellectual challenge. On my short list is Charles Penrose and the Laughing Policeman – recorded not long before Laughter in Paradise. Nowadays you don’t meet many laughing policemen, unless you tell them that you were only doing 69 mph on the A303.
But I am thinking of a clause in my will inspired by Laughter in Paradise. To collect whatever is left after whoever is Chancellor of the Exchequer takes his slice, the family may have to comply with one condition. As the curtains in the crematorium close, and the vicar presses the button that propels my coffin gently towards the flames, taking my mortal remains to eternity, my last will and testament may require that, instead of some mournful dirge, the Laughing Policeman should entertain the mourners. Laughter in Paradise indeed – or, more likely after the Daily Telegraph and the Legg Review have passed judgement on MP's - Laughter in Purgatory.
The Birth Centre
10 Oct 2009
Before heading north to Manchester last week for the Party Conference, I went to the Andover Birth Centre for its Open Day. Just as the two main political parties have recruited to their ranks experienced personnel from the Armed Forces, so, less controversially, I was joined on this visit by my wife. She has front line experience of matters maternal, whereas I am better on the theory than the practical. She talked intelligently to the midwives about breech deliveries while I asked the expectant mums about the birthing pool.
The Birth Centre in Andover is a great resource for the community which I commend to those of my constituents who are great with child. With an election imminent, a picture of the MP with a new born baby was taken and put into the data base for future use.
We have four children, but my wife has delivered five, the fifth being a grandson who was born in the back of my car. Our daughter was staying with us when she informed us that, while the confinement of her second child was not imminent, it was on the horizon. She wanted to be back in London with her nominated midwife, so we popped her in the back of the car and headed east. From the sounds behind me as we bowled along the A303, it was clear that the horizon was getting closer by the minute. I offered her the services of the Royal Hampshire Hospital in Winchester; then a few miles later, those of the North Hampshire Hospital in Basingstoke; and then a range of maternity units on either side of the M3. No, all was well.
By the time we reached the outskirts of London however, all was not well. I was instructed to bring the car to a halt and dial 999. I worked out which of the three emergency services we needed and, when connected, was asked where I was. It was, as they say, a good question. But it was one to which there was no immediate answer. I was on a dual carriageway on the south west corner of the capital, on one of those roads which carried no name and with no obvious landmark. And night had fallen.
While my dialogue was taking place, a grandson was delivered by my wife on the backseat of the car. I looked straight ahead and tuned in to Radio 3, having been told that this was a drama in which I had no useful part to play. I was told that all was well, and the upholstery would clean up nicely.
The young lad is now 10 and his second name is that of the car – Sterling. He is grateful that he was born before we bought our Toyota.
The Party Conference
25 Sep 2009
In a few days time, a group of politically motivated men and women will be heading from North West Hants up to Manchester for the Conservative Party Conference. I will be among them and will be staying there for five days.
The last time I stayed in that great city was in 1993 when, as a Minister, I was backing its campaign to host the Olympics. My task, along with Bob Scott, was to persuade members of the International Olympic Committee that Manchester was the preferred destination for the games, despite the rain. They enjoyed much hospitality and then voted for Sydney. I have kept the tie we made for that campaign which I propose to wear with pride.
As Transport Secretary in 1996, I approved the building of a second runway for the airport. It was generously reported as the most significant construction project for Manchester since the opening of the Ship Canal in 1894. A number of people took a contrary view and headed for the trees in Arthurs Wood in order to obstruct the project. I also gave the go-ahead to the Metrolink extension to Salford Quays and Eccles for which subsequent administrations have taken the credit. Whether my hosts recollect my commitment to the city’s infrastructure remains to be seen, but they have kindly sent me, and all other attendees, a pass that gets me free travel on bus, train and tram.
Previous party conferences have had their moments of excitement. At one, the Blackpool Constabulary contacted my office to ask for my inside leg measurements. My office were accustomed to mischievous enquiries from the press, but not from the arm of the law. “Why” they enquired “was this personal information needed?”
It turned out that I had chained my bicycle to the railings near the Imperial Hotel, and the frame might have been filled with gelignite. To ensure this was not the case, the saddle had been removed and an endoscopy carried out. Incipient traces of rust were found but otherwise it got a clean bill of health. Discreet enquiries and interrogation of the CCTV cameras had disclosed that the owner of the bicycle was the then Member for Ealing Acton. The reason for the phone call was that the police wished to leave the bicycle as they had found it. They needed to know my inside leg measurement to ensure that the saddle was the appropriate height from the ground (which meant that a normal sized adult needed a step ladder to get on to it.)
On an earlier occasion, a British Embassy overseas was concerned that the Foreign Secretary might not get through a revolving door. They telephoned his private office and asked a question of similar intrusiveness. “What is the diameter of the Foreign Secretary?” I am afraid we don’t know his diameter.” said the Private Secretary. “But we can tell you his circumference.”
25 Sep 2009
In a few days time, a group of politically motivated men and women will be heading from North West Hants up to Manchester for the Conservative Party Conference. I will be among them and will be staying there for five days.
The last time I stayed in that great city was in 1993 when, as a Minister, I was backing its campaign to host the Olympics. My task, along with Bob Scott, was to persuade members of the International Olympic Committee that Manchester was the preferred destination for the games, despite the rain. They enjoyed much hospitality and then voted for Sydney. I have kept the tie we made for that campaign which I propose to wear with pride.
As Transport Secretary in 1996, I approved the building of a second runway for the airport. It was generously reported as the most significant construction project for Manchester since the opening of the Ship Canal in 1894. A number of people took a contrary view and headed for the trees in Arthurs Wood in order to obstruct the project. I also gave the go-ahead to the Metrolink extension to Salford Quays and Eccles for which subsequent administrations have taken the credit. Whether my hosts recollect my commitment to the city’s infrastructure remains to be seen, but they have kindly sent me, and all other attendees, a pass that gets me free travel on bus, train and tram.
Previous party conferences have had their moments of excitement. At one, the Blackpool Constabulary contacted my office to ask for my inside leg measurements. My office were accustomed to mischievous enquiries from the press, but not from the arm of the law. “Why” they enquired “was this personal information needed?”
It turned out that I had chained my bicycle to the railings near the Imperial Hotel, and the frame might have been filled with gelignite. To ensure this was not the case, the saddle had been removed and an endoscopy carried out. Incipient traces of rust were found but otherwise it got a clean bill of health. Discreet enquiries and interrogation of the CCTV cameras had disclosed that the owner of the bicycle was the then Member for Ealing Acton. The reason for the phone call was that the police wished to leave the bicycle as they had found it. They needed to know my inside leg measurement to ensure that the saddle was the appropriate height from the ground (which meant that a normal sized adult needed a step ladder to get on to it.)
On an earlier occasion, a British Embassy overseas was concerned that the Foreign Secretary might not get through a revolving door. They telephoned his private office and asked a question of similar intrusiveness. “What is the diameter of the Foreign Secretary?” I am afraid we don’t know his diameter.” said the Private Secretary. “But we can tell you his circumference.”
http://www.sirgeorgeyoung.org.uk/places.cfm?placesid=32
Use this web address for interesting facts and photographs of Hannington and area.
Councillors for Kingsclere
Cllr Cathy Osselton - Conservative
Telephone 01635 298774
email - cllr.cathy.osselton@basingstoke.gov.uk
1 Priors Close, Kingsclere
Newbury, Berkshire
RG20 5Q
My Council Work
Appeals Panel
Role : Chairman
Staff Appeals against Dismissal etc
§ Last Meeting ... held on 02/08/2007.
Cabinet
Role : Cabinet Member for Housing and Health
§ Last Meeting ... held on 28/07/2009.
§ Next Meeting ... to be held on 27/10/2009.
Committee of the Council
Council Tax
§ Last Meeting ... held on 24/02/2009.
Cross Border Working Party
Joint forum with Hampshire County Council and West Berks to discuss AWE - Greenham Common and other cross border issues.
Manydown Executive Committee
Executive Functions and decisions in relation to the Council’s ownership, development and disposal of the Manydown Land.
§ Last Meeting ... held on 23/06/2009.
Personnel
§ Last Meeting ... held on 14/09/2009.
§ Next Meeting ... to be held on 08/03/2010.
Appeals Panel
Role : Chairman
Staff Appeals against Dismissal etc
§ Last Meeting ... held on 02/08/2007.
Cabinet
Role : Cabinet Member for Housing and Health
§ Last Meeting ... held on 28/07/2009.
§ Next Meeting ... to be held on 27/10/2009.
Committee of the Council
Council Tax
§ Last Meeting ... held on 24/02/2009.
Cross Border Working Party
Joint forum with Hampshire County Council and West Berks to discuss AWE - Greenham Common and other cross border issues.
Manydown Executive Committee
Executive Functions and decisions in relation to the Council’s ownership, development and disposal of the Manydown Land.
§ Last Meeting ... held on 23/06/2009.
Personnel
§ Last Meeting ... held on 14/09/2009.
§ Next Meeting ... to be held on 08/03/2010.
Cllr Kenneth Rhatigan - Conservative
Telephone 01189 810821
email - cllr.ken.rhatigan@basingstoke.gov.uk
11 Hollycroft, Ashford Hill
Thatcham, Berkshire
RG19 8BU
Committees
Development Control
Considers Planning Applications and Development Control and Enforcement matters. Also deals with extinguishment of public rights of way, stopping up or diversion of footpaths, protection of important hedgerows and preservation of trees.
Audit Governance and Accounts
Purpose: To consider the Head of Internal Audit’s annual report and opinion, and a summary of audit activity (actual and proposed) and the level of assurance it can give over the council’s corporate governance arrangements. To consider summaries of specific internal audit reports as requested. To maintain an overview of the council’s constitution in respect of contract standing orders, contract procedures, financial regulations, financial procedures and officer codes of conduct and behaviour. To monitor the effective development and operation of risk management and corporate governance in the council. To ensure that there are robust procedures in place covering Whistleblowing, the anti-fraud and corruption strategy and the council’s complaints process. To oversee the production of the council’s Statement on Internal Control and to recommend its adoption. To review the annual Statement of Accounts.
Economic Prosperity and Performance Overview and Scrutiny
Purpose: Economic Prosperity and Partnerships. Finance, Property and Performance
LDF Member Advisory Panel
Development Control
Considers Planning Applications and Development Control and Enforcement matters. Also deals with extinguishment of public rights of way, stopping up or diversion of footpaths, protection of important hedgerows and preservation of trees.
Audit Governance and Accounts
Purpose: To consider the Head of Internal Audit’s annual report and opinion, and a summary of audit activity (actual and proposed) and the level of assurance it can give over the council’s corporate governance arrangements. To consider summaries of specific internal audit reports as requested. To maintain an overview of the council’s constitution in respect of contract standing orders, contract procedures, financial regulations, financial procedures and officer codes of conduct and behaviour. To monitor the effective development and operation of risk management and corporate governance in the council. To ensure that there are robust procedures in place covering Whistleblowing, the anti-fraud and corruption strategy and the council’s complaints process. To oversee the production of the council’s Statement on Internal Control and to recommend its adoption. To review the annual Statement of Accounts.
Economic Prosperity and Performance Overview and Scrutiny
Purpose: Economic Prosperity and Partnerships. Finance, Property and Performance
LDF Member Advisory Panel