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The Right Honourable  Sir Alan Haselhurst  MP
Chairman of Ways and Means
Incumbent
Assumed office  1997
Preceded by	Michael Morris, Baron Naseby
Member of Parliament for Saffron Walden
Incumbent
Assumed office  7 July 1977
Preceded by	Peter Kirk
Majority	13,008 (24.5%)
Member of Parliament for Middleton and Prestwich
In office 18 June 1970 – 28 February 1974
Preceded by	Denis Coe
Succeeded by	Jim Callaghan
Born	23 June 1937 (1937-06-23) (age 72) South Elmsall
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Angela Bailey
Alma mater	Oriel College, Oxford
Website	[1]

Sir Alan campaigning in 2005

Sir Alan Gordon Barraclough Haselhurst (born 23 June 1937) is a British politician. He is the Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Saffron Walden. He is Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons.

[edit] Life before Politics

Alan Haselhurst was born in South Elmsall, near Hemsworth, Yorkshire and was educated at the King Edward's School, Birmingham, Cheltenham College, Gloucestershire, and Oriel College, Oxford. Whilst in Oxford he was the president of the Oxford University Conservative Association in 1958, and served as both the secretary and treasurer for two years with the Oxford Union from 1959. Before his election to parliament he worked in management in the chemicals industry and was an unremunerated director when his father's pharmacy shop was incorporated. He was the chairman of Manchester Youth and Community Service from 1974 until he was re-elected to parliament.

[edit] Political career

He worked as an election agent for the Conservative MP for Hertford Robin Balniel at both the 1964 and 1966 general elections. In 1964 he became the chairman of the National Young Conservatives for two years. He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1970 General Election for the Lancashire seat of Middleton and Prestwich, defeating the Labour MP Denis Coe by 1,042 votes. Haselhurst lost the seat at the February 1974 General Election to Labour's Jim Callaghan by just 517 votes. The Conservative MP for the Essex seat of Saffron Walden, Peter Kirk, died on 17 April 1977, and he was selected to contest the by-election on 7 July. Haselhurst won the seat with a majority of 12,437 and has remained the MP there since.

In parliament he served as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Home Secretary Robert Carr from 1973 until his defeat at the February 1974 General Election. He also served as the PPS to the Secretary of State for Education and Science Mark Carlisle for two years from 1979. He served on the European legislation select committee for fifteen years from 1982 and was a member of the transport select committee 1992–1997. Following the 1997 General Election he was appointed as the chairman of Ways and Means (more commonly the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons), and he has remained as deputy to successive Speakers Michael Martin and John Bercow.

He was considered a strong contender to succeed Martin, who announced his resignation on May 19 2009. However Haselhurst is himself involved in the MP's expenses controversy having been accused by The Daily Telegraph of claiming £12,000 of gardening expenses over 4 years, claiming £249 every month - £1 below the threshold which meant he was not required to provide receipts.^[1] He later paid back the gardening expenses "out of respect to his constituents.^[2]

He withdrew from the race after getting 66 votes in the first round of voting and 57 in the second.^[3]

[edit] Personal life

He married Angela Margaret Bailey on 16 April 1977, and they have two sons and a daughter. He is a very vocal supporter of community based projects and was for a time a director of Turning Point a charity working with socially excluded young people for five years from 1981. He is seen as a wet, and is a supporter of Kenneth Clarke. He was knighted in 1995 and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1999. He is the secretary of the all-party group on cricket and was an executive member of the Essex County Cricket Club 1996-2008.

[edit] Publications

• Occasionally Cricket: The Unpredictable Performances of the Outcasts CC by Alan Haselhurst, 1999, Queen Anne Press, ISBN 1-85291-622-2
• Eventually Cricket by Alan Haselhurst, 2001, Queen Anne Press ISBN 1-85291-637-0
• Incidentally Cricket by Alan Haselhurst, 2003, Queen Anne Press ISBN 1-85291-655-9
• Accidentally Cricket by Alan Haselhurst, 2009, Professional & Higher Partnership Ltd. ISBN 978-1-907076-00-8

[edit] References

[edit] Sources

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

[edit] External links

• Sir Alan Haselhurst's Official website
• Saffron Walden Conservatives
• Official Conservatives biography
• Sir Alan Haselhurst profile on BBC