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in Medicine : Research and Grants : Grants : SIIM... scarnet.org | Welcome to the UCSF Douglas Grant Cochlear Implant CenterUCSF Douglas... ohns.ucsf.edu |
Grant Shapps (born 14 September 1968, Watford) is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Welwyn Hatfield in the United Kingdom, winning the seat in the 2005 election on 5 May 2005. Shapps is currently the Shadow Minister for Housing.
[edit] BiographyShapps was born in Watford in Hertfordshire and educated at Watford Grammar School for Boys, followed by Cassio College where he completed a Business & Finance course at Manchester Metropolitan University (then Manchester Polytechnic), where he received a Higher National Diploma[1]. In 1990 he founded his own printing company, PrintHouse Corporation. It has grown into a successful commercial design, print and web development company.[1] Shapps married Belinda Goldstone in 1997 and they have three children[2]. [edit] Political careerShapps first stood for Parliament during the 1997 election as the Conservative candidate for North Southwark and Bermondsey[3]. In 1999 he was selected for the Welwyn Hatfield constituency for the 2001 election.[citation needed] Shapps was reselected to fight Welwyn Hatfield in 2002 and continued his local campaigning over the next four years, he stood again in the 2005 election and was elected as the Conservative MP for Welwyn Hatfield, defeating the Labour MP and by then Minister for Public Health, Melanie Johnson. He received 22,172 votes (49.6%) recording the second highest swing in the 2005 election of 8.2% from Labour to Conservative, a majority of 5,946 (13.3%). According to Simon Hoggart writing in The Guardian, Shapps had 22 pictures of himself in his election address,[4] although Hoggart did later concede that those who pitched "person" over "party" at a time when the Conservative Party was behind in the polls actually received better results in the 2005 election.[4] The Welwyn Hatfield swing was the second highest Labour to Conservative swing of the 2005 election, Welwyn Hatfield was one of the most marginal seats in the country.[4] Grant Shapps founded and runs the busy Welwyn Hatfield Discussion Forum. Shapps publicly backed David Cameron's bid for the leadership of the Conservative Party, seconding Cameron's nomination papers. Upon Cameron's election as Party Leader Shapps was appointed Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party with responsibility for Campaigning.[citation needed] Shapps was a member of the Public Administration Select Committee between May 2005 and February 2007. In July 2007 Shapps was 'promoted' to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Housing Minister. [edit] Shadow housing ministerIn July 2007, Grant Shapps became Shadow Housing Minister attending Shadow Cabinet[5]. At a time when Prime Minister Gordon Brown made housing a priority, Shapps became responsible for developing Conservative housing policy.[citation needed] He argues in favour of a community-up approach to solving the housing crisis and warns against the Government's strategy of top-down Whitehall driven housing targets, which he believes have failed in the past.[6] His Housing portfolio is considered to be one of the battlegrounds for the next British General Election.[citation needed] In his 2007, 2008 and 2009 Conservative Party Conference speeches on Housing, Shapps outlined a vision of localism being used to replace centrally imposed housing targets with the aim of creating more new build overall.[7] Labour Government Housing Ministers have come and gone quickly and Shapps has now 'outlived' four Housing Ministers during his time shadowing the brief. In April 2009 Grant Shapps launched the Conservative Party's 9th Green Paper on policy called Strong Foundations. In it Shapps argues for new Local Housing Trusts designed to allow local communities to grant themselves planning permission to expand and a new Right To Move intended to encourage more mobility within the social housing sector. [edit] Reports and ResearchGrant Shapps has used his time in Parliament to research and publish a wide range of reports[8] on a variety of subjects that often receive national press coverage.[9][10][11][12] Since becoming Shadow Housing Minister, five of Shapps' reports have dealt with the causes and effect of homelessness from rough sleeping through to so-called "sofa surfing".[13] On Christmas Eve 2007, Shapps slept on the pavement of Victoria station in a sleeping bag, waking Christmas morning soaked from a downpour.[14] Shapps says he wanted to draw attention to the fact that there are 130,000 homeless children in England, saying, "It served its purpose. Homelessness struggles to get on the news agenda and I wanted to try and highlight the plight of children who sleep rough every night".[14] His work became sufficiently influential within the homelessness sector that when he launched the Homelessness Foundation with Conservative leader David Cameron in May 2008, leading lights from the sector including Chief Executives from charities like Shelter, Crisis and the Founder of the Big Issue, John Bird, all joined the Advisory Panel of the Conservative Homelessness Foundation[15]. The Foundation's aim is to provide academic research into homelessness[16]. On Christmas Eve 2008 Grant Shapps launched the Conservative Blueprint for Tackling Homelessness at St Mungos Homeless Hostel in Camden. [edit] Business backgroundIn 1990, aged 21, Grant Shapps founded PrintHouse Corporation, a design, print, website creation and marketing business sited in London. He stepped down as a Director in 2009. [edit] References
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