Edward Leigh

Leigh is a descendant of the family of the Roman Catholic Martyr the Blessed Richard Leigh who was hanged at Tyburn during the Reformation in 1588 for being a Catholic priest, and beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1929.

His maternal grandfather was Colonel Cyril Denzil Branch, nephew of Prince Nikolai Golitsyn, the last Prime Minister of Imperial Russia.

Leigh was privately educated at The Oratory School and the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle, before going to University College, Durham, where he read History (BA) and was elected President of the Durham Union Society.

After graduating Leigh was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple and practised in arbitration and criminal law at Goldsmith Chambers (a barristers' chambers).

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and formerly served as a trooper in the Honourable Artillery Company.

Sir Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (born 20 July 1950) is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gainsborough, previously Gainsborough and Horncastle, since 1983.

His father, Sir Neville Leigh KCVO, served in RAF intelligence during World War Two and was Clerk of the Privy Council between 1974 and 1984.

The family hail from the Cheshire family of West Hall, High Legh, a descendant of the Egertons, earls of Bridgewater.

Leigh first stood for Parliament at the October 1974 general election, when he unsuccessfully contested Middlesbrough, coming second with 24.4% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour Party MP Arthur Bottomley.

Leigh was elected to Richmond Borough Council in 1974.

Leigh then worked in the private office of Margaret Thatcher from 1976 to 1977 as a political secretary when she was Leader of the Opposition.

He was elected to the Greater London Council, representing Richmond, from 1977 to 1981.

Leigh was elected to Parliament as MP for Gainsborough and Horncastle at the 1983 general election, winning with 50.9% of the vote and a majority of 5,067.

He was re-elected as MP for Gainsborough and Horncastle at the 1987 general election with an increased vote share of 53.3% and an increased majority of 9,723.

He has edited and authored three books: Right Thinking (1988); The Nation That Forgot God (2008); and Monastery of the Mind (2012).

Edward Leigh was born in London, the son of the civil servant Neville Leigh and his wife Denise Branch.

A strong supporter of Margaret Thatcher, Leigh visited 10 Downing Street with fellow MP Michael Brown on the morning of Thatcher's resignation as Prime Minister in 1990 to try to persuade her to carry on.

Although Charles Powell advised them it was a forlorn task, they were nonetheless granted access to the Cabinet which was in process at the time.

Leigh and Brown departed 10 Downing Street and walked down Whitehall back to the House of Commons reputedly with "tears in their eyes".

After Thatcher resigned, in the ensuing leadership election, Leigh supported Michael Heseltine, under whom he had served at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), preferring to support someone who had stabbed Thatcher in the front to those who had stabbed her in the back.

At the 1992 general election, Leigh was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 54% and an increased majority of 16,245.

Leigh served as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in John Major's ministry but was sacked in May 1993 over his opposition to the Maastricht Treaty.

Whilst a minister he was a keen advocate of privatisation of the Post Office.

In the 1995 Conservative leadership election, Leigh supported John Redwood.

Leigh's constituency of Gainsborough and Horncastle was abolished prior to the 1997 general election, and replaced with the new constituency of Gainsborough. At this election Leigh was elected, winning the seat with 43.1% of the vote and a majority of 6,826.

He served as the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee from 2001 to 2010, investigating government waste and seeking value for money in public expenditure.

He was re-elected as MP for Gainsborough at the 2001 general election with an increased vote share of 46.2% and an increased majority of 8,071.

From 2001 until 2010, Leigh served as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, the principal parliamentary body auditing the Budget, investigating government waste and seeking value for money in public expenditure.

During his two terms as Chairman, the PAC took evidence on 420 separate government projects and programmes and was responsible for saving the taxpayer over £4 billion.

In 2003 Leigh opposed military intervention in Iraq; he has since called for those who voted for the Iraq War, and are still seeking to justify their support for it, to be held to account.

At the 2005 general election, Leigh was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 43.9% and a decreased majority of 8,003.

Leigh was President of the socially conservative Cornerstone Group representing the views of over 40 Conservative Members of Parliament and was author of the group's inaugural pamphlet Faith, Flag and Family in 2005.

In October 2006, Leigh was vocal in stating that after David Cameron had become leader of the party, core supporters were drifting away from voting Conservative.

Nonetheless, his effective chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee led to the rejuvenation of his parliamentary career.

Early in 2008, as Chairman of the PAC, Leigh was embarrassed by relying on flawed Department for Transport (DfT) statistics to attack motorcyclists for tax evasion.

Leigh stepped down at the end of the parliamentary session in 2010, it being customary for an opposition MP to hold this post.

Leigh is a prominent Roman Catholic politician and the President of the Catholic Union of Great Britain.

Leigh was knighted in the Queen's 2013 Birthday Honours for "public and political service"; he has also received honours from the French and Italian governments.

Initially dubbed "the Viscount" in parliamentary circles alluding to his landed gentry background, Leigh has a reputation at Westminster for his independence of mind as a "serial rebeller", who is prepared to vote against his own political party if it conflicts with his own principles.

He was one of the original Maastricht Rebels and was reportedly sacked for organising Euro-rebels among ministers.