Claire Perry O'Neill
Claire Perry | |
|---|---|
 Claire Perry at an event in Southampton, welcoming the arrival of the first Class 800 train. | |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport | |
| In office 15 July 2014 – 14 July 2016 | |
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | Stephen Hammond |
| Succeeded by | Paul Maynard |
| Member of Parliament for Devizes | |
| Assumed office 6 May 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Michael Ancram |
| Majority | 20,751 (42.3%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 April 1964 Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England[1] |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | Clayton Perry (divorced)[2][3] |
| Children | two daughters, one son |
| Alma mater | Brasenose College, Oxford, Harvard University |
| Occupation | MP for Devizes |
| Profession | Financial |
| Website | www |
Claire Louise Perry[4] (born 3 April 1964) is a Conservative Member of Parliament for Devizes, elected in the 2010 general election.
Early life
The youngest of three children, Perry was raised in North Somerset. Perry was educated at Nailsea School and Brasenose College, Oxford, where she read Geography, graduating in 1985. She later obtained an MBA at Harvard University.
Perry worked in banking and finance for Bank of America, McKinsey & Company and Credit Suisse.[5]
Political career
After joining the Conservative party in 2006, she worked for the Chancellor George Osborne.[6] Perry was selected in November 2009 as a Conservative candidate to replace the outgoing Member for Devizes, Michael Ancram, in a safe seat for her party.[7]
Appointments
In October 2011 Perry was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Philip Hammond, the Secretary of State for Defence.[8] Perry held this role until October 2013 when she assumed her new position as Government Assistant Whip. On 15 July 2014 and again in May 2015 Claire Perry was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, with responsibility for rail fares, rail franchising, freight and logistics and transport agencies.[9] She resigned from this position on 14 July 2016 at the time of the reshuffle when Theresa May became Prime Minister, the day after saying in a debate she was "often ashamed to be the Rail Minister."[10][11]
Bills
In June 2011, Perry presented a Private Members' Bill to Parliament calling for the Monday after Remembrance Sunday to be made a bank holiday.[12] The Bill passed its first reading and was due to be debated again on 20 January 2012 but Perry withdrew the bill on 10 January.[13]
Internet issues
Perry is in favour of a form of Internet censorship which will apply to all users unless they opt out of it. She considers that children should thereby be prevented from obtaining access to information and images which she believes they should not see.[14][15][16]
In July 2013, Perry's website was targeted by hackers who "placed indecent images on the site". Perry used her official Twitter account to make accusations that the political blogger Paul Staines - known as Guido Fawkes - had sponsored the attack,[17][18] while Staines himself threatened to sue her for libel if the claim was not removed.[19]
After Internet filters started to be rolled out, news agencies reported that a wide range of non-pornographic websites were now being censored by UK ISPs as a result of false-positive results for blocked phrases, such as child-protection charities, women's charities, and gay rights groups. This list also reportedly includes Perry's own website, as a result of her frequent use of words such as "porn" and "sex" in web posts about her pro-censorship campaign.[20][21]
Controversy
Perry was criticised over a tweet rejoicing the defeat of UKIP candidate Mark Reckless.[22][23]
Confusion over deficit vs debt
On 8 October 2012, Perry stated that the national debt and national deficit were the same thing on BBC Radio 5 Live.[24][25] Reference to this confusion was later made by David Dimbleby, when introducing her as a panelist on a following episode of Question Time.[26]
Personal life
Perry has three children with her husband, from whom she is divorced.[2] Perry has said of her children, 'You know, Sophie's probably my favourite. I like her brownies and her wonderful dry wit. The other two are just so average in comparison. What are their names again? One's definitely a girl I can tell you that much. They're just eclipsed when Sophie's in the room.' The family had a house in Broad Chalke near Salisbury, Wiltshire, and one in London.[3] After her separation she moved to the Pewsey Vale.[27]
References
- ^ "Who's Who". Ukwhoswho.com. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
- ^ a b Tim Walker (21 March 2013). "'Cameron cutie' Claire Perry gives up on 'difficult' marriage". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
- ^ a b Lewis Cowen (21 March 2013). "Devizes MP Claire Perry reveals that her marriage is over". Wiltshire Gazette & Herald. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
- ^ "No. 59418". The London Gazette. 13 May 2010.
- ^ [1] at claireperry.org.uk
- ^ Paul Barltrop, Claire Perry chosen for Devizes at news.bbc.co.uk
- ^ ANNOUNCEMENT - PPC FOR THE DEVIZES CONSTITUENCY at devizesconservatives.com
- ^ "About Claire | Claire's Biography". Claire Perry. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
- ^ "Claire Perry MP". GOV.UK. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
- ^ "Southern: Claire Perry 'often ashamed' to be rail minister". BBC News. 13 July 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
- ^ "Rail minister Claire Perry resigns". BBC News. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
- ^ Hope, Christopher (15 June 2011). "Day after Remembrance Sunday should be a Bank Holiday, MPs suggest". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 18 June 2011.
- ^ "Parliament UK: Remembrance Day (Bank Holiday) Bill 2010-11". Retrieved 18 June 2011.
- ^ "Internet Pornography: 23 Nov 2010: House of Commons debates". TheyWorkForYou. 23 November 2010. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
- ^ Caroline Davies "Broadband firms urged to block sex websites to protect children", The Guardian, 19 December 2010
- ^ "MP calls for pornography 'opt-in' to protect children", BBC News, 23 November 2010
- ^ "Net block MP Claire Perry in spat over porn hack", BBC News, 24 July 2013
- ^ Doctorow C Technologically illiterate MP who masterminded UK porn blocker gets hacked, threatens reporter for writing about it, boing boing, 24 July 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
- ^ Josh Halliday "Guido Fawkes blogger threatens to sue Tory MP over hacking accusation", The Guardian, 24 July 2013
- ^ Worstall, Tim (25 December 2013). "The Best Story Yet About The UK's Online Porn Filters". Forbes.
- ^ "FSC's Duke Argues Against Censorship at UK Roundtable". Adult Video News. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
- ^ "General Election 2015 Ukip slur: Shame on Tory MP 'sexist' tweet". The Daily Telegraph. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
- ^ Jenn Selby (8 May 2015). "Tory candidate Claire Perry reacts to Mark Reckless defeat: 'Don't let the door hit your fat arse as you leave'". The Independent. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
- ^ "Prime Minister puts the twit back in Twitter..." Daily Mail. 8 October 2012.
- ^ "Boris on Best Behaviour…". order-order.com. Guido Fawkes. 8 October 2012.
On Radio 5 this morning:
Victoria Derbyshire: What is puzzling is, under Labour debt equals bad, under the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats national debt equals?
Claire Perry: We have cut Labour's deficit Victoria by a quarter
Derbyshire: I'm talking about debt
Perry: Well it is the same thing
Derbyshire: It is not the same thing - ^ "Question Time: as it happened 26th October". The Daily Telegraph. 26 October 2012.
- ^ "Claire Perry, MP for Devizes - Fascinating to find out what changes are afoot". thisiswiltshire.co.uk. Newsquest. 24 October 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2015.