Andrew Turner (politician)

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For other persons named Andrew Turner, see Andrew Turner (disambiguation).

Andrew John Turner (born 24 October 1953, Coventry) is a politician in the United Kingdom. He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for the Isle of Wight.

1 Early life
2 Parliamentary career
3 Personal life
4 See also
5 External links
6 Audio clips
7 Video clips

[edit] Early life

He went to Rugby School, then studied at Keble College, Oxford receiving an MA in Geography. He later studied to be a teacher at the University of Birmingham and Henley Management College. He taught economics in comprehensive schools. Turner was an education advisor to the previous Conservative government and founded the Grant Maintained Schools Foundation. He was a councillor on Oxford City Council for several years. In 2000, he worked for the Labour-controlled London Borough of Southwark on outsourcing their education provision following a negative report from Ofsted.

[edit] Parliamentary career

He contested Hackney South and Shoreditch in 1992, then the Birmingham East MEP seat in 1994. Turner took the Isle of Wight seat in the 2001 general election, after having previously stood in 1997, making one of the few gains for the Conservative Party in 2001. In 2005 he extended his majority to 12,978. He was Shadow Minister for Charities from 2005, replacing Jacqui Lait, until 2006, when he was replaced by Greg Clark. During his time on the Conservative front bench he was the party's spokesman on the Charities Bill. Since the 5th of February 2008 he has been on the Justice Committee. He hardly ever rebels against the Conservative party.

On 14 August 2006, Turner was attending the Isle of Wight Show with his Jack Russell Terrier, Bert, when he lost hold of the lead. The dog escaped to savage a four-year-old ferret, Socks, to death in front of a watching crowd. Turner later apologised to the ferret's owner, Patricia Price. [1] and [2]

[edit] Personal life

On 10 December 2006, it was reported that Turner has suffered a "serious stroke". [3]. In late April 2007, a message on Turner's website thanked friends and political opponents for their support and reported that he was recuperating, having since attended events around the island, and was expected to make a full recovery. He lives with his partner, Carole, in Newport.