Phil Willis

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Phil Willis MP

Member of Parliament for Harrogate and Knaresborough
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 May 1997

Born	30 November 1941 (1941-11-30) (age 66) Burnley
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal Democrat

George Philip Willis (born November 30, 1941, Burnley) is a politician in the United Kingdom. He is Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Harrogate and Knaresborough. He was first elected in 1997, beating Norman Lamont, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, and in May 2007 announced his decision to step down as an MP at the next General Election^[1], although he said that he would have stood again if a snap election had been called^[2].

From 1999 to 2005, Willis was the Liberal Democrat Shadow Education and Skills Secretary, having previously served as Higher Education spokesman and acting spokesman on Northern Ireland. Following the 2005 general election, he was appointed chair of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, succeeding Labour's Ian Gibson.

In 2006, he stated that he would force an election for the party leadership by standing if there would otherwise be only one candidate ^[3]. As two further candidates came forward to challenge the eventual winner, Sir Menzies Campbell, Willis did not stand. Campbell's victory left a vacancy for the post of deputy leader. Willis considered running in the deputy leadership election but did not submit a nomination.

At the Liberal Democrat Federal Conference in Spring 2007 (held in his home seat of Harrogate) he proposed a change to official Liberal Democrat policy on the future of Trident in an amendment to commit the party to getting rid of Britain's nuclear deterrent. The amendment was opposed by the party leadership and, in one of the closest votes in recent years at a Federal Conference, the amendment was defeated by 454 votes to 414 ^[4]