About Edward Leigh
Sir Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (born 20 July 1950) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gainsborough, previously Gainsborough and Horncastle, since 1983. Parliament's longest-serving male MP since 2024, Leigh is styled Father of the House. Leigh has been called a "serial rebel" has often voted against his own party. He was one of the original Maastricht Rebels and was reportedly sacked for organising Euro-rebels among ministers. 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. Leigh served as the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee from 2001 to 2010, investigating government waste and seeking value for money in public expenditure. Leigh stepped down at the end of the parliamentary session in 2010, it being customary for an Opposition MP to hold this post. Leigh was knighted in the Queen's 2013 Birthday Honours for "public and political service" and has also been honoured by the French and Italian governments. A prominent Roman Catholic politician and former President of the Catholic Union of Great Britain, Leigh has edited and authored four books: Right Thinking (1988); The Nation That Forgot God (2008); Monastery of the Mind (2012); and Another Country (2025). 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. In October 2006, Leigh was vocal in stating that after David Cameron became leader of the party, core supporters were drifting away from voting Conservative. Parliament's longest-serving MP since 2024, Leigh is styled Father of the House and, in July 2024, acted as a Temporary Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons.
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