Anne McIntosh
Anne Caroline Ballingall McIntosh (born 20 September 1954, Edinburgh) is a politician in the United Kingdom. She is Conservative member of Parliament for Vale of York, and was first elected in 1997. She had previously been an MEP.
[edit] Early life
Born in Edinburgh, the daughter of a Scottish doctor father and Danish mother, Anne McIntosh was educated at the Harrogate Ladies College in North Yorkshire and at the University of Edinburgh where she was a law graduate in 1977, gaining an LLB. She also studied at the University of Aarhus in the Jutland region of Denmark.
In 1978, she became a trainee at the European Community (EEC) Competition Directorate, before joining Didier and Associates in Brussels in 1979 as a legal advisor. She trained for the Scottish Bar in Edinburgh from 1980, being admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in June 1982. She worked as an advocate with the Community Law Office in Brussels, before becoming a political advisor to the European Democrats group in the European Parliament in 1983 until 1989.
[edit] Parliamentary career
McIntosh unsuccessfully contested the 1987 general election at Workington where she was defeated by the sitting Labour MP Dale Campbell-Savours. She was elected for Essex North East at the 1989 European Parliament election and for its successor seat of Essex North and Suffolk South from the 1994 election. She remained a Member of the European Parliament until she stood down at the 1999 contest.
She was elected to the House of Commons at the 1997 general election for the Vale of York which she won by a comfortable 9,721 majority and has held the seat easily since. She was promoted to the Opposition frontbench in 2001 as a spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport and has held a number of front bench positions since (Transport (2003-2005), Foreign Affairs (2005), Work and Pensions (2005-2007), and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (since 2007)); though never at shadow cabinet level.
In boundary changes agreed in 2006, the Vale of York constituency was divided up leaving no obvious successor; the seat with the closest identity to it was Thirsk and Malton which was the successor to Ryedale, held since 1987 by John Greenway. McIntosh was placed on the 'A-list' of Conservative parliamentary candidates ahead of the next general election [1]. Unexpectedly on 18 November 2006, the Thirsk and Malton Conservative Association chose McIntosh over Greenway as their candidate for the next general election.
[edit] Personal life
Anne McIntosh married John Harvey in September 1992 in County Durham, and they live in the constituency near to Thirsk. She speaks six languages - English, Danish, French, German, Spanish and Italian.
[edit] External links
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