David Morris (Conservative politician)

David Morris
MP
Member of Parliament
for Morecambe and Lunesdale
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded by Geraldine Smith
Majority 4,590 (10.6%)
Personal details
Born (1966-01-03) 3 January 1966
Leigh, Lancashire, England[1]
Nationality British
Political party Conservative
Website David Morris

David Thomas Morris (born 3 January 1966, Leigh, Lancashire, England) is a British Conservative Party politician. He is Member of Parliament (MP) for Morecambe and Lunesdale in Lancashire, England.[2]

Early life

The son of an ex-Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander turned civilian harbour master, Morris spent his youth in places as far afield as Hong Kong and the Bahamas, where the family's neighbours included actors Sean Connery and Elizabeth Taylor.[3] He was educated at St Andrew's School in Nassau, Bahamas.

Career

After applying and failing to get into the Royal Navy because of his short sightedness, Morris apprenticed as a hairdresser, eventually working as a stylist for Pierre Alexandre Salon.[3]

His hobby was playing the electric guitar, and he joined a teenage band in which Richard "Rick" Astley was the drummer.[3][4] After leaving school at 16 and whilst training as a hairdresser, Morris and Astley played the Northern club circuit at night in bands including 'Give Way' – specialising in covering Beatles and Shadows songs – and 'FBI', a soul music band which won several local talent competitions.[4] After the lead singer left FBI, Morris also left the band to concentrate on hairdressing. Astley had stepped up to take over vocals, and after being spotted by Pete Waterman was signed by Stock, Aitken and Waterman.[4] Signed under a separate SAW contract, Morris rejoined Astley's backing band, and although being the guitar player, appeared on the BBC's Top of the Pops faking playing a keyboard for the song "She Wants to Dance with Me". Morris also wrote songs, both for Astley and other SAW performers including Sonia, Brother Beyond and Jason Donovan.[3]

After leaving the music industry, Morris returned to hairdressing, where he built up a chain of five salons.[5]

Politics

Selected as the Conservative candidate for Blackpool South in 2001 and Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire in 2005, he failed to win either seat.[6]

Morris won Morecambe and Lunesdale at the 2010 general election, defeating Labour's Geraldine Smith by 866 votes.[3] Morris is a member of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme, for which he has the honorary title Lieutenant Commander.

Morris was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.[7]

Expenses

In November 2016 Morris was accused of claiming £1400 in car mileage for trips in the UK on dates when he was abroad on parliamentary business, for which Morris blamed the expenses watchdog.[8]

Personal life

Divorced, he has two teenage sons.[3] He met with controversy in 2011, after being photographed in a seemingly intimate embrace with his 23-year-old researcher, whilst already having a long-term girlfriend.[9]

Morris is a friend of the actor and musician David Hasselhoff, whom he welcomed to the House of Commons in February 2011 as part of the campaign to reopen the Morecambe Winter Gardens.[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Who's Who". Ukwhoswho.com. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  2. ↑ "Morecambe and Lunesdale". BBC Election 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "MP David Morris on his journey from pop to politics". BBC. 2 March 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 "Rick Astley – About". lookstudio.com. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
  5. ↑ "The Hit Fac-Tory". Lancashire Evening Post. 18 November 2010. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
  6. ↑ "David Morris – Your Parliamentary Candidate". Morecambe and Lunesdale Conservatives. 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  7. ↑ Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  8. ↑ Brendan Carlin (19 November 2016). "MP claimed expenses for UK car trips... while he away on foreign junkets like this: Mystery as 'pop star' Tory claims £1,400 while away on 'fact-finding' missions - but blames discrepancies on 'inept' watchdog". DailyMail.co.uk. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  9. ↑ Ryan Parry (2 July 2011). "Tory MP David Morris seen in clinch with his young researcher – Mirror Online". Mirror.co.uk. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  10. ↑ "David Hasselhoff in surprise meeting with David Cameron". BBC News. 8 February 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2011.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Geraldine Smith		 Member of Parliament for Morecambe and Lunesdale
2010–present 		Incumbent


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