17 Facts About Adrian Sanders

Adrian Mark Sanders was born on 25 April 1959 and is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom.

Adrian Sanders was the Member of Parliament for Torbay in Devon from 1997 until his defeat in the 2015 general election.

Adrian Sanders worked briefly in a timber yard, then in the insurance industry for seven years, and then had a short spell of unemployment before finding work in the political arena.

Adrian Sanders joined the Liberal Party in 1979 and in 1985 was elected vice president of the National League of Young Liberals.

Adrian Sanders then moved to become a policy officer at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations and then the Southern Association of Voluntary Action Groups for Europe.

Adrian Sanders stood unsuccessfully for the seat of Torbay 1992 general election, reducing the Conservative majority from 8,820 to 5,787.

At the 1997 general election, Adrian Sanders stood in Torbay, successfully, defeating the Conservative incumbent Rupert Allason by 12 votes.

Adrian Sanders wrote afterwards that he had voted for Chris Huhne.

Adrian Sanders was awarded the Diabetes UK 75th Anniversary Award at a ceremony in the House of Commons on Wednesday 21 January 2009.

Adrian Sanders was the only Liberal Democrat MP to do so.

Adrian Sanders said he was probably the only supporter of the EU to do so, but believed it was "a liberal principle to trust the people".

In May 2012, Adrian Sanders was the one Liberal Democrat on the Commons culture, media and sport select committee on phone hacking and provided the swing vote on the release of a report.

Adrian Sanders joined with the five Labour committee members and against the four Conservative members to support the report which said in part that Rupert Murdoch was "'not fit' to run an international company".

At the 2015 general election, Adrian Sanders lost his seat to the Conservative Party candidate Kevin Foster by a majority of 3,286.

On 5 November 2015, Adrian Sanders was elected as the Liberal Democrat councillor for the Clifton-with-Maidenway ward of Paignton, taking almost 70 per cent of the vote.

Adrian Sanders has had Type 1 diabetes since 1990 and campaigns on issues relating to diabetes.

Adrian Sanders is a fan of rock music, and occasionally presents a rock show on local radio station Palm 105.5.