20 Facts About Charles Wardle

Charles Frederick Wardle was born on 23 August 1939 and is a retired British businessman and politician who was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Bexhill and Battle from 1983 until 2001.

Charles Wardle is the son of Frederick Maclean Wardle, a civil engineer, and Constance the daughter of a Lincolnshire country parson.

Charles Wardle was a member of the CBI National Council and of the Engineering Employers Federation from 1980 until his election to Parliament in 1983.

Charles Wardle left the board with the balance of his three-year contract paid in full.

Charles Wardle joined the Conservative Party's approved candidates list in 1982.

Charles Wardle applied for two seats, Stratford upon Avon and Solihull, reaching the final shortlist for both and was then selected for Bexhill and Battle, winning the seat in the 1983 general election.

Charles Wardle campaigned with neighbouring MPs for local hospitals, by-passes and rail electrification; and campaigned unsuccessfully but with local acclaim to keep the Royal Greenwich Observatory at Herstmonceux.

Charles Wardle had Commons responsibility for the Police and the Fire Service which were led by Lord Ferrers in the Lords.

Charles Wardle took the Asylum and Immigration Appeals Bill through its Commons stages; reviewed entry clearance procedures in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Hong Kong; and deputised for the Home Secretary at EU Councils of Interior and Justice Ministers in Copenhagen, Athens, Thessaloniki, Brussels and Luxembourg.

Charles Wardle took a Police Bill through its standing committee stage; chaired the National Board for Crime Prevention; and chaired meetings of Fire Service chief officers and the Fire Brigades Union.

Charles Wardle was the Government sponsor minister for Birmingham, Walsall and the Black Country.

In 1995, after private correspondence and personal exchanges with Prime Minister John Major over fifteen months, Charles Wardle resigned from the Government to speak independently on the need to preserve British border controls within the framework of the European Treaty.

The issue Charles Wardle raised, to keep in place British immigration controls on non-EU nationals coming to the UK from mainland Europe, was achieved by an opt-out for the UK in European Treaty law at the Amsterdam Intergovernmental Conference in 1997 by the new Labour Government who acknowledged Charles Wardle's campaign.

In January 2000 Charles Wardle was re-adopted unanimously by his constituency association for the next general election expected the following year.

Charles Wardle wrote congratulating his successor, but in November 2000 a group of Charles Wardle's senior local Conservative supporters voiced concern about the new candidate's recent employment in Moscow and the origins of money he had obtained offshore.

Charles Wardle met Farage who decided at the last minute to stand in Bexhill and Battle.

Charles Wardle discussed technical issues of immigration control, notably the growing problem of illegal overstayers, with three of Blair's Home Secretaries.

Since he left Parliament in 2001 Charles Wardle has not been a member of any political party.

Charles Wardle is a member of the Travellers Club and the Farmers Club.

Charles Wardle is a member of The Pilgrims and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.