30 Facts About Ian Liddell-Grainger

Ian Richard Peregrine Liddell-Grainger was born on 23 February 1959 and is a British Conservative Party politician and former property developer.

Ian Liddell-Grainger was MP for Bridgwater from 2001 until 2010, and until 2024, MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset.

Ian Liddell-Grainger was born on 23 February 1959 in Edinburgh to David Liddell-Grainger and Anne, whose mother was Lady May Abel Smith, great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

The Liddell-Grainger family were landed gentry, of Ayton Castle, Scottish Borders, formerly of Middleton Hall, Middleton, Northumberland.

Ian Liddell-Grainger was privately educated at Wellesley House School in Broadstairs and Millfield School in Somerset, before gaining a National Certificate of Agriculture at the South Scotland Agricultural College in Edinburgh.

Ian Liddell-Grainger ran a 250-acre farm in the Scottish Borders from 1980 to 1985 before becoming the managing director of his family's property management and development company.

Ian Liddell-Grainger served until 1995, when Labour took the seat.

In 2006, Ian Liddell-Grainger was disqualified from the WriteToThem league table after faking e-mails and replies to himself to improve his "responsiveness rating" on a website which helps people contact their elected representatives.

Ian Liddell-Grainger's spokesman commented that the e-mails had been sent to test the data that the website was judging him on.

At the 2010 general election, Ian Liddell-Grainger declined to attend any election hustings or to take part in the BBC's election coverage.

The cancellation of plans to build new school buildings in Bridgwater in 2010 led Ian Liddell-Grainger to threaten to "march" on Downing Street in protest.

Ian Liddell-Grainger claimed that Bridgwater's schools were in need of rebuilding and that the plans, which had cancelled projects in three of the town's six schools, were actually all under one project heading and had been working effectively.

Gove was forced to apologise for a number of errors in the cancellation of the project nationally and the Bridgwater project was reconsidered by the government after Ian Liddell-Grainger met Gove and it became apparent that Gove "wasn't aware of all the facts to do with the Bridgwater scheme".

In 2010, Ian Liddell-Grainger criticised plans by the Environment Agency and Natural England to create a wetland habitat at Steart on the Severn estuary as part of a realignment of coastal flood defences.

Ian Liddell-Grainger voiced opposition to wind power schemes in his constituency, including plans to build two wind turbines at Wiveliscombe in 2012.

Ian Liddell-Grainger is a member of the 18-strong British delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and currently heads one of the five political groups in the Assembly, the European Conservatives Group.

In June 2018, he was accused of trivialising suicide by political rivals after shouting out that representatives of the SNP should consider 'suicide' after the SNP's Westminster leader, Ian Liddell-Grainger Blackford, asked John Bercow, the sitting speaker, a question about Scotland's future following Brexit.

Ian Liddell-Grainger later defended his comments, stating he was referring to 'political suicide'.

Ian Liddell-Grainger chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Energy Studies, Nuclear Energy, the All-Party Pharmaceuticals group, the All-Party Dyslexia group, and the All-Party Tax group, and is a member of the All Parliamentary Armed Forces Scheme with the Royal Air Force and the all Parliamentary Radio Group.

Ian Liddell-Grainger sits on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee and has previously sat on the Public Administration Committee, the Environmental Audit Committee, the DEFRA select committee, the Statutory Instruments, the Scottish Committee as well as the Crossrail Bill Committee.

Ian Liddell-Grainger was a member of the socially conservative Cornerstone Group, a ginger group within the Conservative Party.

Ian Liddell-Grainger's interests included the economy, taxation, treatment for dyslexia, constitutional affairs and rural matters; he has spoken in favour of making Herceptin available for early-stage breast cancer sufferers.

Ian Liddell-Grainger believed that "the nuclear power industry has truly embraced the energy future of our country", and that "nuclear energy plays an important role in my constituency and is behind the creation of numerous jobs and training opportunities".

Ian Liddell-Grainger was accused of abusive and bullying behaviour towards local councillors and council staff within his constituency.

Ian Liddell-Grainger placed the blame for the floods on the Environment Agency's policy of not dredging the local rivers, and said that he would be consulting with Dutch hydrological experts.

In September 2015, Ian Liddell-Grainger criticised the Conservative run Somerset County Council for cutting services and carrying out wasteful reorganisations.

Ian Liddell-Grainger had previously criticised young voters who had been unable to register to vote in the EU referendum because the government website crashed on the last day of registration, saying they should 'pay the price for their own tardiness'.

Ian Liddell-Grainger blamed the police for his licence delay, criticising their "utter incompetence".

Ian Liddell-Grainger responded that the figures were reasonable and proportionate.

Ian Liddell-Grainger married Jill Nesbitt in 1985; she was his parliamentary secretary.