21 Facts About James Arbuthnot

James Arbuthnot was Member of Parliament for Wanstead and Woodford from 1987 to 1997, and then MP for North East Hampshire from 1997 to 2015.

James Arbuthnot was born at Deal, Kent, the second son of Sir John James Arbuthnot, 1st Baronet, MP for Dover between 1950 and 1964, and Margaret Jean Duff.

James Arbuthnot was educated at Wellesley House School in Broadstairs and Eton College, where he was captain of School, before going up to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a degree in Law in 1974.

James Arbuthnot was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1975 and became a practising barrister.

James Arbuthnot contested the Cynon Valley seat, in the Labour heartland of industrial South Wales, at the 1983 general election and was defeated by Ioan Evans.

James Arbuthnot won the seat and increased the Conservative majority by over 2,000 to 16,412.

James Arbuthnot entered the John Major government after the 1992 general election when he was made an Assistant Government Whip.

James Arbuthnot was promoted in 1994 as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Social Security.

James Arbuthnot stated that one of his most pleasing parliamentary achievements was "organising an all-party meeting with the Prime Minister for the exoneration of the pilots of the Chinook that crashed on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994".

James Arbuthnot was sworn of the Privy Council in 1998.

James Arbuthnot returned to the Shadow Cabinet under Michael Howard as Shadow Trade Secretary in 2003, but stood down after the 2005 general election.

James Arbuthnot is a Senior Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute.

James Arbuthnot was the parliamentary chairman of the Conservative Friends of Israel.

James Arbuthnot was a member of the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation, established in October 2009.

In June 2011, James Arbuthnot announced that he would not contest the next general election.

James Arbuthnot was portrayed by Alex Jennings in Mr Bates vs The Post Office, an ITV dramatisation of the scandal.

On 6 September 1984, James Arbuthnot married Emma Louise Broadbent, daughter of Michael Broadbent, Wine Director of Christie's.

James Arbuthnot is the chairman of the advisory board of the UK division of multinational defence and security systems manufacturer Thales.

James Arbuthnot is a Senior Associate Fellow of the defence and security think tank Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies.

James Arbuthnot is a descendant of James V of Scotland.

James Arbuthnot is a distant cousin of Gerald Arbuthnot, the former MP for Burnley.