26 Facts About Richard Ottaway

Sir Richard Geoffrey James Ottaway was born on 24 May 1945 and is a British Conservative Party politician and consultant.

Richard Ottaway was the Member of Parliament for Croydon South from 1992 to 2015.

Richard Ottaway was born on 24 May 1945 in Sonning, Berkshire.

Richard Ottaway attended Backwell School, a secondary modern school in Backwell, North Somerset.

Richard Ottaway joined the Royal Navy as an artificer apprentice in 1961 and undertook officer training at the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth in 1965.

Richard Ottaway served as the Royal Navy officer between 1965 and 1970 as a Lieutenant, deployed in HMS Beachampton, HMS Nubian, and the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle.

Richard Ottaway served as a lieutenant commander in the Royal Naval Reserve from 1971 to 1980.

Richard Ottaway was Conservative MP for Nottingham North from 1983 to 1987.

Richard Ottaway re-entered Parliament in 1992 when he won the constituency of Croydon South.

On re-entering parliament in 1992, Richard Ottaway served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Michael Heseltine MP and from October 1995 he was a Government Whip.

Richard Ottaway chaired the All Party Parliamentary London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Group and was a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Population, Development and Reproductive Health.

In October 2012, Richard Ottaway announced his decision not to stand in 2015.

Richard Ottaway was appointed to the Privy Council in October 2013.

Richard Ottaway was knighted in the 2014 New Year Honours for parliamentary and political service.

Richard Ottaway led an inquiry into the UK's relationship with Hong Kong, a former British colony, 30 years after the Joint Declaration amid series pro-democracy protests.

Richard Ottaway voted for the Iraq War based on evidence presented to Parliament but subsequently regretted his decision as he believed parliament and the country had been misled.

Richard Ottaway was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee in 2003 when the committee took evidence from David Kelly, the former UN weapons inspector who revealed details of the dossier on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Richard Ottaway's questioning of Prime Minister Tony Blair on 4 February 2003 revealed that Blair had not appreciated that Iraq possessed only defensive battlefield or small-calibre weaponry rather than long-range weapons of mass destruction when he made his speech in the Iraq debate that led to the House of Commons voting in favour of war.

Richard Ottaway was a founding member of the European Mainstream Group, formed in February 2013 to articulate a positive Conservative attitude to Europe as set out by David Cameron in his Bloomberg Speech.

Richard Ottaway answered his main opponent on the day in an article in ConservativeHome.

In 2013, Richard Ottaway celebrated the passing of his Private Member's Bill to crack down on metal theft and the desecration of war memorials by tighter regulation of scrap metal dealers.

Richard Ottaway apologised to constituents for his part in 'allowing an indefensible system of allowances to develop' and announced he would let Croydon South party members decide his fate in a vote of confidence.

Richard Ottaway married Nicky, a magistrate and former international television production executive, in 1982.

Richard Ottaway is an enthusiastic amateur yachtsman, winning several regattas in Daring keelboat class in Cowes.

Richard Ottaway is a member of the Royal Thames Yacht Club, the Royal London Yacht Club, and the Island Sailing Club.

Richard Ottaway is the nephew of the actor James Ottaway.