Guto Bebb

Guto Bebb MP
Minister for Defence Procurement
In office 9 January 2018 – 16 July 2018
Prime Minister	Theresa May
Sec. of State	Gavin Williamson
Preceded by	Harriett Baldwin
Succeeded by	Stuart Andrew
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales
In office 19 March 2016 – 9 January 2018
Prime Minister	David Cameron Theresa May
Sec. of State	Alun Cairns
Preceded by	Alun Cairns
Succeeded by	Stuart Andrew
Lord Commissioner of the Treasury
In office 19 March 2016 – 9 January 2018
Prime Minister	David Cameron Theresa May
Chancellor	George Osborne Philip Hammond
Preceded by	Alun Cairns
Succeeded by	Paul Maynard
Member of Parliament for Aberconwy
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 May 2010
Preceded by	Constituency established
Majority	635 (1.8%)
Personal details
Born	(1968-10-09) 9 October 1968 Wrexham, Wales
Political party	Conservative (2002-Present) Plaid Cymru (before 2002)
Spouse(s)	Esyllt Bebb
Children	5
Alma mater	Aberystwyth University
Website	Official website Parliament biography

Guto ap Owain Bebb^[1] (born 9 October 1968) is a Welsh Conservative Party politician who served as Minister for Defence Procurement at the Ministry of Defence from January 2018 until July 2018, and has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Aberconwy since the 2010 general election, having previously unsuccessfully contested elections to both the Welsh Assembly and the House of Commons. He previously served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Wales Office from 2016 to 2018.

Early life and career

Bebb was born in Wrexham in 1968 to a family who originated from Bangor and Blaenau Ffestiniog, and was a student at Ysgol Syr Hugh Owen in Caernarfon. He graduated from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, in 1990 with a BA in history. He subsequently ran an economic development consultancy and also worked as the business development director of Innovas Wales.^[2] He was also a partner in his wife's bookshop.

He is a former Plaid Cymru activist, and was chair of the party in Caernarfon.^[3] He defected to the Conservatives after failing to be selected as the party's candidate for the seat on long-serving incumbent Dafydd Wigley's retirement.

Bebb first stood for the Conservatives in 2002, when he contested the safe Labour seat of Ogmore in a 2002 by-election caused by the death of the Labour MP Sir Raymond Powell. He finished in fourth place, many votes behind the successful candidate, Huw Irranca-Davies. He stood again in the 2003 Welsh Assembly election in which he was a candidate in the now-abolished constituency of Conwy. He came third, behind Labour and Plaid Cymru. At the 2005 general election he stood in Conwy, this time coming second behind Labour.

Parliamentary career

At the 2010 general election, boundary changes led to the creation of a new constituency called Aberconwy, based on the former Conwy. Bebb was selected as the Conservative candidate for this new seat, and was returned as the MP for Aberconwy with a majority of 3,398 or 11.3%.

He has been part of a number of delegations of the Conservative Friends of Israel group,^[4] including during the Operation Defensive Shield conflict when he visited for an Israeli military briefing on the Iron Dome defence system.^[5]

In January 2012, following a complaint by a constituent, Bebb raised the issue of the sale of Interest Rate Swap Agreements ("IRSAs") in Parliament. He asked the Leader of the House for a debate on the potential mis-selling of these complex interest rate hedging products ("IRHPs") by UK high street banks to over 40,000 small and medium-sized Businesses ("SMEs") throughout the UK. He also asked the Financial Services Authority ("the FSA") to look at this issue urgently and in detail. After Bebb had raised the issue in Parliament, the FSA announced that they would carry out an investigation into the way these products had been sold. On 21 June 2012, Bebb called a backbench business debate in the House of Commons to discuss the IRSA/IRHP mis-selling issue. After this debate, Bebb wrote to all MPs who had shown an interest in this subject inviting them to join an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG). The purpose of this APPG was to seek meaningful redress for those SMEs that had been affected by the mis-selling of interest rate swaps and to pursue this on a cross-party basis. There are currently over 100 cross party MPs on the APPG which is now chaired by Calum Kerr MP and has been renamed Fair Business Banking.^[6]

On 29 June 2012, the FSA reported that it had investigated the sale of IRSA/IRHPs to SMEs and had found evidence that over 90% of these sales had been mis-sales and that substantial damage had resulted to those SMEs mis-sold these products. The FSA announced that it had agreed with the four largest high street banks that a review and redress scheme would be put in place. This agreement was subsequently extended to a further seven banks.^[7] As a result of slow progress and poor customer outcomes from the bank-led FSA IRHP Review, Bebb subsequently called and led two further backbench debates on the issue—the last in December 2014 when MPs across the house criticised the poor performance of the now Financial Conduct Authority ("the FCA" which had subsequently replaced the FSA) IRHP Review scheme.^[8] Following hearings with the FCA and complaints from the APPG, victim groups, individual victims and various industry experts, the Treasury Select Committee (TSC), on 10 March 2015, published a report expressing concerns about the performance of the FCA's IRHP Redress Scheme and called for an independently monitored review of the Scheme.^[9] This call for an independent review of the FCA's IRHP Scheme was immediately backed by the then Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Andrea Leadsom.^[10] The FCA has not responded yet to either the TSC or HM Treasury.

In 2014, Bebb became involved in a dispute with an Aberconwy constituent after an exchange on Twitter, leading to heavy criticism in the media^[11] regarding his negative comments about Asperger's syndrome.^[12][13]

In March 2016, Bebb became the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales, following Stephen Crabb's move to the Department for Work and Pensions, and Alun Cairns' subsequent promotion to Secretary of State for Wales.^[14]

Bebb was opposed to Brexit before the 2016 EU membership referendum. He retained Aberconwy in the 2017 general election with a small majority of 635 votes.^[15]

In 2017, he accused a constituent of ‘talking out of his ****hole’ when he challenged him on his voting record, asking him if he had voted against getting rid of the cap on public sector pay, as well as the deal between the Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party.^[16]

On 16 July 2018, Bebb voted against the Government on the Taxation (Cross Border Trade) Bill, thereby resigning his role as Minister for Defence Procurement by convention of the payroll vote.^[17] He also supports the People's Vote campaign for a public vote on the final Brexit deal between the UK and the European Union.^[18]

Personal life

Bebb's native language is Welsh. He is the grandson of Ambrose Bebb, co-founder of Plaid Cymru,^[3] the nephew of Welsh rugby international Dewi Bebb and the first cousin of professional golfer Sion Bebb. He is married to Esyllt Bebb; the couple have five children.

In 2017, Bebb was accused of nepotism after he hired his wife as an assistant and translator in his office just before a parliamentary ban on such practices came into force.^[19]

References

External links

• Guto Bebb Official website
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 2010–present
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record