Mike Freer

Mike Freer
MP
Lord Commissioners of the Treasury
Assumed office
15 July 2018
Prime Minister Theresa May
Preceded by Andrew Stephenson
Chief Whip Julian Smith
Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Transport
In office
7 May 2015 – 15 June 2017
Preceded by Iain Stewart
Member of Parliament
for Finchley and Golders Green
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded by Rudi Vis
Majority 1,657 (3.2%)
Personal details
Born Michael Whitney Freer
(1960-05-29) 29 May 1960
Manchester, England
Political party Conservative
Website www.mikefreer.com
Mike Freer's constituency office in Finchley.

Michael Whitney Freer[1] (born 29 May 1960) is a British Conservative Party politician and former banker. He was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Finchley and Golders Green at the 2010 general election. Freer is a former leader of Barnet Council and a former councillor for the Church End and St Paul's wards in Finchley.

Early life

Mike Freer was born in Manchester on the 29 May 1960. Part of his childhood was spent in council accommodation, which was then bought by his parents following the Conservative government's right-to-buy policy.[2] He was state educated at the Chadderton Grammar School for Boys and subsequently at St Aidan's College in Carlisle. He read accountancy and business law at the University of Stirling but, in not taking his finals, did not graduate.[2]

Freer worked in managerial roles for a number of fast-food chains, including Pizzaland, Pizza Hut and KFC, prior to a management career in the financial sector.[2] Freer worked for Barclays Bank as a relationship director.

Political career

Freer was first elected to Barnet Council in 1990 for the St. Paul's ward, winning the seat from Labour. However, he lost the seat back to Labour in 1994 and went on to lose in the East Finchley ward in 1998.[3] [4] He was re-elected to the council, for the Church End ward, in 2002. He was unanimously elected leader of the council by his party on 11 May 2006, replacing Brian Salinger as Conservative group leader, having previously been Salinger's deputy.[5] [6]

In the 2005 general election, Freer contested the Harrow West constituency in the neighbouring borough of Harrow. He finished second to the Labour incumbent Gareth Thomas, whose majority was cut from 6,000 to 2,000. He was selected for Finchley and Golders Green on 10 December 2006.

He was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Finchley and Golders Green at the 2010 general election, before being re-elected at the 2015 general election and 2017 general election.

Freer is a member of Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI). Although he is not Jewish, The Jewish Chronicle, in its list of 100 most powerful influences on the Jewish community, named Freer 99th, not least because of his membership of CFI and his chairmanship of the Barnet multi-faith forum.[7] Freer chose to resign his position as parliamentary private secretary to Nick Boles in order to vote against a backbench motion recognising Palestine as a state alongside Israel, arguing "the two-state solution we all want to see should be the end not the start of the process".[8]

In 2009, Freer announced a new model of local government delivery for the London Borough of Barnet, called 'Future Shape' which he claims could save Barnet Council £24 million a year. The scheme has been dubbed easyCouncil because of its similarity to easyJet's business model.[9]

In October 2011 he was the target of an attack at a mosque in his constituency of Finchley by members of Muslims Against Crusades.[10]

Freer was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.[11]

On 15 June 2017 Freer was appointed by the Chief Whip Gavin Williamson to the Whips Office as Assistant Government Whip.[12]

In the House of Commons he has sat on the Work and Pensions Committee, the Scottish Affairs Committee and the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee.[13]

Controversies

Following the collapse of Icelandic banks Glitnir and Landsbanki in October 2008 in which Barnet Council had invested £27.4m of council taxpayers' money, Freer was named Private Eye's "Banker of the Year" in its Rotten Borough Awards of 2008, stating: "He told councillors that he couldn't be blamed for the council losing £27.4m in dodgy Icelandic banks because he had never bothered to review the council's investments. Ever. And in a former life he used to be, er, a banker. Quite."[14] The money was subsequently recovered.[15]

In January 2016, Freer was one of 72 MPs who voted down an amendment in Parliament on rental homes being “fit for human habitation” who were themselves landlords who derived an income from a property.[16]

He was a vocal defender of the Prime Minister Theresa May after she and the Conservative Party received criticism for her role in the Windrush scandal in 2018. After a constituent wrote to him complaining about the Conservative Party's role in the scandal, he responded that it was nothing to do with the party and that they should not believe 'misrepresentations' from the Labour Party.[17]

Personal life

Freer is gay, which he revealed to fellow MPs during a speech in the debates over the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013.[18]

He lives with his husband, Angelo, in Finchley, north London.[4] He entered into a civil partnership in January 2007. On the eighth anniversary of their civil partnership, in January 2015, they converted it into a marriage.[19]

References

  1. ↑ Profile, ukwhoswho.com; accessed 12 May 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 "Mr easyCouncil defends his local government model". the Guardian. 3 February 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  3. ↑ "Barnet Council Election Results 1964-2010" (PDF). Plymouth University. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  4. 1 2 Marc, Shoffman (11 December 2006). "Gay councillor to fight key Tory target". Pink News. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
  5. ↑ Marzouk, Lawrence (18 May 2006). "'Right-wing coup'". Times Series Newspapers. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
  6. ↑ "About the Leader". Barnet Council Conservatives. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
  7. ↑ "JC Power 100: The people shaping Jewish life in Britain". Jewish Chronicle. 25 April 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  8. ↑ Kinder, Tabitha (14 October 2014). "Golders Green MP Mike Freer Resigns Role Over Commons Vote to Recognise Palestine as a State". International Business Times. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  9. ↑ Mulholland, Hélène (3 February 2010). "Mr easyCouncil defends his local government model". Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  10. ↑ "MP Mike Freer 'threatened at mosque surgery'". BBC News. 29 October 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
  11. ↑ Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  12. ↑ "Assistant Government Whip – GOV.UK". www.gov.uk.
  13. ↑ "Michael Ellis". Parliament UK. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  14. ↑ Lowe, Rebecca (8 January 2009). "Something rotten in the state of Barnet". Times Series. Retrieved 12 July 2009.
  15. ↑ https://barnetportal.icasework.com/servlet/ep.getImg?ref=D858364&bin=Y&auth=0&db=gAcEuIdf9lA%3D&hc=b007159d07dd26d961bb28575329ee43
  16. ↑ "Tories vote down law requiring landlords make their homes fit for human habitation". Independent. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  17. ↑ "Tory whip: Windrush critics 'opportunistic'". Independent. 23 April 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  18. ↑ Freer, Mike (6 February 2013). "Mike Freer: A gay Tory MP on why he went public". The Independent. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  19. ↑ "Congratulations! Tory MP Mike Freer and partner Angelo convert their civil partnership to marriage". Pink News. 22 January 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Rudi Vis		 Member of Parliament for Finchley and Golders Green
2010–present		 Incumbent
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