Robert Owen Biggs Wilson (born 4 January 1965) is an English politician and political author. He was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for the Reading East parliamentary constituency in the 2005 general election, being re-elected in the elections of 2010 and 2015, before being defeated in 2017. He became Minister for Civil Society in the Cabinet Office on 27 September 2014.

Early life

Wilson was born and brought up in south Oxfordshire. He attended Wallingford School and then, between 1984 and 1988, the University of Reading, where he studied history. He spent his final year at university as the President of the Reading University Students' Union. At that time, Wilson was a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), but when it merged with the Liberals to form the Liberal Democrats in 1988 he declined to follow, instead joining David Owen's 'continuing' SDP. He stood for the 'continuing' SDP (with Liberal Democrat opposition) in Redlands ward at the 1988 Reading Borough Council election.

Politics

Local government

Following the demise of the 'continuing' SDP in 1990, Wilson joined the Conservative Party. In 1992 he was one of twenty ex-Owenite SDP members to publicly endorse the Conservatives prior to the general election, and later that year he was elected as one of three councillors for the Thames ward of Reading Borough Council, serving one term (until 1996). In 1997, he unsuccessfully contested Bolton North East at that year's general election. Page had replaced sitting MP, Labour's Jane Griffiths, who had been de-selected by her party. The Conservative share of the vote increased by 3.4%.

MP in the 2010–2015 parliament

On 6 May 2010, Wilson was re-elected by the people of Reading East with a majority of 15.2% of those who voted and 42.6% of the vote. In the resulting Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government from May 2010, the Liberal Democrats shared in ministerial positions. Wilson was among Shadow Ministers in the previous Parliament that were not offered a position as a Minister in coalition. In 2010 he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt MP. He had earlier been offered a position as a junior government whip but refused this as still writing the same book. He became the Minister for Civil Society which entails charities, volunteering and social enterprise, which he accepted a month after finishing the book, which he assessed as incompatible with being in a senior government or opposition role.

MP in the 2015–2017 parliament

On 8 May 2015, Wilson was again re-elected by the people of Reading East, with 23,217 votes and a majority of 6,520, compared to 7,605 in 2010. Shortly after retaining his seat in the 2015 general election, Wilson sparked controversy with a remark on Twitter in which he seemed to show a lack of interest in solving his constituency's rising homelessness problem. When asked about how his party's cuts would help solve it, he responded with "Don't be a bad loser." This sparked considerable outrage online, including a petition on 38 Degrees for him to be removed from office.

In July 2015, he was forced to defend his claims for travel expenses, which included 9p for a 352-yard car journey to a constituency event and 60p for a journey on his bicycle between his constituency office, the railway station and home. He said that putting such small costs on expenses might seem "odd", but said that over a year mileage "does add up". He pointed out he had not claimed any accommodation expenses in London since becoming an MP in 2005, saving taxpayers "hundreds of thousands of pounds. However, as I do commute most days it does mean I incur parking and mileage expenses instead".

In the run-up to the EU referendum of 2016, Wilson publicly indicated that he believed the UK should remain a member of the European Union whilst not actively campaigning for it since he believed that he should stay neutral. In 2017 he voted to trigger article 50.

Defeat in the June 2017 election

On 8 June 2017, Wilson was defeated in the general election called by Theresa May in an unsuccessful attempt to increase her majority prior to the negotiations over the exit from the European Union. He received 23,344 votes, but came second to Matt Rodda, standing for the Labour Party, with 27,093 votes, a majority of 3,759.

References

Further reading

  • Rob Wilson MP
  • Profile at the Conservative Party
  • Reading East Conservatives – Rob Wilson MP
  • Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Rob Wilson MP