Evan Harris
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2008) (Find sources: Evan Harris – news, books, scholar) |
|
Evan Harris MP
|
|
 |
|
|
Member of Parliament
for Oxford West and Abingdon |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 1 May 1997 |
|
| Preceded by | John Patten |
|---|---|
| Majority | 7,683 (14.6%) |
|
|
|
| Born | 21 October 1965 Sheffield, South Yorkshire |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Liberal Democrat |
| Alma mater | Wadham College, Oxford |
| Website | evanharris.org.uk |
Evan Leslie Harris MB ChB MP (born 21 October 1965) is an English Liberal Democrat politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Oxford West and Abingdon.
Contents |
[edit] Education and professional career
Evan Harris was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, the son of South African Jewish parents (his father was a medical professor), and brought up in Liverpool, where he attended the Blue Coat School. He went on to Wadham College, Oxford, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in physiology and a diploma in medical sociology. He completed his education at the Oxford Medical School where he received a Bachelors of Medicine and Surgery and qualified as a doctor. He also won a Harvard-Westlake School high school scholarship in 1984. He began his career at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital in 1991 as a House Officer, he left the Royal Liverpool in 1992 and took up the same position at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, becoming a senior house officer in 1992. In 1994 he became a specialist registrar in public health with the Oxfordshire Health Authority where he remained until his election to parliament.
[edit] Political career
He joined the Social Democratic Party in 1985, joining the newly formed Liberal Democrats in 1988. He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1997 General Election for Oxford West and Abingdon following the retirement of the sitting Conservative MP and former Cabinet minister John Patten. Harris gained the seat for the Liberal Democrats with a majority of 6,285 and has remained the MP there since, making his maiden speech on 21 May 1997.[1]
In parliament, he was made a frontbench spokesman on health by Paddy Ashdown in 1997, and was moved under the new leadership of Charles Kennedy in 1999 to become a spokesman on education. He was promoted to the Liberal Democrat shadow cabinet following the 2001 General Election as the Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Health, but stood down to care for his girlfriend Liz O'Hara who had been diagnosed with Glioblastoma multiforme in 2003,[2] returning to the frontbench as the spokesman on science since the 2005 General Election. He was a member of the education and employment select committee for two years from 1999 and has been a member of the science and technology committee since 2003 and a member of the Joint Committee on Human Rights since 2005.
Harris is strongly pro-choice and has been highly criticised by pro-life and Church leaders for this and his support of euthanasia. He has spoken in support of experimentation on animals carried out at Oxford University, which is mostly based in his constituency, most recently Pro-Test's Oxford march in February 2008.
Evan Harris is a member of the Beveridge Group within the Liberal Democrats.[3] and has been honorary president of Delga,[4] the Liberal Democrats' LGBT group since 2000 and a vice-president of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA). He serves on many all party groups and is the chairman of the all-party kidney group,[5] vice chairman of the groups on refugees, malaria, AIDS, heart disease, lupus, brain tumours, and is the treasurer of the groups on Israel and Council of Christians and Jews.
In 2009, Evan Harris was awarded (with Lord Avebury) the National Secular Society's Secularist of the Year Award in recognition of his role in the abolition of the common law offense of Blasphemous Libel.
[edit] Personal life
He has been a member of the British Medical Association since 1992[4] He is an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society,[4] and the Patron of the Oxford Secular Society. He is divorced and speaks French and Spanish. In 2000 he took part in the HIV vaccine trials.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ Debate Text for 21 May 1997 - Hansard
- ^ MP quits to care for partner - BBC News Online 2003-10-13
- ^ About us - The Beveridge Group 2007-10-28
- ^ a b c Dr Evan Harris. "About Evan Harris". http://www.evanharris.org.uk/pages/aboutevan.html. Retrieved on 2007-10-27.
- ^ All Party Kidney Group information on Evan Harris website.
- ^ British MP injected with AIDS vaccine- BBC News Online 2000-08-31
[edit] External links
- Dr Evan Harris MP official site
- Evan Harris MP profile at the site of Liberal Democrats
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Evan Harris MP
- TheyWorkForYou.com - Evan Harris MP
- The Public Whip - Evan Harris voting record
- BBC News - Evan Harris profile 30 March 2006
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John Patten |
Member of Parliament for Oxford West and Abingdon 1997 – present |
Incumbent |
