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Maureen Carnahan
Topic Started: Jan 25 2011, 09:03 PM (140 Views)
Maureen Carnahan MP
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Deputy Leader of the Conservatives
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Mrs. Carnahan on the floor of the Senedd

Name: Maureen Adelaide Carnahan (née McCleary)
DOB (Age): 6 May 1950
Party: Conservative and Unionist
Constituency: Monmouth
Religion: Church in Wales (Anglican)

Education:

  • Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls, 1965-1968
  • BA (English), Oxford University, St. Hilda's College, 1968-1972
  • MA (English), Oxford University, St. Hilda's College, 1972-1974


Career:

  • Journalist, The Western Mail: 1972-1978
  • Journalist, The Telegraph: 1978-1982
  • Member of Parliament for Monmouth: 1982-1997
  • Assistant Editor, The Telegraph: 1997-1999
  • Member of the Welsh Assembly for Monmouth: 1999-2005
  • Leader of the Welsh Conservative Party/Plaid Geidwadol Cymru: 2003-2005
  • Member of Parliament for Monmouth: 2005-present


Family:

  • Father: William John McCleary (b. 1920, Belfast; m. 1944; d. 2007)
  • Mother: Catherine Delaney McCleary (b. 1925, Cardiff; m. 1944)
  • Husband: John Michael Carnahan (b. 1949, Cardiff; m. 1973)
  • Son: William McCleary Carnahan (b. 1979, Monmouth)
  • Daughter: Elizabeth Maureen Carnahan (b. 1982, Monmouth)
  • Son: John Lawrence Carnahan (b. 1989, Monmouth)



Memberships:

  • Conservative and Unionist Party: 1968-present
  • Oxford Conservative and Unionist Association: 1968-1972
  • Monmouth Women's Institute: 1972-present (Recording Secretary 1976-1982; 1997-2001)
  • Tory Reform Group: 1982-present
  • Conservative Friends of Israel: 1985-present
  • The Bruges Group: 1990-present
  • Countryside Alliance: 1997-present



(Narrative biography forthcoming below; ALSO: Welsh Assembly service and Leadership of the Welsh Tories approved by Joseph)
Edited by Maureen Carnahan, Jan 26 2011, 09:55 PM.
Maureen McCleary Carnahan MP
Member for Monmouth (1982-1997; 2005-present)
Plaid Geidwadol Cymru
Deputy Leader of the Conservative & Unionist Party (2010-)
Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (2010-)
Shadow Secretary of State for Wales (2010-)
Shadow Secretary of State for Education (2010-)
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Maureen Carnahan MP
Member Avatar
Deputy Leader of the Conservatives
Early Life and Education

Maureen Adelaide McCleary was born in May of 1950 in the town of Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales to William and Catherine McCleary. The couple's only daughter, she excelled in school and attended the prestigious Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls before winning a place at Oxford University to study English.

While at Oxford, she joined both the Conservative and Unionist Party and the Oxford Conservative and Unionist Association and became active in student journalism as part of her degree. After graduating with honors, she pursed a Master's in English and met and fell in love with John Carnahan, an instructor in the programme and journalist for The Western Mail who hired, and then married, Maureen.

Career

After graduating from the Master's Programme at Oxford, Maureen began to work as a columnist for The Western Mail, writing on Welsh life and politics at Cardiff County Council. Her work drew the notice of the editorial board of The Telegraph in London, and she began to write a regular column on Wales for the paper. She became well-known for her coverage of the referendum surrounding the proposed devolved Welsh Assembly, which was handily defeated, and that coverage brought her to the attention of the national Conservative Party, who asked her to stand in Monmouth at the 1982 election.

Maureen was easily elected in 1982, 1987, and 1992, becoming well-known as a moderate, One-Nation Tory with an avowed Eurosceptic streak. She chose to remain on the backbenches throughout the Thatcher years due to a personal dislike for MT's policies. When Mrs. Thatcher resigned, Maureen was an enthusiastic supporter of John Major's bid for the leadership and helped to coordinate his campaign.

In 1997, Maureen was defeated for re-election in the Labour landslide of that general election, and was rehired by the Telegraph, this time as an Assistant Editor in charge of the Wales Desk and the Westminster beat. When Labour brought forward its plans to establish a Welsh Assembly, Maureen joined the Conservative campaign against it, helping to deliver Monmouth as safe "No" territory. It was in vain, however, as the referendum passed by a narrow margin.

Seeing this, the Party asked Maureen, as one of its highest-profile Welsh members, to stand in Monmouth, her old Westminster seat, only this time for the Welsh Assembly. She won her seat in 1999, the only Tory to win a constituency seat, and held it with an increased majority in 2003. Shortly after her 2003 victory, she was nominated as and elected unopposed as the Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, serving as the party's chief voice in the Assembly. She held this position until 2005, when the national party once again asked her to run for her old Westminster seat, which she reluctantly did and managed to gain it back from Labour after a hard-fought contest.

Present Day, Political Positions and Interests

Today, Maureen serves as the Member for Monmouth and remains involved with the Welsh Conservatives. She has been an advocate for more independence for the Welsh branch of the party, but thus far has not gained much traction in her campaign. She is known as a fierce advocate for the Union, while recognizing the benefits that devolution has brought to the Welsh people.

Politically, Maureen is a centrist, One-Nation Tory and an early member of the Tory Reform Group. Despite this liberal streak, she is an avowed Eurosceptic who was also an early member of the Bruges Group and has been a fierce opponent of creeping Eurocentrism in British politics. She has also been a member of the Countryside Alliance since the group's foundation.

When not at Westminster, Maureen enjoys reading, painting, and playing the piano, as well as spending time with her family.

She is fluent in Welsh and French.
Edited by Maureen Carnahan, Jan 26 2011, 09:56 PM.
Maureen McCleary Carnahan MP
Member for Monmouth (1982-1997; 2005-present)
Plaid Geidwadol Cymru
Deputy Leader of the Conservative & Unionist Party (2010-)
Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (2010-)
Shadow Secretary of State for Wales (2010-)
Shadow Secretary of State for Education (2010-)
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