Stone MP Bill Cash has received a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for his political service.
The veteran Conservative MP, who is 74, first entered Parliament in 1984 and has represented the Stone constituency since 1997. He is perhaps best known for his Eurosceptic views after fronting the anti-Maastricht Treaty campaign in the 1990s that almost brought down John Major’s government.
More locally, he has played a leading part in the anti-HS2 campaign over the last couple of years.
Here’s some more information from his website:
Bill was born in London on 10 May 1940 and grew up in Sheffield. He was educated at Stonyhurst College and Lincoln College, Oxford where he read History. After qualifying as a solicitor in 1967, he practised constitutional and administrative law.
In May 1984, he was elected as MP for Stafford where he remained until he was elected to the newly created constituency of Stone in 1997, being re-elected in 2001 and 2005. He was Shadow Attorney General and Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs between 2001 to 2003.
The leader of the Maastricht Rebellion during the 1990s, Bill was voted Parliamentary Campaigner of the Year for 1991. He is currently a member of the European Scrutiny Committee and Chairman and founder of the European Foundation think tank.
In addition to constitutional and European affairs, Bill takes a strong interest in the developing world. He is Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Sanitation and Water in the Third World, Malaysia, Kenya and Uganda, and Vice-Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Committee for Tanzania.
Bill married Biddy Lee in 1965 and they have two sons, one daughter and three grandchildren. He is a keen cricketer and swimmer and enjoys listening to jazz.
