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Crispin Blunt

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Crispin Blunt
Official portrait, 2020
Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee
In office
18 June 2015 – 12 July 2017
Preceded byRichard Ottaway
Succeeded byTom Tugendhat
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prisons and Youth Justice
In office
6 May 2010 – 4 September 2012
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byMaria Eagle
Succeeded byJeremy Wright
Member of Parliament
for Reigate
In office
1 May 1997 – 30 May 2024
Preceded bySir George Gardiner
Succeeded byRebecca Paul
Personal details
Born
Crispin Jeremy Rupert Blunt

(1960-07-15) 15 July 1960 (age 64)
West Germany
NationalityBritish
Political partyIndependent
Other political
affiliations		Conservative (until 2023)
Spouse
Victoria Jenkins
​
​
(m. 1990; sep. 2010)​
Children2
RelativesEmily Blunt (niece)
Alma materRoyal Military Academy Sandhurst
University College, Durham
Cranfield School of Management
OccupationPolitician
AwardsQueen's Medal
WebsitePersonal Website
Commons Website
Military service
Allegiance United Kingdom
Branch/service British Army
Years of service1979–1990
RankCaptain
Unit13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own)

Crispin Jeremy Rupert Blunt (born 15 July 1960) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Reigate from 1997 to 2024.[1] Formerly a member of the Conservative Party, he was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prisons and Youth Justice within the Ministry of Justice from 2010 to 2012 and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee from 2015 until 2017.

Blunt first entered the House of Commons at the 1997 general election, when he replaced the then MP Sir George Gardiner, who had been deselected by the Constituency Conservative Association Executive Council and joined the Referendum Party. In 2013, Blunt was deselected by the Constituency Executive Council, with speculation that this was due to his public announcement that he was gay.[2] However, after a ballot of party members in Reigate, the decision was overturned by a margin of 5–1 and Blunt was reselected as the Conservative candidate for the 2015 general election.[3]

On 1 May 2022, he announced he would be standing down at the 2024 general election.[4] In October 2023, he was arrested on suspicion of rape and possession of controlled substances, and released on conditional bail. He subsequently had the Conservative Party whip removed, continuing to sit as an independent MP.[5][6]

Early life and education

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Blunt was born on 15 July 1960 in West Germany, one of three sons of English parents Adrienne (née Richardson) and Major-General Peter Blunt (1923–2003).[7] He was educated at Wellington College, an independent school in Berkshire. He then attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where he won the Queen's Medal, following which he gained a regular commission in the British Army. As an in-service degree, he studied politics at University College, Durham between 1981 and 1984, where he was elected president of the Durham Union Society in 1983.[8] He graduated with an upper second-class honours degree.[9] In 1991, he gained a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree at the Cranfield School of Management.[10]

Military service

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Blunt was commissioned as an officer in the British Army on 4 August 1979 as a second lieutenant.[11] Having been commissioned into the General List, he transferred to the 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own) on 8 March 1980, and his regular commission was confirmed.[12] He was promoted to lieutenant on 4 August 1981,[13] and to captain on 4 February 1986.[14] During the 1980s, he was stationed in Cyprus, Germany, and Britain, serving as a troop leader, regimental operations officer and armoured reconnaissance squadron commander.[15][16] He resigned his commission on 24 September 1990, and was appointed to the Reserve of Officers.[17]

Political career

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Blunt contested his first Parliamentary seat at the 1992 general election, as the Conservative candidate in West Bromwich East.[18] From 1991 to 1992, Blunt was a representative of the Forum of Private Business.[19] In 1993, he was appointed a special adviser to Malcolm Rifkind, the Secretary of State for Defence, and worked in the same capacity when Rifkind became Foreign Secretary from 1995 to 1997.

Member of Parliament

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At the 1997 general election, Blunt was elected to Parliament as Member for Reigate in Surrey, succeeding the long-serving strongly Eurosceptic MP Sir George Gardiner, who had been deselected by the local Conservative Party. Blunt was subsequently appointed to the House of Commons Defence Select Committee.

In July 1997, he was elected as Secretary of the Conservative Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Committee and the Conservative Middle East Council. In May 2000, he joined the House of Commons Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Select Committee and in July 2003 he was elected Chairman of the Conservative Middle East Council, a position he still occupies.[15]

The new Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith appointed Blunt to the Opposition front bench as Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland in September 2001. In July 2002, he was appointed as deputy to Tim Yeo, Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.[20] On 1 May 2003 he resigned his position on the front bench, saying that Duncan Smith was a "handicap" to the Conservatives.[21] He decided to resign at that time in the expectation that the Conservative Party would make over 500 gains in the 2003 local government elections, but in the belief that these would be achieved in spite of, rather than because of, Duncan Smith's leadership. Blunt timed his resignation so that it became public after the polls closed but before the results were declared.[22]

The following day he was unanimously reselected by his local party as their prospective parliamentary candidate, but in May 2003, he failed to persuade 25 of his fellow Conservative MPs to call for a vote of confidence. He accepted that no challenge for the party leadership would be immediately forthcoming and returned to the back benches.[23] In November 2003, Michael Howard replaced Duncan Smith after a vote of no confidence.

Blunt became a party whip under Howard, but on 9 June 2005, he took a leave of absence from that role to support the expected leadership bid of Malcolm Rifkind. However, when Rifkind was knocked out of the party leadership contest, Blunt returned to the Whips' office and wrote to all party members in his constituency asking them to rank the remaining contenders in order of preference so he could best represent his constituents.[24]

Blunt is a former joint chair of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding.[25] When the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition formed a government in 2010, Blunt was appointed as the first Minister of State for Prisons at the Ministry of Justice. His responsibilities included prisons and probation, youth justice, criminal law and sentencing policy, and criminal justice. He is also a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group.[26]

In November 2013, Blunt was re-selected to stand in the 2015 general election for the Conservative Party, having undergone a postal ballot of constituency members. The postal ballot was triggered when the executive council came to a vote with a majority decision not to endorse his candidacy. Having won the postal ballot Blunt called for the executive council to consider their position.[27] The lack of support from a majority of the executive council was partly attributed to the allegedly homophobic views of some older Conservative voters in the area. Roger Newstead, the chairman of the Reigate South and Earlswood Branch, wrote a private letter to Ben Mearns, who had resigned from the branch committee after protesting the decision to force a postal ballot. In the letter, Newstead said: "I do not know what motivated my executive colleagues but I suspect that Crispin has been the author of his own misfortune. There is no doubt in my mind that his very public and totally unnecessary announcement that he was 'gay' was the final straw for some members, particularly those in the north of the borough, with whom there had been a number of previous disagreements on policy matters. A number of lady members were very offended by the manner in which his marriage broke down. Apparently Victoria's version was very different from Crispin's".[28]

Later clarifying his views to The Guardian, Newstead said: "I still say it was unnecessary [for Crispin Blunt to come out]. To me it was an error of judgment. I wouldn't have done anything like that. I would have just said if anyone had asked me: politicians have a unique lifestyle, it doesn't suit everybody and there is a long history of parliamentary marriages breaking down. You don't have to go out and tell people you have got homosexual tendencies. It is a private matter and it shouldn't have been put in the public domain. He put it in the public domain".[28]

In May 2014, Blunt was one of seven unsuccessful candidates for the chairmanship of the House of Commons Defence Select Committee.[29] On 19 June 2015, it was announced that Blunt had been elected to the chairmanship of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee,[30] a post he held until 12 July 2017 when he was defeated by Conservative candidate Tom Tugendhat.[31]

Prior to the 2016 EU Referendum, Blunt supported Brexit.

In September 2017, Blunt was elected chair of the All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group, the cross-party group which represents humanists in Parliament.[32] In 2018, he became an honorary associate of the National Secular Society.[33]

On 11 April 2022, after fellow MP Imran Ahmad Khan was found guilty of a child sex offence, Blunt issued a statement in defence of Ahmad Khan which criticised the verdict, describing it as an "international scandal, with dreadful wider implications for millions of LGBT+ Muslims around the world" and said that it "relied on lazy tropes about LGBT+ people". He also said that he hoped for Ahmad Khan to return to public service.[34] Blunt's intervention was strongly condemned and members of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on global LGBT+ affairs which was chaired by Blunt, resigned in protest.[35] Blunt later apologised for his comments and resigned as chair of the APPG.[36] In May 2022, Blunt backtracked on this apology and described Ahmad Khan's conviction as a "serious miscarriage of justice".[37]

On 1 May 2022, he announced he would be standing down at the 2024 general election.[4]

On 16 October 2022, he became the first Conservative MP to publicly call for Liz Truss to resign, calling it "blindingly obvious" that she must go.[38]

Following his arrest on suspicion of rape and possession of controlled substances on 25 October 2023, Blunt had the Conservative Party whip removed, continuing to sit as an independent MP.[5][6] Blunt said that he expected to be cleared, and that he had previously reported an attempt of extortion to the police.[39]

Political views

[edit]

A long-term Eurosceptic, Blunt issued a pamphlet in 1998 when first elected to parliament which called for an in-out referendum.[40] In 1998, Blunt argued against the equal age of consent for homosexuals and heterosexuals, stating that "It is also clear that there is a much greater strand of homosexuality than of heterosexuality which depends for its gratification on the exploitation of youth".[41] In 2004, he was also absent for votes on legalising (same-sex) civil partnerships and allowing marriages to remain valid if they became a same-sex marriage after the granting of a Gender Recognition Certificate.[42] In June 2016, Blunt championed LGBT rights, during the campaigning of the EU referendum, stating that the UK would be the "world's leading proponents of LGBTI rights, in or out of the EU".[43]

Blunt has been described as "a long-term critic of Israel".[44] He is a co-director of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, and in October 2023 he announced the group's intention to prosecute UK government leaders for "aiding and abetting war crimes in Gaza" amid the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, warning his colleagues in Westminster of the peril of guilt through complicity.[45]

He voted against the Cameron–Clegg coalition government in 2013 on the issue of British military intervention in the Syrian civil war.[46]

Blunt has called attention to the presence of prayers as part of Parliament's formal business. He put forward an Early Day Motion on the issue in 2019, arguing that the practice was discriminatory against non-religious MPs since those MPs who choose to pray are able to reserve a seat for parliamentary business that day and are more likely to ask questions; there are 650 elected MPs in the UK Parliament, but only enough seating for 427 at any one time.[47] In 2020, he again raised the issue in the House, with new speaker Lindsay Hoyle expressing sympathy with the need for reform.[48]

Blunt is one of the most prominent Conservative advocates of transgender rights. He argues that supporting transgender individuals is an extension of the party's tradition of supporting individual liberty.[49]

On 16 October 2022, Blunt stated in his opinion that Liz Truss would have to resign as Prime Minister. Blunt said, "I think the game is up and it's now a question as to how the succession is managed. If there is such a weight of opinion in the parliamentary party that we have to have a change, then it will be effected."[50] He was the first Conservative MP to openly call for Truss's resignation.[51]

Personal life

[edit]

Blunt married Victoria Jenkins in September 1990 in Kensington and they have a daughter and son. His niece is the actress Emily Blunt. In August 2010, he announced that he was leaving his wife in order "to come to terms with his homosexuality". They remain separated but have not divorced.[52][53]

Blunt's voting record in Parliament had previously been broadly unsympathetic towards gay rights.[54] He later stated regret for that part of his voting record.[52] In January 2016, he stated that he uses poppers, during a parliamentary debate that discussed banning them along with other legal highs. He stated, "I out myself as a user of poppers. I am astonished to find [the government] is proposing it to be banned and frankly so would many other gay men."[55]

Blunt is a cricketer, a former member of the Parliamentarians team.[56] He is a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club.[57]

References

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  1. ^ "Crispin Blunt MP". Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  2. ^ "Crispin Blunt reselected as Tory MP following deselection attempt after he came out as gay". Pink News. London. 18 November 2013. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  3. ^ "Local Conservatives support Reigate's Crispin Blunt". BBC News. 18 November 2013. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Crispin Blunt marks 25 Years as Member of Parliament for Reigate". blunt4reigate.com. May 2022. Archived from the original on 2 May 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  5. ^ a b Davis, Barney (26 October 2023). "Tory MP Crispin Blunt arrested on suspicion of rape and possession of drugs". The Independent. Archived from the original on 26 October 2023. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  6. ^ a b "Tory MP Crispin Blunt arrested on suspicion of rape". BBC News. 26 October 2023. Archived from the original on 26 October 2023. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  7. ^ "Major-General Peter Blunt (obituary)". The Daily Telegraph. London. 25 August 2003. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  8. ^ "Sexual Offences (Pardons Etc) Bill". Hansard. 21 October 2016. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  9. ^ "I'm gay and my marriage is over, admits Tory minister". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. 28 August 2010. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  10. ^ The Almanac of British Politics (sixth ed.). Taylor & Francis. 1983. p. 565.
  11. ^ "No. 47996". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 November 1979. pp. 13896–13897.
  12. ^ "No. 48176". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 May 1980. p. 6684.
  13. ^ "No. 48710". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 August 1981. p. 10650.
  14. ^ "No. 50440". The London Gazette (Supplement). 24 February 1986. p. 2709.
  15. ^ a b "Profile: Crispin Blunt". BBC. 2 May 2003. Archived from the original on 21 April 2004.
  16. ^ Kite, Melissa (12 June 2005). "Who's who in this campaign of stealth". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 17 June 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  17. ^ "No. 52280". The London Gazette (Supplement). 24 September 1990. p. 15106.
  18. ^ "UK General Election results April 1992 (part 21)". Richard Kimber's Political Science resources. Archived from the original on 8 May 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
  19. ^ "Crispin Blunt MP". UK Government. 21 September 2023. Archived from the original on 28 May 2022.
  20. ^ "Crispin Blunt – MP for Reigate". TReigate & Banstead Conservative Association. Archived from the original on 8 July 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  21. ^ "IDS a 'handicap' warns quitting MP". The Guardian. 1 May 2003. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  22. ^ "Tory frontbencher quits post". BBC News. 2 May 2003. Archived from the original on 11 February 2006. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  23. ^ "Blunt ends campaign to oust Tory leader". The Daily Telegraph. 22 May 2003. Archived from the original on 20 May 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  24. ^ "Tory whip quits to champion Rifkind". The Guardian. 9 June 2005. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  25. ^ "CAABU Chair quoted in Financial Times". website of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding. 18 March 2006. Archived from the original on 3 July 2010. Retrieved 10 March 2009.
  26. ^ "Register of All-Party Groups". Archived from the original on 3 August 2009. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  27. ^ "Crispin Blunt wins re-selection". BBC News. 18 November 2013. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  28. ^ a b "Crispin Blunt defeats attempt to deselect him". The Guardian. London. 18 November 2013. Archived from the original on 19 November 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  29. ^ "Defence Committee Chair election: Rory Stewart MP elected" (PDF). parliament.uk. 14 May 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 May 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  30. ^ "Winning candidates for select committee Chairs announced". UK Parliament. 18 June 2015. Archived from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  31. ^ "Winning candidates for select committee Chairs announced". UK Parliament. 12 July 2017. Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  32. ^ "Crispin Blunt and Joan Bakewell elected as Chair and Co-Chair of humanists in Parliament". Humanists UK. 13 September 2017. Archived from the original on 14 September 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  33. ^ "National Secular Society Bulletin Spring 2018" (PDF). NSS Bulletin: 8. Spring 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 May 2019. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  34. ^ "Crispin Blunt deletes criticism of MP Imran Ahmad Khan's sex offence conviction". BBC News. 12 April 2022. Archived from the original on 12 April 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  35. ^ Woodcock, Andrew (11 April 2022). "Tory MP branded 'disgraceful' after defending colleague convicted of child sex offence". The Independent. Archived from the original on 11 April 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  36. ^ "Crispin Blunt apologises for defending sex offender MP Imran Ahmad Khan". BBC News. 12 April 2022. Archived from the original on 4 November 2023. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  37. ^ Wright, Charlotte (22 May 2022). "Crispin Blunt says sex offender's conviction is 'miscarriage of justice'". BBC News. Archived from the original on 22 May 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  38. ^ "'Blindingly obvious' that Liz Truss 'must' go, says Conservative MP Crispin Blunt". Sky News. Archived from the original on 16 October 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  39. ^ Mason, Rowena (27 October 2023). "Minister denies 'cultural issue' among Tory MPs after Crispin Blunt's arrest". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 27 October 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  40. ^ "Crispin Blunt: Only Brexit offers a positive vision for Britain's role in the world". The Standard. 9 May 2016. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  41. ^ "Reduction In Age At Which Certain Sexual Acts Are Lawful". Hansard. 22 June 1998. Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  42. ^ "Crispin Blunt MP, Reigate". Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
  43. ^ "Crispin Blunt: Don't be taken for a mug – voting for Brexit won't put LGBT rights at risk". PinkNews. 8 June 2016. Archived from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  44. ^ Harpin, Lee (16 June 2020). "Prime Minister 'strongly objects' to Israeli annexation plans". The Jewish Chronicle. Archived from the original on 16 June 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  45. ^ "Israel-Hamas war: UK could be complicit in Gaza war crimes, Tory MP warns". Sky News. 14 October 2023. Archived from the original on 15 October 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
  46. ^ "Nine Tory MPs who did not back Syria strike received Assad's hospitality Archived 3 November 2021 at the Wayback Machine The Guardian September 2013
  47. ^ "WE MUST NOT BAN PARLIAMENTARY PRAYERS". Premier Christianity: 17. March 2019. Archived from the original on 6 April 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  48. ^ "Prayers stop access to Commons seats, protests Parliamentary Humanist Group Chair". Humanists UK. 15 January 2020. Archived from the original on 16 January 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  49. ^ "After His Furious Public Spat With Liz Truss Over Trans Rights, Crispin Blunt Says He Will Not Let The Issue Go". Politics Home. 28 September 2020. Archived from the original on 4 October 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  50. ^ 'Game is up for Liz Truss' – Tory MP Archived 16 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine The Guardian
  51. ^ Wheeler, Caroline; Yorke, Harry (16 October 2022). "New chancellor Jeremy Hunt takes full control as Crispin Blunt says time's up for Liz Truss". The Times. Archived from the original on 16 October 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  52. ^ a b "Crispin Blunt Story: The Evolution of a Gay Conservative in Parliament". The Advocate. 2 September 2011. Archived from the original on 13 October 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  53. ^ Conservative minister Crispin Blunt reveals he is gay Archived 22 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News Online, 27 August 2010.
  54. ^ Crispin Blunt compared to 'Homosexuality – Equal Rights' Archived 19 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine, They Work For You.
  55. ^ "Tory MP Crispin Blunt 'outs himself' as popper user". BBC News. 20 January 2016. Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  56. ^ "Parliamentarians narrowly beat Lichfield Diocese". Jeremy Lefroy. 11 June 2011. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  57. ^ "Who's who in this campaign of stealth". UK Parliament. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
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1997–2024 		Succeeded by
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