http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Brazier Julian Brazier
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Julian Brazier TD MP
Member of Parliament
for Canterbury
Incumbent
Assumed office
11 June 1987
Preceded by David Crouch
Majority 6,048 (12.3%)
Personal details
Born 24 July 1953 (age 58)
Dartford, Kent, England
Nationality British
Political party Conservative
Spouse(s) Katherine Elizabeth Blagden
Alma mater Brasenose College, Oxford, London Business School
Religion Roman Catholic[1]
Website
www.julianbrazier.co.ukJulian William Hendy Brazier TD (born 24 July 1953) is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Canterbury. He was a shadow transport minister (until May 2010), (with responsibility for Aviation and Shipping) and is a prominent member of the Conservative Christian Fellowship.
Contents
[hide]
1 Education
2 Early career
3 Parliamentary career
3.1 Political positions
4 Personal life
5 References
6 External links
[edit] Education
Born into a military family, Brazier was educated at two independent schools: at The Dragon School in Oxford and Wellington College in the village of Crowthorne in Berkshire, followed by Brasenose College, Oxford, where he obtained an MA degree in mathematics. He was the President of the Oxford University Conservative Association in 1973. He also attended the London Business School in central London.
[edit] Early career
Brazier joined the Territorial Army aged 19 in 1972 and served for thirteen years, six of which were in the SAS. He was awarded the Territorial Decoration in 1993. He was employed by Chartered Consolidated Ltd 1975–1984, being involved in economic research from 1975–77, corporate finance from 1977–81, and was on the Executive Committee of the Board from 1981-4. In 1984, he became a management consultant with HB Maynard International[2] (now owned by Accenture).
Julian Brazier contested the 1983 General Election at Berwick-upon-Tweed, but was comfortably defeated by the Liberal MP Alan Beith by 8,215 votes. He contested the Conservative safe seat of Canterbury at the 1987 General Election following the retirement of the sitting MP Sir David Crouch. He held the seat comfortably with a majority of 14,891. He has remained as the MP for Canterbury since.
[edit] Parliamentary career
Within parliament, Brazier became the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Minister of State at the Treasury Gillian Shepherd. He remained Shepherd's PPS after the 1992 General Election in her new capacity as the Secretary of State for Employment, he resigned in 1993 as a protest against defence cuts. He was awarded the 'Backbencher of the Year' at the annual Spectator awards in 1996. Following the 1997 General Election, he became a member of the Defence Select Committee.
It was not until after the 2001 General Election that Julian Brazier was given a job by Iain Duncan Smith, initially as an Opposition Whip in 2001, he became a spokesman on Work and Pensions in 2002. He was briefly Home Affairs spokesman in 2003, before being moved later in the year by the new Leader of the Opposition Michael Howard to be a spokesman on International Affairs. Brazier remained on the frontbench after the 2005 General Election as a spokesman on Transport.
Julian Brazier is a member of the Cornerstone Group of Conservative MPs. This group is considered to be on the right of the Conservative Party, and away from the more centrist direction of the leadership. As a practising Roman Catholic, Brazier has been a long standing defender of socially conservative values. Brazier supported a bill put forth by Laurence Robertson in June 2005 that would almost entirely ban abortion.[3] In 2008, he proposed a law that would allow Parliament to ban films and games, even if the BBFC had approved them.[4] Unlike many Cornerstone members, however, Brazier does not belong to Better Off Out, which advocates EU withdrawal.
Because of his military background, Brazier has a special interest in the armed forces and has long been an advocate of military issues in the House of Commons.
He is one of the MPs who employs a family member to assist him.[5]
[edit] Political positions
Based on his voting record, Brazier is in favour of fox hunting, corporal punishment in schools, maintaining nuclear weapons, a hereditary House of Lords, the Iraq War, more parliamentary scrutiny, a smoking ban, freedom of information and the environment.
He is against gay rights, abortion, euthanasia, the legal recognition of transsexuality, gambling, drugs, foundation hospitals, identity cards, post office closures, terrorism laws, university top-up fees and control orders.[6]
[edit] Personal life
Julian Brazier married Katherine Elizabeth Blagden on 21 July 1984 in north-east Hampshire, and they have three sons (twins born July 1990, and another son born December 1992). He is the son-in-law of Brigadier General Paddy Blagden, a United Nations de-mining expert.
In February 2002, he was given a four-month suspended sentence following the death of a motorcyclist in a traffic accident in Italy on 29 August 2001.[7][8] He was driving on the wrong side of the road approaching a sharp bend when he hit a motorcyclist, 42-year old Carlo Civitelli, near Siena. He used his TA training to give Mr Civitelli first aid at the scene, but the man died three days later. Italian police found that Mr Civitelli's helmet was not properly fitted and that he was probably speeding. After the verdict, Julian Brazier said in a statement: "I am still deeply saddened by the tragic consequences of my lapse of attention. My thoughts are with the Civitelli family whose reaction to the whole terrible business has been so generous". He also said "as a parent, I shall carry the memory of this man's death with me for the rest of my life."[9]
http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/66355/is-israel-also-responsible-dying-sun-mr-brazier Is Israel also responsible for the dying of the sun, Mr Brazier?
MP blames Israel for inciting anger in Pakistan, the election of extremists in Egypt and Iran’s threat to close the Straits of Hormuz
By Marcus Dysch, April 11, 2012
Follow Marcus on Twitter
MP Brazier
MP Brazier
A Conservative MP has blamed Israel for "whipping up feeling" against British troops in Afghanistan, the election of extremists in Egypt, and Iran's threat to close a vital oil route.
Julian Brazier, MP for Canterbury and Whitstable, made the claims in a letter to Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.
Mr Brazier raised the issue of local authority tendering regulations before digressing into a rant about Israeli actions in the West Bank.
He quoted a lecture in which late military historian Professor Richard Holmes claimed Israeli activity in the West Bank was "playing a major role in inciting the anger felt in Pakistan and Afghanistan" and leading to attacks on British troops.
The MP continued: "I can be in no doubt at all of the fury Israeli settlement activity is causing in all Israel's neighbours [and the role it played in the sweeping electoral successes of the extremists in Egypt last autumn]."
Regarding Britain's approach to Iran, he wrote: "If, in the worst scenario, we have to go to war to keep the Straits of Hormuz open, Israeli settlement activity will have made it much harder."
Mr Brazier also complained about French waste-management company Veolia, which has repeatedly been targeted by anti-Israel groups over its links to the Jerusalem light rail project.
He asked Mr Pickles to investigate whether local councils should be allowed to work with the company and accused Veolia of being "intimately involved in highly illegal activities in the occupied territories".
These "illegal activities" included "establishing and operating transport systems, which are both run on an apartheid basis and make the settlement process even more irreversible", he said.
In the letter, Mr Brazier said he had "never taken part in any anti-Israeli boycott" - but he is a regular critic of Israel in Parliament.
Following the Gaza flotilla incident in 2010, he asked Foreign Secretary William Hague to comment on Israel's "brutal blockade of Gaza". During a 2007 Commons debate, he told then Foreign Secretary David Miliband that Israel was partly to blame for the rise of Hamas. The previous year, he had blamed Israel for "bullying" Lebanon.
The British Israel Coalition encouraged supporters to write to Mr Brazier contesting his "disgusting" letter to Mr Pickles.
A BIC spokesman said: "While it seems rather unlikely that Egyptian protesters took down the Mubarak regime because of Israel's military policy in the West Bank, what is far more disgusting is the idea that Taliban fighters that murder little girls who desire an education, or attack British troops trying to defend Afghani freedoms, do so because of the Jewish desire to live as a free people in their own land in another part of the world".
A Department for Communities and Local Government spokeswoman said Mr Pickles had received Mr Brazier's letter, but had yet to respond. The department has not launched an investigation into Veolia's work.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/154959#.T5P5XNmDnUs Samaria Leaders meet MP over ‘Apartheid’ Claims
Samaria Jews, PA dissident meet British MP who blamed “apartheid” Israel for the deaths of British troops and more.
By Maayana Miskin
First Publish: 4/20/2012, 3:25 PM
Activists meet British MP
Activists meet British MP
Adrian Korsner
Jewish leaders from Samaria, British friends of Israel, and a Palestinian Authority Arab dissident sat down this week with a British MP who blamed Israel for attacks on British troops in Afghanistan, the rise to power of Muslim extremists in Egypt, the Iranian threat in the Straits of Hormuz, and more.
MP Julian Brazier spoke to the activists in a special meeting in Parliament.
The British Israel Coalition (BICPAC) arranged the meeting in an attempt at “a creative way to tackle [Brazier’s] libelous claims.”
Brazier insisted earlier in the month that Israeli life in Judea and Samaria stirs Muslim hate around the world, leading to extremism and terrorism, and is “playing a major role in inciting the anger felt in Pakistan and Afghanistan.” Afghan terrorists, for their part, have said their attacks are spurred by the British presence in Afghanistan.
Brazier had also said, “If, in the worst case scenario, we have to go to war to keep the Straits of Hormuz open, Israeli settlement activity will have made it much harder.”
The meeting Tuesday aimed to show the MP a different point of view. “A crucial part of challenging this false narrative is to provide an alternative,” the BICPAC explained.
Samaria regional head Gershon Mesika was among those who met with Brazier. Also present was Mudar Zahran, a Jordanian dissident in London who seeks to create a homeland of “Palestine” in Jordan.
Mesika told Brazier that accusations of "occupation" are unacceptable. Judea and Samaria are the heart of the Jewish homeland, he said. Israel's claim to Tel Aviv stems from the historical claim to Shechem and Hevron, he added.
He invited the MP to visit Samaria and see the situation for himself.
Brazier Sticks to his Claims
During the meeting Brazier repeatedly condemned Israel for building a wall in Judea and Samaria. The wall, built after years of suicide bombings, protects major Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria as well as Israelis living west of the 1948 armistice line.
Brazier slammed Israel for building the wall east of the armistice line, saying the “I do believe that the effect of the wall is an apartheid wall.”
He stuck by his statements blaming Israel for Mideast violence as well. Brazier claimed a foreign diplomat had confirmed that young Muslims were radicalized by seeing reports of Israeli building in Judea and Samaria.