Arise Sir Edward! Our MP set for a knighthood
Floral launch...4Knights tale...Harborough MP Edward Garnier, pictured earlier this year at a jubilee flower show in Kibworth, has been nominated for a knighthood. (File picture)
DISAPPOINTMENT at being ousted from the Cabinet was short-lived for a district MP when he quickly found out he was being put forward for a knighthood.
Long-serving Harborough MP Edward Garnier had been appointed to the Government’s second highest legal post when the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition took power in May 2010 but he was replaced last Tuesday by Oliver Heald.
But just two days’ later, disappointment was replaced with joy at the news of his recomendation for a knighthood.
Mr Garnier, who was elected in Harborough in 1992, told the Mail this week: “I am honoured to have been given a knighthood and proud of the recognition of my years of service to the Government and the constituency.
“Of course it was disappointing to have to leave the Government and a job I not only enjoyed but which the Prime Minister said I had performed faultlessly.
“Logic and fairness do not always go hand in hand with the ups and downs of politics but every change should be seen as much as an opportunity as a disaster.”
The 59-year-old barrister and Crown Court recorder said his family is already getting into some good-natured banter over the news.
The father-of-three said: “To be honest, being called Sir Edward is amusing, a lot politer than what my children call me - they have started calling my wife Lady Gaga! - and will take some getting used to, but behind the less serious side of all this lies a genuine pride and sense of the historic value of this honour.
“Of course I am not a knight in shining armour on a charger like the knights of old but as the MP for Harborough, as a history graduate and as a lawyer I appreciate the links with the past and feel sure that my predecessor as the MP for Harborough, Sir John Farr, would, had he still been alive, have been quietly pleased.
“I am too but know that my constituents, of all political persuasions and none, will continue to expect, and to receive, the same level of hard work and service they have had since 1992 regardless of my knighthood.”
Mr Garnier won his fifth consecutive term at the 2010 general election with a majority nearing 10,000 people.
Prior to his appointment as Solicitor General he had also served spells as Shadow Attorney General, Shadow Home Affairs Minister and Shadow Minister for Justice while in opposition.
Mark Williams, honorary chairman of Harborough Conservative Association, said: “We were delighted and very proud to hear the news that Edward will receive a knighthood.
“This is thoroughly deserved and reflects his substantial parliamentary contributions in the last 20 years, also his more recent responsibilities as Solicitor General, but perhaps most importantly his unswerving dedication and loyalty to us - the people of the Harborough constituency, for whom I know he has great affection, and for whom he works so conscientiously as our representative and advocate at Westminster.”
Mr Garnier, who was called to the Bar in 1976 and practises as a defamation and media law specialist, has supported several initiatives in recent years including Cancer Research UK’s Commit to Beat Cancer campaign.
He also helped campaign against the eco-town plan for the district and lobbied in favour of retaining Harborough’s Connaught Road Post office.
Sue Graves, from the Kibworth branch of the Conservative Association, said: “We just wanted to say that this is worthy recognition for his long service as MP, all the constituency surgeries and all the fundraising he has done since being elected in 1992.”
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Weather for Market Harborough
Tuesday 21 May 2013
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Temperature: 8 C to 14 C
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