Eric Ollerenshaw
{{Short description|British politician}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| name = Eric Ollerenshaw
| honorific-suffix = OBE
| image = Eric_1.jpg
| caption =
| office = Member of Parliament
for Lancaster and Fleetwood
| term_start = 6 May 2010
| term_end = 30 March 2015
| majority =
| predecessor = Constituency created
| successor = Cat Smith
| office1 = Leader of the Conservative Party
in the London Assembly
| term_start1 = 2000
| term_end1 = 2004
| predecessor1 = Position established
| successor1 = Bob Neill{{cite web|url=http://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/members/neillb.jsp|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040805211651/http://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/members/neillb.jsp|title=London Assembly Member Bob Neill|archive-date=5 August 2004|access-date=7 October 2019|website=london.gov.uk|url-status=dead}}
| office2 = Member of the London Assembly
as the 1st Additional Member
| assembly2 = London
| term_start2 = 4 May 2000
| term_end2 = 1 May 2004
| majority2 =
| predecessor2 = Constituency created
| successor2 = Peter Hulme-Cross
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1950|03|26}}
| birth_place = Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, England
| death_date =
| death_place =
| website = {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20141217094220/http://www.ericollerenshaw.com/ Official website]}}
| nationality = British
| party = Conservative
| alma_mater = London School of Economics}}
Eric Ollerenshaw OBE (born 26 March 1950) is a British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lancaster and Fleetwood from 2010 to 2015.
He was born and grew up in Lancashire and was educated at Hyde County Grammar School and the London School of Economics where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics in 1971.{{cite web|url=http://www.alumni.lse.ac.uk/olc/pub/LHE/filemanager/news/stories/2010/1005mps.htm |title=LSE Alumni Association |accessdate=15 September 2016 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310233414/http://www.alumni.lse.ac.uk/olc/pub/LHE/filemanager/news/stories/2010/1005mps.htm |archivedate=10 March 2012 |df=dmy }} He has previously been an elected member of the London Assembly and head of the Cities and Diversity section of the Conservative Party at Conservative Campaign Headquarters.{{cite web|url=http://www.lancasterandfleetwoodconservatives.com/about/ |title=The Conservative Party |website=Lancasterandfleetwoodconservatives.com |date= |accessdate=2016-09-15}}
Teaching career
Before moving into politics, Ollerenshaw was a full-time teacher of History. He taught in three comprehensive schools – two of which were social priority schools – and in 1986 gained his first elected position on the Inner London Education Authority. After rising to lead the Conservative group on the Authority in 1988, he worked with the Government and the Boroughs to abolish the Authority in 1990. {{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}
Political career
In the 1991 New Year Honours, he was awarded his OBE for Public and Political Service. The same year he was elected to the London Borough of Hackney representing Springfield as one of its three Conservative councillors. In 1992 he stood as the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate in Heywood and Middleton.{{cite web|url=http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge92/i11.htm|title=UK General Election results April 1992|date=9 April 1992|work=Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources|publisher=Politics Resources|accessdate=6 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811135924/http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge92/i11.htm|archive-date=11 August 2011|url-status=dead}}
In 1998, he rose to lead the Conservative group on Hackney London Borough Council when Joe Lobenstein, the previous leader of the group, became mayor of Hackney. His involvement with Councillor Isaac Leibowitz, who was later convicted of electoral fraud,{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1211315.stm |title=UK POLITICS | Vote-rigging councillors face jail |publisher=BBC News |date=2001-03-09 |accessdate=2016-09-15}} was mentioned in an Early Day Motion from the Labour MP for Hackney South, Brian Sedgemore calling for him to be divested of his OBE.{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/edm/1998-99/811 |title=Early day motion 811 - ELECTORAL FRAUD IN HACKNEY - UK Parliament |website=Parliament.uk |date= |accessdate=2016-09-15}} Between 2000 and 2001, he was the joint leader of Hackney Council with Labour's Jules Pipe during Hackney's most troubled period. In 2000, Ollerenshaw was elected as a member of the London Assembly and in 2002 rose to become the Conservative Group Leader. He was elected Member of Parliament for Lancaster and Fleetwood at the 2010 general election with a majority of 333 votes.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}}
Parliamentary career
In March 2007 he was selected as the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Lancaster and Fleetwood, which he won in the General Election held on 6 May 2010 by just 333 votes.{{cite web |title=Eric Ollerenshaw Bio |publisher=Conservatives.com |url=http://www.conservatives.com/People/Members_of_Parliament/Ollerenshaw_Eric.aspx |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016010532/http://www.conservatives.com/People/Members_of_Parliament/Ollerenshaw_Eric.aspx |archivedate=16 October 2011 |df=dmy }} In September 2010 he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Baroness Warsi. Ollerenshaw campaigned on the 'No' side during the lead up to the 2011 Referendum on the Alternative Vote.
In the 2015 General Election Ollerenshaw lost to Labour's Cat Smith by 1,265 votes.{{cite web|last1=General|first1=Election|url=http://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/local/video-election-2015-labour-s-cat-smith-wins-lancaster-and-fleetwood-1-7250856|title=Eric Ollerenshaw (C) loses to Cat Smith (L)|website=Lancaster Guardian|accessdate=8 May 2015|archive-date=18 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518070719/http://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/local/video-election-2015-labour-s-cat-smith-wins-lancaster-and-fleetwood-1-7250856|url-status=dead}} After returning to live in Hackney, he was again selected as the Conservative candidate for Lancaster and Fleetwood at the 2017 General Election, once again being defeated by Labour's Cat Smith, but by a much increased margin of 6,661 votes, despite him increasing his votes and vote share.{{cite news |title=Lancaster & Fleetwood parliamentary constituency - Election 2017|publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000776}}
Personal life
Ollerenshaw is openly gay.{{cite news|url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-1388.html|title=Gay councillor loses Hackney seat|work=Pink News|date=5 May 2006}}{{cite web|url=http://www.lgbtory.co.uk/elected?page=1|work=LGBTory|title=Elected LGBT Conservatives}} His partner of 36 years, Michael Donoghue, died of pancreatic cancer in 2009.{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/10582593/MP-Eric-Ollerenshaw-After-35-years-of-love-pancreatic-cancer-took-him-in-just-six-weeks.html |title= "MP Eric Ollerenshaw: 'After 35 years of love, pancreatic cancer took him in just six weeks'" |accessdate=2014-01-22 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122192102/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/10582593/MP-Eric-Ollerenshaw-After-35-years-of-love-pancreatic-cancer-took-him-in-just-six-weeks.html |archivedate=22 January 2014 |df=dmy }}
Ollerenshaw is a trustee of the Baroness Warsi Foundation.{{cite web |title=Baroness Warsi Foundation |url=http://www.baronesswarsifoundation.org/ |access-date=24 January 2019 |archive-date=28 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028192507/http://www.baronesswarsifoundation.org/ |url-status=usurped }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Eric Ollerenshaw}}
- {{UK MP links | parliament = Eric-Ollerenshaw/4141 | publicwhip = Eric_Ollerenshaw | theywork = Eric_Ollerenshaw}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070311011147/http://www.hackneyconservatives.com/ The Hackney Conservative Party]
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{{S-par|uk}}
{{S-new|constituency}}
{{S-ttl|title=Member of Parliament for Lancaster and Fleetwood|years=2010–2015}}
{{S-aft|after=Cat Smith}}
{{S-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ollerenshaw, Eric}}
Category:Conservative Members of the London Assembly
Category:Councillors in the London Borough of Hackney
Category:People from Ashton-under-Lyne
Category:English gay politicians
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics
Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
Category:LGBTQ members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom