Edward Leigh

Sir Edward Julian Egerton Leigh MP, Kt (born 20 July 1950) is a British Conservative Member of Parliament (MP).

Leigh has represented Gainsborough, Lincolnshire in the House of Commons as its Member of Parliament since 1997, and for its predecessor constituency of Gainsborough and Horncastle between 1983 and 1997.

He served as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee for 10 years between 2001 and 2010, investigating government waste and seeking value for money in public expenditure. Under his leadership, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was responsible for saving the taxpayer over £4 billion. Sir Edward stepped down at the end of the parliamentary session in 2010, as it is customary for a member of HM Opposition to hold this post.

Leigh was knighted in the 2013 Birthday Honours for public and political service. He was previously nicknamed "the Viscount" in parliamentary circles, alluding to his landed gentry background.

Leigh has opposed most instances of abortion and human embryonic research, deferring to his religious beliefs which accord with papal pronouncements. He was on the losing side in defence of Section 28, which barred Local Authorities from promoting "the teaching in any maintained-school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship" and was a vocal opponent of the Civil Partnership Act 2004, voting against it in Parliament at its Second Reading. Leigh later proposed an amendment to extend the property and pension rights afforded by civil partnerships to siblings who had lived together for more than 12 years. This was opposed by many backers of the initial Bill, such as fellow Conservative MP Sir Alan Duncan, who dubbed it a wrecking amendment.

Edward Leigh (cricketer, born 1913)

Edward Buchanan Leigh (19 June 1913 – 15 August 1994) was an English cricketer. Leigh was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm off break. He was born at Vacoas, British Mauritius.

Leigh played Minor Counties Championship cricket for Buckinghamshire, making three appearances against Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire. Later serving in the Raj, Leigh made two first-class appearances for Bihar. The first came in 1936 against Bengal, with Leigh being dismissed in Bihars' first-innings for 11 runs by Probodh Dutt. In their second-innings, he scored 13 runs before being dismissed by the same bowler. His second first-class appearance came the following year against the same opposition. In this second match, Leigh was dismissed for a single run in Bihars' first-innings by Jitendra Banerjee, while in their second-innings he was dismissed for 4 runs by Tom Longfield.

He died at Petersfield, Hampshire on 15 August 1994.

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Edward Leigh (disambiguation)

Edward Leigh may refer to:

See also

Edward Leigh (writer)

Edward Leigh (24 March 1602 – 2 June 1671) was a versatile English lay writer, known particularly for his works on religious topics, and a politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1645 to 1648. He fought for the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War

Life

Leigh was born at Shawell, Leicestershire, the son of Henry Leigh. He matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford on 24 October 1617, and graduated B.A. in 1620, M.A. in 1623. Before leaving Oxford he entered the Middle Temple, and became a painstaking student of divinity, law, and history. During the plague of 1625 he spent six months in France, and busied himself in making a collection of French proverbs. He subsequently moved to Banbury, Oxfordshire, to be near William Wheatly, whose preaching he admired.

In the Civil War, Leigh became a colonel in the parliamentary army. On 30 September 1644 he presented to parliament a petition from Staffordshire parliamentarians complaining of cavalier oppression, and made a speech, which was printed. In 1645 he was elected Member of Parliament for Stafford in the Long Parliament as one of the replacements for the members who had been declared 'disabled to sit'. His theological attainments procured him a seat in the Westminster Assembly. His signature is affixed to the letter written in the name of the parliamentary committee which granted powers to the visitors of the university of Oxford in 1647. Having in December 1648 voted that the king's concessions were satisfactory, he was expelled from the house under Pride's Purge. From then he appears to have avoided public life.