In this section
- Section Home
- Association Officers
- Member of Parliament
- Members of the European Parliament
- Councillors

RSS Feeds

- News RSS
- Blog RSS
- Gallery RSS

Roger Helmer MEP

Roger was first elected to the European parliament in 1999, and has been kept very busy ever since representing the interests of his 4.1 million constituents from in the East Midlands. In June 2004 he was re-elected for a second term, and currently sits on three committees: Environment, Unemployment and Petitions. During the 1999/04 parliament, Roger was also a very active member of the "interparliamentary delegation" to ASEAN (the nations of South East Asia), plus Korea. In the new parliament these two areas have been split. Roger remains a member of the ASEAN delegation, and also sits as an alternative member on the Korea delegation. During the course of his long business career before 1999, he spent a total of twelve years running businesses in East and South East Asia as a resident, so he brings a wealth of detailed knowledge of the region to his work on these interparliamentary delegations. Born in 1944, Roger attended King Edward VI Grammar School in Southampton (1955 - 62), and then won a State Scholarship to Churchill College, Cambridge, where he read mathematics, graduating in 1965 with a B.A. and subsequently an M.A. He started his business career in 1965 with Procter & Gamble in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, going on to hold senior marketing and general management appointments in a range of companies, including well-known multinationals like Readers Digest, National Semiconductor, Coats Viyella and the whisky firm United Distillers, now part of the drinks conglomerate Diageo. During the course of his business career he lived and worked in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Korea, and ran businesses in the Philippines, Vietnam, Guam and Saipan. In September 1998, following his selection as the #1 candidate for the Conservative Party in the East Midlands, Roger left his job as Managing Director of a Leicester textile company, Donisthorpe Ltd (the UK subsidiary of a French textile multinational), to campaign full time ahead of the 1999 euro-elections, and took up his new role as an MEP immediately afterwards. He has found his decades of business experience invaluable in the European parliament, not least in helping him to fight the battle against the tide of intrusive and prescriptive EU regulation and red tape which is causing such damage to economic competitiveness across Europe. With like minded-colleagues, Roger has developed close relationships with conservative political groups in the USA, and has been a regular speaker at American conferences. He was recently appointed "Adam Smith Scholar" by ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. He has earned a reputation - and even the grudging respect of political opponents - for his clear, consistent and forthright approach to the question of Britain's relationship with the EU. He believes that most of his constituents would be happy with the sort of relationship the British people thought they had voted for in the 1975 referendum - a relationship based on free trade and voluntary cooperation. He is adamantly opposed to further EU integration, and is a powerful advocate of the Conservative policy of renegotiating the EU treaties so as to return powers to member states. He believes the British people have the right, the ability, the will, and the manifest destiny to govern themselves. Whenever Roger has a spare Sunday at home in the East Midlands, he enjoys rural life and walking the dog. He and his wife Sara share their home in rural Leicestershire with two horses, two cats and a greyhound! Roger has published two books on European issues, "Straight Talking on Europe" in 2000, followed by "A Declaration of Independence" in 2002. E-mail:       rhelmer@europarl.eu.int Website:   www.rogerhelmer.org.uk

Member of the European Parliament - Chris Heaton-Harris MEP

Spokesman on Culture, Education and Sport

About Chris

Chris was first elected MEP for the East Midlands in June 1999. Chris is currently Spokesman on the Culture, Education and Sport Committee. Previously he was the Conservative spokesman on the Budgetary Control Committee, and was responsible for bringing the case of Marta Andreasen, the European Commission's Chief Accountant, to public attention back in August 2002 and has been at the forefront of fighting fraud, mismanagement and waste within the European Commission and other European Institutions. He was the Chief Whip for the Conservatives in the European Parliament from 2001 to March 2004.

He is a founder member of the "Campaign for Parliamentary Reform", set up by nine younger MEPs in 2001 to attack the waste and bureaucracy within the European Parliament itself. CPR members have been fighting for a "Member's Statute" to make MEPs expenses more transparent; a single seat for the European Parliament and a rationalization of the language regime.

Before his election in 1999, Chris fought the Westminster Parliamentary seat of Leicester South in the 1997 General Election.

He is Chairman of the UEFA sponsored "Friends of Football" group of MEPs and Secretary of the European Parliament's "Sports Intergroup". Chris is a Grade 5 qualified soccer referee. He is married with two children.

Contact Details

Email: christopher.heaton-harris@europarl.europa.eu
Website: http://www.heatonharris.com
Telephone: 01604 859721
Fax: 01604 859329
 

Member of the European Parliament - Roger Helmer MEP

Member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs

About Roger

Roger was first elected to the European parliament in 1999, and has been kept very busy ever since representing the interests of his 4.1 million constituents from in the East Midlands.

In June 2004 he was re-elected for a second term, and currently sits on three committees: Unemployment, Petitions and the Temporary Committee on the CIA and Extraordinary Rendition. During the 1999/04 parliament, Roger was also a very active member of the "interparliamentary delegation" to ASEAN (the nations of South East Asia), plus Korea. In the new parliament these two areas have been split and Roger now sits as a full member on the Korea delegation. During the course of his long business career before 1999, he spent a total of twelve years running businesses in East and South East Asia as a resident, so he brings a wealth of detailed knowledge of the region to his work on these interparliamentary delegations.

Born in 1944, Roger attended King Edward VI Grammar School in Southampton (1955 - 62), and then won a State Scholarship to Churchill College, Cambridge, where he read mathematics, graduating in 1965 with a B.A. and subsequently an M.A.

He started his business career in 1965 with Procter & Gamble in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, going on to hold senior marketing and general management appointments in a range of companies, including well-known multinationals like Readers Digest, National Semiconductor, Coats Viyella and the whisky firm United Distillers, now part of the drinks conglomerate Diageo. During the course of his business career he lived and worked in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Korea, and ran businesses in the Philippines, Vietnam, Guam and Saipan.

In September 1998, following his selection as the #1 candidate for the Conservative Party in the East Midlands, Roger left his job as Managing Director of a Leicester textile company, Donisthorpe Ltd (the UK subsidiary of a French textile multinational), to campaign full time ahead of the 1999 euro-elections, and took up his new role as an MEP immediately afterwards. He has found his decades of business experience invaluable in the European parliament, not least in helping him to fight the battle against the tide of intrusive and prescriptive EU regulation and red tape which is causing such damage to economic competitiveness across Europe.

With like minded-colleagues, Roger has developed close relationships with conservative political groups in the USA, and has been a regular speaker at American conferences. He was recently appointed "Adam Smith Scholar" by ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council.

He has earned a reputation - and even the grudging respect of political opponents - for his clear, consistent and forthright approach to the question of Britain's relationship with the EU. He believes that most of his constituents would be happy with the sort of relationship the British people thought they had voted for in the 1975 referendum - a relationship based on free trade and voluntary cooperation. He is adamantly opposed to further EU integration, and is a powerful advocate of the Conservative policy of renegotiating the EU treaties so as to return powers to member states. He believes the British people have the right, the ability, the will, and the manifest destiny to govern themselves.

Whenever Roger has a spare Sunday at home in the East Midlands, he enjoys rural life and walking the dog. He and his wife Sara share their home in rural Leicestershire with two horses, two cats and a greyhound!

Roger has published two books on European issues, "Straight Talking on Europe" in 2000, followed by "A Declaration of Independence" in 2002.

Contact Details

Email: roger.helmer@europarl.europa.eu
Website: http://www.rogerhelmer.org.uk
Telephone: 01455 558447
Fax: 01455 558636