Patrick Mercer

Patrick Mercer
Member of Parliament
for Newark
In office
7 June 2001 – 30 April 2014
Preceded byFiona Jones
Succeeded byRobert Jenrick
Majority16,152 (31.5%)
Personal details
Born
Patrick John Mercer

(1956-06-26) 26 June 1956 (age 68)
Stockport, Cheshire, England
Political partyIndependent
Other political
affiliations
Conservative (until 2013)
SpouseCait Mercer
Alma materExeter College, Oxford
Cranfield University
Military service
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Branch/serviceBritish Army
Years of service1975–1999
RankColonel
UnitWorcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment
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Patrick John Mercer OBE (born 26 June 1956) is a British author and former politician.[1] He was elected as a Conservative in the 2001 general election, until resigning the party's parliamentary whip in May 2013 following questions surrounding paid advocacy, and was an Independent MP representing the constituency of Newark in Parliament until his resignation at the end of April 2014 when a Standards Committee report recommended suspending him for six months for "sustained and pervasive breach of the house's rules".[2] He was Conservative shadow homeland security minister from 2003 to 2007, when David Cameron forced him to resign after he had made remarks about racism which Cameron found unacceptable.[3]

Mercer is a frequent commentator on defence and security issues, having served as a colonel in the British Army and as a BBC journalist. He has to date written four military novels and is a patron of the Victoria Cross Trust.[4]

  1. ^ List of former living MPs
  2. ^ Newell, Claire (31 May 2013). "Patrick Mercer MP resigns over lobbying scandal". Telegraph. London. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBC2007 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Victoria Cross Trust". Victoria Cross Trust. Retrieved 31 May 2013.