About Tony
Tony is Member of Parliament for North Oxfordshire.
He was educated at Leighton Park, University of Sussex, and Lincoln’s Inn.
Tony Baldry has been a Member of Parliament since 1983.
He held various ministerial posts from 1990 until the last General Election, serving as Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1995-97.
Tony was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1994-95, with a range of responsibilities including South Asia, Africa, North America and the West Indies.
Between 1990 and 1994, he was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department of the Environment, responsible for all aspects of the Department’s work including environmental protection, construction, housing and planning.
He was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department of Energy in 1990 when, together with John Wakeham, he privatised the electricity industry. Tony has led nearly 30 overseas business export missions which have won millions of pounds of orders.
He was Personal Aide to Margaret Thatcher in the October 1974 General Election and subsequently remained in her private office when she became Leader of the Opposition.
Tony, a practising barrister specialising in Construction Law, was awarded the Robert Schumann Silver Medal for contribution to European politics in 1975.
He takes a keen interest in foreign affairs, particularly Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, and is a Governor of the Commonwealth Institute and on the Council of the Overseas Development Institute and Chatham House. Tony was Chairman of the House of Commons Select Committee on International Development in the last Parliament.
Tony was Chairman of the Conservative Human Rights Commission from 2009-10. He is President of the Pakistani UK India Friendship Society.
Tony has recently been appointed Second Church Estates Commissioner, with responsibility for answering questions in the House in a manner similar to questions to ministers on the work of the Church Commissioners.
Tony works closely with local organisations and resident groups, helping to campaign against the downgrading of vital services at the Horton General Hospital and overcome threats to other local services such as post offices, the probation service in Banbury and the future of defence jobs in Bicester.
Tony has made over 413 speeches since the start of the 2005 Parliament, according to the House of Commons Library.
He is ranked 20th out of all backbench MPs to have made a speech on the floor of the House of Commons or Westminster Hall in the 2008/09 session.
In the 2008/09 session he asked 155 questions and thus is ranked 47th of all backbenchers to have asked an Oral Question to Ministers.
To access a copy of Tony’s CV, please click on the following link: TONY BALDRY CV 2012.