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He occupies a seat on the board of [[Eurotunnel]].[http://www.eurotunnel.com/NR/rdonlyres/6AE6459D-359E-4044-AC69-997ED3124731/0/GetSABoard.pdf]
He occupies a seat on the board of [[Eurotunnel]].[http://www.eurotunnel.com/NR/rdonlyres/6AE6459D-359E-4044-AC69-997ED3124731/0/GetSABoard.pdf]

===Business Interest Controversy===
There have been suggestions that there might be something unethical about the way Mr. Yeo mixes politics with his extensive green business interests.

{{quote|"This is a man who earns in excess of 600,000 a year from his extracurricular activities in the renewables trade or all manner of green business. He's supposed to be neutral on issue of energy." -- [[James Delingpole]], ''[[Daily Telegraph]]'' columnist}}<ref>{{cite interview |last=Delingpole |first=James |interviewer=James Delingpole |title=Radio Free Delingpole |last2=Young |first2=Toby |url=http://ricochet.com/members/delingpole |date= July 23, 2012 |year=2012 |month=July |accessdate=2012-07-23}}</ref>

{{quote|"One of Tim's more remarkable assertions is that 'to delay Britain's investment in low-carbon technology just when other countries are starting to accelerate theirs verges on the Luddite'. The trend is in fact in the reverse direction (Spain, Italy, Greece, the Czech Republic, Germany). ... Tim, of course, confidently tells us that this is merely a temporary burden that will soon pass, since 'despite the discovery of shale gas, the price of fossil fuels will continue to rise', presumably making green energy thoroughly economic. I wonder how he knows this. As a former Energy Secretary, some 30 years ago, I have watched fossil fuel prices rise and fall..." -- [[Nigel Lawson]], former [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]]}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100144779/just-why-is-tory-mp-tim-yeo-so-passionate-about-green-issues/ |title=Just why is Tory MP Tim Yeo so passionate about green issues? |author=James Delingpole |accessdate=2012-07-23}}</ref>


==Personal life==
==Personal life==

Revision as of 20:31, 9 September 2012

Tim Yeo
Shadow Environment and Transport Secretary
In office
2004–2005
LeaderMichael Howard
Shadow Education and Health Secretary
In office
2003–2004
LeaderMichael Howard
Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
In office
2001–2002
LeaderIain Duncan Smith
Member of Parliament
for South Suffolk
Assumed office
9 June 1983
Preceded byConstituency Created
Majority8,689 (16.9%)
Personal details
Born (1945-03-20) 20 March 1945 (age 79)
Lewisham, London, England
Political partyConservative
SpouseDiane Helen Pickard
Alma materEmmanuel College, Cambridge

Timothy Stephen Kenneth Yeo (born 20 March 1945) is an English Conservative politician, Member of Parliament for South Suffolk and the current Chairman of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee.

Early life

He was educated at Charterhouse School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he gained an Bachelor of Arts (later promoted to Master of Arts) in History in 1968.

From 1970-3, he was assistant treasurer of Bankers Trust Company, then from 1975–86, he was Director of Worcester Engineering Company. From 1980-3, he was Chief Executive of the Spastics Society (now called Scope).

Parliamentary career

Yeo contested Bedwellty in the February 1974 General Election before being elected as MP for South Suffolk in 1983.

Yeo became PPS to Douglas Hurd in 1988. In 1992, he was appointed Minister for the Environment and Countryside in John Major's government, but was forced to resign after a scandal involving his so-called 'love child' with a Tory councillor, Julia Stent,[1] who was born on 8 July 1993. Three years earlier, Yeo said to the branch of Relate in his constituency, "It is in everyone's interests to reduce broken families and the number of single parents. I have seen from my own constituency the consequences of marital breakdown."[2]

The story broke on Boxing Day during a quiet news period and intense coverage was given to the scandal. Yeo resigned on 5 January 1994.

In Opposition

After the Conservative landslide defeat in the 1997 General Election, new leader William Hague appointed him spokesman on Environment, Transport and the Regions. Yeo was a member of the shadow cabinet under Iain Duncan Smith as shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, and in 2003 was made Shadow Education and Health Secretary[3]by new leader Michael Howard, holding two positions with responsibility for both schools and hospitals. In 2004 he moved to Environment and Transport. During this period, his Chief of Staff was Nick Hurd, son of Douglas Hurd and since the 2005 general election the MP for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner.

He resigned from the shadow cabinet shortly after the 2005 election, saying he wished to be free to play a role in rethinking the Conservative party's future. On 27 August, Yeo ruled himself out of the ensuing Conservative leadership election following Howard's resignation as party leader, announcing his backing for former Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke. This contest was won by the then Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills, David Cameron.

Committee Chair

As Chair of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, Yeo has been an influential voice on energy policy. Despite his committee releasing a report sceptical of hydraulic fracturing in the United Kingdom, Yeo has revised his personal opinion and supports the use of the technique in the UK.

In 2012 he made a dramatic U-turn over the proposed third runway at Heathrow.[4]

Business Interests

Yeo is chairman of Univent plc, Chairman of TMO Renewables and non-executive chairman of Eco City Vehicles plc and AFC Energy plc.

He writes articles for Golf Weekly and Country Life magazines and, occasionally, the Financial Times.

He occupies a seat on the board of Eurotunnel.[2]

Personal life

He married Diane Helen Pickard on March 30, 1970 in Greenwich. They have a son, the portrait painter Jonathan Yeo, and a daughter.

Yeo has two further daughters. He fathered the first daughter in 1967 when he was still a student at Cambridge University, and put her up for adoption[5] The second daughter, Claudia, was born in 1993 through his extra-marital affair with Julia Stent.[6]

References

Offices held

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Template:Incumbent succession box

Political offices
Preceded by Shadow Secretary of State for Health
2003 – 2004
Succeeded by

Template:Persondata