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Steve Double

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Steve Double
Official portrait, 2020
Lord Commissioner of the Treasury
In office
28 October 2022 – 13 November 2023
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded bySarah Dines
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Nature Recovery and the Domestic Environment
In office
8 July 2022 – 8 September 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byRebecca Pow
Succeeded byTrudy Harrison
Member of Parliament
for St Austell and Newquay
In office
7 May 2015 – 30 May 2024
Preceded bySteve Gilbert
Succeeded byNoah Law
Personal details
Born (1966-12-19) 19 December 1966 (age 58)
St Austell, Cornwall, England
Political partyConservative
Spouse
Anne Bird
​
(m. 1986)​
Children2
WebsiteOfficial website

Stephen Daniel Double[1] (born 19 December 1966) is a British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for St Austell and Newquay from 2015 until 2024 when he was defeated in the 2024 United Kingdom general election by Labour candidate Noah Law. He served as a junior Lord Commissioner of the Treasury from 28 October 2022 to 13 November 2023.[2]

Double served on Cornwall Council and as a town councillor and deputy mayor of St Austell before his selection as Conservative candidate for St Austell and Newquay in the general election.[3][4]

Early life and career

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Stephen Double was born on 19 December 1966 in St Austell. The son of the evangelist Don Double, he was state educated at the town's Poltair School,[5] which was a comprehensive school at the time he attended.

He worked in Cornwall across a variety of sectors, including working for a bank, local church and charity.[6] From May 2001, he was Director of Bay Direct Media Ltd, a direct marketing company. In May 2011, he additionally became Director of Phoenix Corporate Ltd, a company selling branded merchandise; he remains as Director and primary shareholder of both companies since becoming an MP.[7]

At its establishment in 2009, Double was one of four candidates elected onto St Austell Town Council for the Poltair Ward; he was re-elected in 2013 and served as deputy mayor of the town. He declined to stand at the following election in 2017, having since become an MP. Double was also elected as the Conservative Party candidate onto the new unitary Cornwall Council in 2009 for the St Austell Poltair division, but the seat was subsequently won by the Liberal Democrats candidate at the following election in 2013. Double did not stand for re-election to Cornwall Council in 2013.[8][9][10]

Parliamentary career

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At the 2015 general election, Double was elected to Parliament as MP for St Austell and Newquay with 40.2% of the vote and a majority of 8,173.[11][12][13]

Double previously chaired the now defunct All Party Parliamentary Group Ocean Conservation, working with Cornish charity Surfers Against Sewage. The group had campaigned against marine litter and sought to protect the coastline.[14]

Double supported Brexit in the 2016 EU membership referendum.[15]

Double has helped secure Government backing for a new link road between the A30 and St Austell.[16]

Double was vice-chair of the Parliamentary Beer Group which works to support pubs and breweries. In this role, he had been able to promote the work of St Austell Brewery, who operate from his constituency. He was also a member of the now defunct Ceramics All Party Parliamentary Group which represented the ceramics industry, including China Clay. He also sat on the Parliamentary Space Committee where he promoted Newquay as a frontrunner for the location of the UK's first spaceport.[17]

At the snap 2017 general election, Double was re-elected as MP for St Austell and Newquay with an increased vote share of 49.5% and an increased majority of 11,142.[18][19]

Double has served in Parliament as a Member of the Petitions Committee, the European Scrutiny Committee and the Transport Committee.[20]

In December 2018, during the no-confidence vote against Theresa May as leader of the party, Double said he would vote against the then-Prime Minister.[21]

In August 2019, Double was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Department of Health and Social Care.[22]

At the 2019 general election, Double was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 56.1% and an increased majority of 16,526.[23]

On 17 September 2021, Double was appointed an Assistant Government Whip in the second cabinet reshuffle of the second Johnson ministry.[24]

In July 2022, he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.[25] He was sacked in September 2022 by new Prime Minister Liz Truss.[26] He joined a number of colleagues in calling for Truss's resignation, after confusion over a vote on fracking.[27]

On 28 October 2022, Double was made Government Whip to the Ministry of Defence by new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak,[28] and King Charles III accordingly named him a junior Lord Commissioner of the Treasury by letters patent dated November 28, 2022.[29]

Personal life

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Double has been married to Anne Bird since 1986; they have two sons.[5] Double employs his wife as a Senior Caseworker on a salary up to £30,000.[30] He was listed in an article in The Daily Telegraph which criticised the practice of MPs employing family members, on the lines that it promotes nepotism.[31] Although MPs who were first elected in 2017 have been banned from employing family members, the restriction is not retrospective – meaning that Double's employment of his wife is lawful.[32][33]

In June 2016, Double admitted an extra-marital affair with a married 26-year-old aide.[34] Double had reportedly kept this secret from his wife of 30 years.[35] The BBC later reported that Double's constituency party deputy chairman had resigned, suggesting Double, who had claimed to promote family life, should do the same. They also examined the public's changing view of morality and quoted political historian Matt Cole who said that whilst the public was now more tolerant of infidelity, it did object to hypocrisy.[36]

Double is an evangelical Christian.[34]

References

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  1. ^ "No. 61230". The London Gazette. 18 May 2015. p. 9120.
  2. ^ "Steve Double profile". parliament.uk. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  3. ^ "Conservative Party selects Steve Double to stand for St Austell and Newquay seat at next election". West Briton. 30 January 2013.[permanent dead link‍]
  4. ^ "Mayor".
  5. ^ a b "DOUBLE, Stephen Daniel". Who's Who. Vol. 2018 (online ed.). A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  6. ^ "About Steve". Personal website. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  7. ^ "Steve Double Profile". Linkedin. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  8. ^ "Cornwall Election Results 2017". Cornwall Council. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  9. ^ "Cornwall Election Results 2013". Cornwall Council. 4 June 2009. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  10. ^ "Cornwall Election Results 2009". Cornwall Council. 2 May 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  11. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  12. ^ "St Austell & Newquay Parliamentary constituency". Election 2015. BBC News. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  13. ^ "UK Polling Report".
  14. ^ "Protect Our Waves - All Party Parliamentary Group • Surfers Against Sewage". 19 June 2015.
  15. ^ "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence? - Coffee House". 16 February 2016.
  16. ^ "Roche route confirmed as preferred A30 link - St Austell Voice". www.staustellvoice.co.uk. 22 March 2017. Archived from the original on 29 March 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  17. ^ "Transport minister visits possible spaceport site - Newquay Voice". www.newquayvoice.co.uk. 10 May 2017.
  18. ^ "St Austell & Newquay Parliamentary constituency". Election 2015. BBC News. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  19. ^ "UK Polling Report".
  20. ^ "Parliamentary Profile". Parliament. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  21. ^ "How Tory MPs say they will vote in no confidence vote". BBC News. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  22. ^ "Double given government position". Cornish Stuff. 29 August 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2019 – via cornishstuff.com.
  23. ^ "Statement of Persons Nominated" (PDF).
  24. ^ "Ministerial appointments: September 2021". 16 September 2021.
  25. ^ Vergnault, Olivier (12 July 2022). "Cornish MP explains why he changed his mind on Government role". Cornwall Live. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  26. ^ "Cornwall MP axed by Truss regime told he 'no longer has a place in government'". Falmouth Packet. 8 September 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  27. ^ Denton, Maxine (20 October 2022). "Cornish MPs call for Liz Truss to resign". CornwallLive. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  28. ^ "Steve Double MP".
  29. ^ "Crown Office". thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  30. ^ "IPSA". GOV.UK. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  31. ^ "One in five MPs employs a family member: the full list revealed". The Daily Telegraph. 29 June 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  32. ^ "MPs banned from employing spouses after election in expenses crackdown". London Evening Standard. 21 April 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  33. ^ Mason, Rowena (29 June 2015). "Keeping it in the family: new MPs continue to hire relatives as staff". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  34. ^ a b Harry Yorke and Sophie Jamieson (6 June 2016). "Married Christian Tory MP apologises for behaving 'completely inappropriately' amid reports of 'tryst' with blonde assistant, 26". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 7 June 2016.|
  35. ^ "Married Christian Tory MP, 49, apologises for behaving 'completely inappropriately' amid reports of 'tryst' with assistant, 26". www.msn.com. Archived from the original on 4 September 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  36. ^ Rachael Thorn (11 June 2016). "Why MP sex scandals no longer shock". BBC News. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for St Austell and Newquay
2015–2024 		Succeeded by
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