Editing Patrick Mercer (section)

{{Short description|British Army officer.  historian, politician (born 1956)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = 
| name             = Patrick Mercer
| honorific-suffix = {{postnom|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}}
| office           = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] <br /> for [[Newark (UK Parliament constituency)|Newark]]
| parliament       = 
| term_start       = 7 June 2001
| term_end         = 30 April 2014
| majority         = 16,152 (31.5%)
| predecessor      = [[Fiona Jones]]
| successor        = [[Robert Jenrick]]
| birth_name       = Patrick John Mercer
| birth_date       = {{Birth date and age|1956|6|26|df=yes}}
| birth_place      = [[Stockport, Cheshire]], England
| death_date       = 
| death_place      = 
| spouse           = Cait Mercer
| party            = [[Independent politician|Independent]]
| otherparty       = [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] (until 2013)
| alma_mater       = [[Exeter College, Oxford]]<br />[[Cranfield University]]
| allegiance       = United Kingdom
| branch           = [[British Army]]
| serviceyears     = 1975–1999
| rank             = [[Colonel (United Kingdom)|Colonel]]
| unit             = [[Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment]]
}}
'''Patrick John Mercer''' {{postnom|country=GBR|OBE}} (born 26 June 1956) is a British author and former politician.<ref>[http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/briefing-papers/SN05324/living-former-mps List of former living MPs]</ref> He was elected as a Conservative in the [[2001 United Kingdom general election|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 (UK Parliament constituency)|Newark]] in [[British House of Commons|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".<ref>{{cite news|last=Newell |first=Claire |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/10091179/Patrick-Mercer-MP-resigns-over-lobbying-scandal.html |title=Patrick Mercer MP resigns over lobbying scandal |newspaper=Telegraph |date= 31 May 2013|access-date=31 May 2013 |location=London}}</ref> He was [[Conservative Party (UK)|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.<ref name=BBC2007/>

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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victoriacrosstrust.org |title=Victoria Cross Trust |publisher=Victoria Cross Trust |access-date=31 May 2013}}</ref>