Editing Adrian Sanders

{{Short description|British politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = 
| name                = Adrian Sanders
| honorific-suffix    = 
| image               = AdrianSandersMP 2009.jpg
| caption             = Sanders in 2009
| office1             = [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] [[Deputy Chief Whip]]
| term_start1         = 10 March 2006
| term_end1           = 1 June 2010
| successor1          = [[Don Foster, Baron Foster of Bath|Don Foster]] <small> (as Government Deputy Chief Whip) </small>
| office3             = Shadow Spokesperson for [[Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government|Communities and Local Government]]
| term_start3         = 1 June 2001
| term_end3           = 1 June 2002
| office4             = [[Opposition Whip]]
| term_start4         = 1 May 1997
| term_end4           = 1 June 2001
| office5             = Shadow Spokesperson for [[Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs|Environment, Food, Rural Affairs]], [[Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government|Communities and Local Government]]
| term_start5         = [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1 May 1997]]
| term_end5           = 1 June 2001
| office9             = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] <br /> for [[Torbay (UK Parliament constituency)|Torbay]]
| parliament9         = 
| predecessor9        = [[Rupert Allason]]
| successor9          = [[Kevin Foster (politician)|Kevin Foster]]
| term_start9         = 1 May 1997
| term_end9           = 30 March 2015
| birth_name          = Adrian Mark Sanders
| birth_date          = {{Birth date and age|1959|4|25|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Paignton]], [[Devon]], England
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| nationality         = [[United Kingdom|English]]
| spouse              = Alison Sanders<ref>[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmregmem/110124/part2.htm The Register of Members' Financial Interests: Part 2 As at 24 January 2011] UK Parliament</ref>
| party               = [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]]
| relations           = 
| children            = 
| residence           = [[Torbay]], Devon
| alma_mater          = 
| occupation          = 
| profession          = [[Politician]]
| religion            = 
| signature           = 
| website             = [http://www.adriansanders.org Adrian Sanders MP]
| footnotes           = 
| alongside1          = [[Jenny Willott]] <small> (2006-2007) </small>
}}
'''Adrian Mark Sanders''' (born 25 April 1959) is a [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] politician in the [[United Kingdom]].  He was the [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Torbay (UK Parliament constituency)|Torbay]] in [[Devon]] from 1997 until his defeat in the [[2015 United Kingdom general election|2015 general election]].

==Early life==
{{BLP unreferenced section|date=August 2024}}
Sanders is the son of the late John and Helen Sanders, an insurance official and nurse respectively. He went to primary schools in [[Paignton]] and [[Torquay]] then [[Torquay Boys' Grammar School]]. He worked briefly in a timber yard, then in the insurance industry for seven years, and then had a short spell of unemployment before finding work in the political arena.

==Political career==
Sanders joined the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] in 1979 and in 1985 was elected vice president of the National League of Young Liberals. He was a [[Torbay]] Borough councillor 1984–86. From 1986 to 1989 he lived in [[Hebden Bridge]], [[West Yorkshire]], working for the Association of Liberal Democrat Councilors<ref>[http://www.aldc.org Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors]</ref> before moving back to Paignton in 1990.

During 1992-93, Sanders worked in the office of [[Paddy Ashdown]], the leader of the Liberal Democrats, and organised the 'Beyond Westminster' Tour. He then moved to become a policy officer at the [[National Council for Voluntary Organisations]] (1993–94) and then the Southern Association of Voluntary Action Groups for Europe.<ref>[http://www.savage-europe.org.uk/ Savage Europe] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217113716/http://www.savage-europe.org.uk/ |date=17 December 2007 }}</ref>

Sanders stood unsuccessfully for the seat of Torbay [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992 general election]], reducing the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] majority from 8,820 to 5,787. In the [[1994 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|1994 European Election]], he unsuccessfully stood for the [[Devon and East Plymouth]] constituency, the loss was partly blamed on one of the candidates, [[Richard Huggett (political candidate)|Richard Huggett]], standing with the description 'Literal' Democrat.<ref name="Registration bill">{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp98/rp98-062.pdf |title=Research Paper, The Registration of Political Parties, Bill 188 of 1997-1998 |work=UK Parliament |date=1 June 1998 |quote=The issue of misleading descriptions came to public attention in 1994 when Richard Huggett stood as the Literal Democrat candidate in the European Parliament elections in the constituency of Devon and East Plymouth |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061120232751/http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp98/rp98-062.pdf |archivedate=20 November 2006 }}</ref>

At the [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997 general election]], Sanders stood in Torbay, successfully, defeating the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] incumbent [[Rupert Allason]] by 12 votes. At the [[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001 general election]], his majority was 6,708; at the [[2005 United Kingdom general election|2005 general election]], it was 2,029 and it was 4,078 at the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010 general election]].<ref>{{cite news | title = Election 2010 - Torbay| publisher = BBC News | date = 7 May 2010 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/election2010/results/constituency/e74.stm| accessdate = 7 May 2010| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20100427052900/http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/election2010/results/constituency/e74.stm| archivedate= 27 April 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref>

Following the 2001 election, Sanders was made the Liberal Democrat spokesman for [[tourism]], and was subsequently moved to the position of Deputy Chief Whip of the Party in [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Mr Adrian Sanders|url=http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/commons/mr-adrian-sanders/237|publisher=Parliament UK|accessdate=3 July 2016}}</ref>
In the 2006 leadership contest Sanders nominated [[Menzies Campbell]]. In the December 2007 leadership election Sanders remained neutral by not publicly backing any candidate, citing his position as Deputy Chief Whip. He wrote afterwards that he had voted for [[Chris Huhne]].<ref>[https://archive.today/20120701165710/http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=94039564&blogId=339511127 How I Voted]  Adrian Sanders Blog, Myspace, 19 December 2007</ref>

Sanders was awarded the Diabetes UK 75th Anniversary Award at a ceremony in the House of Commons on Wednesday 21 January 2009. In July 2010, he received the League Against Cruel Sports’ Parliamentarian of the Year Award.<ref>[http://www.league.org.uk/news_detail.aspx?ID=897 West Country MP wins animal welfare award] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722100618/http://www.league.org.uk/news_detail.aspx?ID=897 |date=22 July 2011 }}  League Against Cruel Sports, 3 July 2010</ref>

In April 2009, Sanders appeared in ''[[The Sunday Telegraph]]'' list of best value MPs. At the height of the [[United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal|expenses scandal]], he opened his complete 'unredacted' expenses file to his local newspaper, the ''Herald Express''.

In October 2011, he voted for a backbench motion to hold a referendum on Britain's membership of the [[European Union]], along with 110 other MPs in the House of Commons. He was the only Liberal Democrat MP to do so. Sanders said he was also probably the only supporter of the EU to do so, but believed it was "a liberal principle to trust the people"<ref>{{cite news|last1=Sanders|first1=Adrian|title=EU referendum: I believe in Europe – which is why I rebelled|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/oct/26/eu-referendum-europe-rebelled|accessdate=7 April 2015|publisher=Guardian|date=26 October 2011}}</ref>

In May 2012, Sanders was the one Liberal Democrat on the Commons culture, media and sport select committee on [[News International phone hacking scandal|phone hacking]]<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/may/01/phone-hacking-report-select-committee-amendments "Phone hacking report: see how the select committee voted on each amendment"], ''The Guardian'' Datablog, 1 May 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-02.</ref> and provided the swing vote on the release of a report. Sanders joined with the five Labour committee members and against the four Conservative members to support the report which said in part that [[Rupert Murdoch]] was "'not fit' to run an international company".<ref>Fenton, Ben, and Jim Pickard, "Clegg backs MPs’ criticism of Murdoch", ''Financial Times'', 2 May 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-02.</ref>

In March 2015, [[Queen (band)|Queen]] guitarist [[Brian May]] launched the "Common Decency" campaign, naming Sanders alongside six other candidates, saying: "We think you’re decent people, we think you represent your constituents and your conscience so we’re going to tell our people to try and cluster round and give you support."<ref>{{cite web|title=Brian May Is On A Mission To Save British Democracy|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/emilyashton/is-this-just-fantasy|accessdate=24 March 2015}}</ref>

At the [[2015 United Kingdom general election|2015 general election]], Sanders lost his seat to the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] candidate [[Kevin Foster (politician)|Kevin Foster]] by a majority of 3,286.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/politics/constituencies/E14000999 | title=Torbay Parliamentary constituency | publisher=BBC | accessdate=8 May 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/election-2015-32643605 | title=General Election 2015: Tories oust Devon Lib Dems | publisher=BBC | accessdate=8 May 2015}}</ref>

On 5 November 2015, Sanders was elected as the Liberal Democrat [[councillor]] for the Clifton-with-Maidenway ward of [[Paignton]], taking almost 70 per cent of the vote.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-34743561 | title=Adrian Sanders, former Lib Dem MP, elected to Torbay Council |work=BBC News|date=5 November 2015| accessdate=10 November 2015}}</ref>

==Personal life==
{{BLP unreferenced section|date=August 2024}}
Sanders is married to Alison and lives in Paignton. He has had [[Type 1 diabetes]] since 1990 and campaigns on issues relating to diabetes. He is a fan of [[rock music]], and occasionally presents a rock show on local radio station ''Palm 105.5''. He is also a supporter of [[Torquay United]].

==References==
{{Reflist | colwidth=35em}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* [http://www.adriansanders.org Adrian Sanders MP] ''Official constituency website''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110604072329/http://www.libdems.org.uk/people/adrian-sanders Profile] Liberal Democrats
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120109033240/http://torbayliberaldemocrats.org.uk/ Torbay Liberal Democrats]
*{{UK MP links | parliament = adrian-sanders/237 | hansard = mr-adrian-sanders | hansardcurr = 546 | guardian = 4608/adrian-sanders | publicwhip = Adrian_Sanders | theywork = adrian_sanders | record = Adrian-Sanders/Torbay/1121 | bbc = 25377.stm | journalisted = }}

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{{s-bef | before=[[Rupert Allason]]}}
{{s-ttl
 | title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Torbay (UK Parliament constituency)|Torbay]]
 | years = [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997]]–[[2015 United Kingdom general election|2015]]
}}
{{s-aft | after = [[Kevin Foster (politician)|Kevin Foster]] }}
{{s-end}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Adrian}}
[[Category:1959 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Paignton]]
[[Category:People educated at Torquay Boys' Grammar School]]
[[Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1997–2001]]
[[Category:UK MPs 2001–2005]]
[[Category:UK MPs 2005–2010]]
[[Category:UK MPs 2010–2015]]
[[Category:Councillors in Devon]]
[[Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors]]