Mark Reckless

Born in London, Reckless was educated at Marlborough College before going up to Christ Church, Oxford, where he read philosophy, politics and economics. He then pursued postgraduate studies at Columbia Business School in the United States, receiving an MBA. At Columbia he studied alongside writer Jacob Appel, and is the subject of several thinly-veiled anecdotes in Appel's satire The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up.[2] After university, he trained as a barrister at the College of Law, gaining an LLB, and was called to the Bar in 2007.

In the mid-1990s, Reckless worked for UBS Warburg.[3] In the late 1990s, he worked as a strategy consultant and associate in Financial Services Group at Booz, Allen & Hamilton.[4] Until his election in May 2010, Reckless had been a solicitor at Herbert Smith[5] and had worked on legal matters that had had dealings with private investigators.[6] He was a member of the Kent Police Authority from 2007 to 2011.

Between 2002 and 2004, Reckless was a member of the policy unit at Conservative Central Office where he wrote a book on deregulation policy[7] as well as overseeing the development of the policy on directly elected police commissioners.[8] The first police and crime commissioner elections took place on 15 November 2012.

Reckless was elected as Member of Parliament for Rochester and Strood at the 2010 general election.[9] He had a majority of 9,953, having previously contested the Medway constituency in 2001 and 2005, reducing the majority of the incumbent Labour MP to 3,780 in 2001 and 213 in 2005. He had served as a Medway councillor between 2007 and 2011.[10]

Reckless was elected to the Home Affairs Select Committee in 2010[11] often appearing on Newsnight and other political programmes, arguing for the deportation of clerics Abu Hamza[12] and Abu Qatada.[13] He was one of parliament's most rebellious MPs and was the 13th most rebellious Conservative MP between 2010 and 2014, casting 56 votes against the whip.[14][15] He was one of only six Conservative MPs to vote against increase of university tuition fees,[16][17] and was a critic of the government's energy policy, arguing that the government's Energy Bill introduced in December 2012 was "a sad retreat for Conservatives".[18]

In July 2010, Reckless apologised for missing a vote on the budget because he was drunk. He said that he "did not feel it was appropriate to take part in the vote because of the amount he had drunk".[19]

A Eurosceptic,[20] Reckless is also a critic of the European Court of Human Rights, saying it erodes "British freedom and democracy".[21]

He was chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Georgia.[22] The group's aims are "to facilitate greater parliamentary awareness of developments in Georgia".

On 30 September 2014, Reckless applied for the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds and therefore ceased to be an MP. A by-election was called on 20 November, at which Reckless was nominated to stand as the UKIP candidate. He was returned as a member of parliament for UKIP, becoming the party's second elected MP.

• 2016 Welsh Assembly Election, South Wales East

Rochester and Strood, 2015

Rochester and Strood 2014

See 2014 Rochester and Strood by-election

Rochester and Strood 2010

The Rochester and Strood seat was fought for the first time at the 2010 general election. Following its boundary review of parliamentary representation in Kent, the Boundary Commission for England renamed the Medway (UK Parliament constituency) seat to Rochester and Strood. This is because the commission agreed that the term Medway is now primarily used for the larger unitary authority.[42]

Medway 2005

Medway 2001

Reckless is a grandson of Henry McDevitt, who served as a Fianna Fáil TD for Donegal East in Dáil Éireann, the Irish parliament, from 1938 until 1943.[46] His mother emigrated to the UK when she was 17 to train as a nurse; however, Reckless has said that he doesn't see his mother as an "immigrant" and stated "I don't consider myself to have an immigrant background".[47]

He married Catriona Brown at Westminster Cathedral on 1 October 2011; the reception was held in the Palace of Westminster.[48] His best man was Daniel Hannan MEP.[49] Reckless had been the best man at Hannan's wedding.[50]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mark Reckless.

• Mark Reckless MP Conservative Party official biog
• TheyWorkForYou Voting Record
• Public Whip Voting Record
• BBC Democracy Live MP Profile
• MP Website (old)