Anthony Carpenter

[Anthony Carpenter]

Name: Anthony Carpenter
Avatar: Alan Haselhurst
Age: 76
Sex: Male
Ethnicity: White
Marital Status: Married

Party: Conservative
Primary Tribe: Cornerstone
Secondary Tribe: Red Tory
Brexit Position: Leave
Constituency: Epping Forest
Year first elected: 1983

Education: Grammar school
Career: Print technician; Management
Political Career: Stood unsuccessfully 1979; First elected 1983; Economic Secretary to the Treasury, 1987-89; Financial Secretary to the Treasury, 1989-90; Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and President of the Board of Trade, 1990-1992; Secretary of State for the Environment, 1992-94; Secretary of State for Education and Employment, 1994-97; Shadow Home Secretary, 1997-2001; Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, 2001-2005.

Biography:

Anthony Edward Carpenter was born on 11th December 1942 in Acton, West London, to Arthur and Elsie Carpenter. Anthony was the youngest of five children born into a working class family; Arthur worked as a grocer. Anthony passed his 11+, enabling him to go to Acton County Grammar School, where he earned a handful of O-Levels. Carpenter left school immediately after his exams and began working life as an apprentice at a printing firm in West London. During this time, he was a member of the National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers. He rose through the ranks of the company, quickly reaching a managerial position. Around this time, acting on a life-long interest in politics, he became a member of the Conservative Party.

Carpenter first stood for election in the 1979 general election, as no-hope candidate in the safe Labour seat of Birmingham Small Heath. He then sought a better seat for the next election, ultimately being selected for Epping Forest in Essex. He won the seat in 1983, and has held it at each election since. Carpenter held numerous roles in the Thatcher and Major governments: Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and President of the Board of Trade, Secretary of State for the Environment and Secretary of State for Education and Employment.

After Labour's victory in 1997, he served as Shadow Home Secretary under William Hague, and then as Shadow Chancellor under Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard. After the Conservatives' third successive defeat in 2005, Howard brought many fresh faces into the Shadow Cabinet for the months between his resignation and the leadership election, including replacing Carpenter with George Osbourne. Carpenter was touted as a potential leadership contender, with one newspaper article about a potential contest against David Cameron making the most of their initials with an AC/DC pun. Ultimately, Carpenter backed David Davis's campaign. When Cameron won the leadership election, Carpenter retired to the backbenches. In the 2016 EU referendum, Carpenter campaigned to leave the EU.

Carpenter married Ann Brazier in 1971, with whom he lives in the village of Theydon Bois in his constituency. He has 3 children, 5 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. He is a Member of Conservatives at Work (formerly named Conservative Trade Unionists), and the Cornerstone Group. He enjoys crosswords, watching sports, and listening to Big Band music. He is currently trying (rather unsuccessfully) to learn the trombone.

(Permission for Shadow Great Office roles given by Amelia)