Peter Luff
Before entering parliament he worked for three years from 1977 as a research assistant to the Conservative MP Peter Walker, before heading up Edward Heath's private office for two years from 1980. He became the managing director of Good Relations Ltd,[1] a lobbying company in 1982. In 1987 he became a special adviser to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, David Young. He became a senior consultant for Lowe Bell Communications (now Bell Pottinger Communications) in 1989, before again working for Good Relations from 1990.
Parliamentary career
He contested Holborn and St Pancras at the 1987 General Election, but was comfortably beaten by the sitting Labour Party MP, Frank Dobson. He was first elected to Parliament for Worcester, when he succeeded his former boss, Peter Walker. Following changes in the parliamentary constituency boundaries he moved seats to the new Worcestershire Mid, defeating the sitting Conservative MP, Eric Forth for the nomination. He won the seat comfortably and has been a member of the House of Commons since 1992.
In Parliament he was appointed a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) in 1993 to the energy minister Tim Eggar, from 1996 he served as PPS to both Ann Widdecombe the prisons minister at the Home Office and Lord Mackay the Lord Chancellor, he held these two positions simultaneously until the defeat of the Conservative government at the 1997 general election. He has served on many parliamentary select committees including chairing the House of Commons Agriculture Select Committee (1997-2000), and since 2005 he had been the chair of the House of Commons Trade and Industry Committee.
He is the founder member of the Parliamentary Hunting with Hounds Middle Way Group, and takes a keen parliamentary interest in India.
Lobbying controversy
There have been a number of concerns over the close links between Bell Pottinger and influential Members of Parliament. Two reports in The Observer revealed that Peter Luff MP, in addition to being chairman of the Commons Agriculture Select Committee, was also in the pay of Bell Pottinger. According to the Observer, he had not made this apparent to his fellow committee members even when they were working on a report on GM [2]
Affiliations
Notes
- ↑ Good Relations
- ↑ Antony Barnett, Public Affairs Editor Monsanto's lobby firm pays key MP Observer, Sunday July 4, 1999; Resign call over MP's link with GM food firm.
