Bill Cash

This article is about the British politician. For the journalist, see William Cash (journalist).

William Nigel Paul Cash, usually known as Bill Cash (born on May 10, 1940, in London) is a Roman Catholic British Conservative politician and Member of Parliament for Stone. He was educated at the Jesuit Stonyhurst College in Lancashire and at Lincoln College, Oxford (MA History). He qualified as a solicitor in 1967 and since 1979 has practised as a solicitor in his own account (i.e. he is not employed by a law firm or a member of a partnership)^[1]. (constitutional and administration lawyers). He is a member of the Cash (nametag manufacturers) family. He married Bridget Mary née Lee in 1965, and they have two sons, and a daughter. He entered Parliament in 1984, when he became MP for Stafford in a by-election following the death of Sir Hugh Fraser; since 1997 he has been MP for Stone, Staffordshire. He has served on various parliamentary committees: the All-Party Committee on East Africa (1988 -), the All-Party Group for the Jubilee 2000 (1997-2000), but more notably the Select Committee on European Legislation (1985 - ), and as chairman of the Conservative Backbench Committee on European Affairs 1989-1991. He is known as a strong eurosceptic and at one point was ringleader of a rebellion over the Maastricht treaty that almost brought down John Major's government. He was described by Ken Clarke as the most euro-sceptic Member of Parliament. In 1993 he founded and is chairman of the euro-sceptic European Foundation which was created during the Maastricht Rebellion, the funding for which he organised. He is currently Secretary of the European Reform Forum, and is a Vice-President of the Conservative Small Business Bureau (1986- ), After he became leader, fellow Maastricht rebel Iain Duncan Smith gave him the post of shadow Attorney General in 2001, and in 2003 was made a spokesman on Constitutional Affairs but he returned to the backbenches later that year after Duncan Smith was ousted as party leader. He lives at Upton Cresset Hall, near Bridgnorth, Shropshire.

References and publications

• Black, A & C, Who's Who, published annually in London.
• Cash, William, Against a Federal Europe - The Battle for Britain, London, 1991.
• Cash, William, Europe: the crunch, London, 1992.

External links

• Bill Cash MP biography at the site of the Conservative Party
• ePolitix.com - Bill Cash
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Bill Cash MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - William Cash MP
• The Public Whip - William Cash MP voting record
• BBC News profile (30 March 2006)

References