David Curry

David Curry was born in 1944. He went to school at Ripon Grammar School where he became head boy in 1962. He read History at Corpus Christi College, Oxford (1963-66) and obtained one of the first Kennedy Scholarships to Harvard University (1966-67) where he studied international politics under Dr. Henry Kissinger.

He has been married to Anne who is French for 28 years. David and Anne have one son (Alexander) aged 27, and twin daughters (Isobel and Natalie) aged 25.

Professional career: 1967-70 Journalist on the Newcastle Journal, Tyneside. 1970-79 Financial Times, London, successively as Editor World Trade, Editor International Company News, Brussels Correspondent, Paris Correspondent, European News Editor.

Political Career: He contested Morpeth, Northumberland in both General Elections in 1974. In 1979 he was elected Conservative Member of the European Parliament. He was appointed spokesman for the Conservatives on Agriculture and in 1982 was appointed Chairman of the Agriculture Committee. He was re-elected to the European Parliament in 1984 and specialised in budget matters.

He was elected MP for Skipton and Ripon at the General Election of June 1987 and re-elected in April 1992 and May 1997. In July 1989 he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and promoted to Minister of State in 1992. In May 1993 he was appointed Minister for Local Government and Property Services Agency Privatisation and Planning at the Department of the Environment. In July 1994 be became Minister for Local Government, Housing and Urban Regeneration. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in June 1996. He served as Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from June to November 1997. In March 2000 he was appointed Chairman of the Agriculture Select Committee.

Other activities: Until his appointment as a Minister, Mr. Curry wrote extensively as a journalist, particularly a weekly column for Farming News. His principal hobbies are vegetable gardening (he maintains a large vegetable garden which he works entirely on his own in the limited spare time he has), windsurfing and sailing.

Like all MPs and their families, Mr. and Mrs. Curry have to divide their life between the Constituency and their base near London. In the Constituency Mr.Curry lives near Masham.