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Peter Aldous

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Peter Aldous
Official portrait, 2020
Member of Parliament
for Waveney
In office
6 May 2010 – 30 May 2024
Preceded byBob Blizzard
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Suffolk County Councillor
for Halesworth
In office
7 June 2001 – 5 May 2005
Preceded byPaul Honeker
Succeeded byWendy Mawer
Personal details
Born (1961-08-26) 26 August 1961 (age 63)[1]
Ipswich, Suffolk, England
Political partyConservative
Residence(s)Halesworth, Suffolk
EducationHarrow School
Alma materUniversity of Reading
ProfessionChartered Surveyor
Websitepeteraldous.com
parliament..peter-aldous

Peter James Guy Aldous[2] (born 26 August 1961) is a British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Waveney constituency in Suffolk from the 2010 general election until its abolition in 2024.

Personal life

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Peter Aldous was born in Ipswich, Suffolk.[1] He has lived in the north of the county for most of his life.[3] His family own farms near Ipswich and the market town of Halesworth.[2] He was privately educated at Harrow School and graduated from the University of Reading with a degree in Land Management in 1982.[1]

Before his election Aldous was as a chartered surveyor in Norwich.[2][1] He is a keen squash player. He supports Ipswich Town F.C.[3]

Political career

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Aldous was elected as a councillor to Waveney District Council in 1999, serving until 2002.[1] He was a member of Suffolk County Council between 2001 and 2005[1][3] and was Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group from 2002 until 2005.[3][4]

Aldous was selected to contest the 2005 general election as the Conservative Party candidate for Waveney, but lost to the sitting Labour Party Member of Parliament Bob Blizzard by a majority of 5,915.[5] He contested the seat again at the 2010 general election, this time obtaining 40.2% of the overall vote and generating a 6.8% combined swing from Labour to Conservative, enough to win the seat by a majority of 769.[4][5]

Aldous was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.[6]

Aldous has been a critic of his party over the implementation of Universal Credit and has called for the abolition of the five-week wait for payments.[7] In August 2021, Aldous and John Stevenson wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson to call on the government to keep the £20-a-week Universal Credit uplift.[8] On 1 February 2022, Aldous called for the resignation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and submitted a letter calling for a no-confidence vote.[9] In the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election he backed former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, who lost to Liz Truss.[10]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f ‘ALDOUS, Peter’, Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012; online edn, Nov 2012 accessed 31 Dec 2012
  2. ^ a b c Peter Aldous - Declaration of Interests Archived 15 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, 2010-04-14. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  3. ^ a b c d Peter Aldous Archived 22 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Conservatives. Retrieved 2011-05-13.
  4. ^ a b Guardian Unlimited Politics — Peter Aldous: Electoral history and profile, The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-05-13.
  5. ^ a b Waveney, The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-05-13.
  6. ^ Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 2 May 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  7. ^ Papworth, Andrew (10 June 2019). "'Inherently flawed' parts of Universal Credit need rethink, says MP". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  8. ^ "MP writes to his own Tory government amid 'alarm' at universal credit cut". Eastern Daily Press. 26 August 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  9. ^ "Boris Johnson news – live: No 10 backs down on party fines secrecy after anger over 'cover-up' attempts". The Independent. 1 February 2022. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  10. ^ Warnes, William (11 August 2022). "Waveney MP latest to back Rishi Sunak for Tory leader". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 16 September 2022.
[edit]
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Waveney
20102024
Constituency abolished