David Martin (English politician)

For other people named David Martin, see David Martin (disambiguation).

David John Pattison Martin (born 5 February 1945) is a British Conservative politician.

Early life

Martin is a farmer, barrister and former employee of the family caravans and motorhomes sales business "Martins Caravans Company Ltd." founded by his father, the late John Besley Martin, CBE. He was educated at Kelly College, Tavistock and Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge where he also was part of the Hawks' Club and later a member of Inner Temple.

Parliamentary career

Martin served as a Teignbridge District councillor from 1979 to 1983. He stood for Yeovil at the 1983 general election but was defeated.

He served as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South from 1987 until 1997 general election, in 1990 serving as PPS to Defence Minister Rt Hon Alan Clark MP then from 1990 to 1994 PPS to Foreign Secretary Rt Hon Douglas Hurd. In 1997 he was unseated by the Liberal Democrat candidate Mike Hancock. He stood again at the 2001 general election in the seat of Rugby and Kenilworth and at the 2005 general election in the seat of Bristol West but was unsuccessful on both occasions.

Family

According to a source he is married to Basia Dowmunt and has one son and three daughters, including the fiction novel author Cesca Major (née Martin). He is also paternal uncle of Coldplay's lead vocalist, Chris Martin.

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by David Martin