Parliament
Cash entered Parliament in 1984, when he was elected as MP for Stafford at a by-election in May following the death of Sir Hugh Fraser. Since the 1997 election he has been MP for Stone, Staffordshire.
He has served on various parliamentary committees. He was elected unopposed as Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee on 8 September 2010. He has also served on the All-Party Committee on East Africa (since 1988), the All-Party Group for the Jubilee 2000 (1997–2000), but more notably the Select Committee on European Legislation (since 1985), and as chairman of the Conservative Backbench Committee on European Affairs (1989–91). 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 Kenneth Clarke as the most "Eurosceptic" Member of Parliament.
In 1993 he founded and is chairman of the eurosceptic European Foundation which was created during the Maastricht Rebellion, the funding for which he organised. During 1994–1995 Cash was member of the Tindemans group. He is currently Secretary of the European Reform Forum, and is a Vice-President of the Conservative Small Business Bureau (since 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.
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Famous quotes containing the word parliament:
“Undershaft: Alcohol is a very necessary article. It heals the sick—Barbara: It does nothing of the sort. Undershaft: Well, it assists the doctor: that is perhaps a less questionable way of putting it. It makes life bearable to millions of people who could not endure their existence if they were quite sober. It enables Parliament to do things at eleven at night that no sane person would do at eleven in the morning.”
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“What is the historical function of Parliament in this country? It is to prevent the Government from governing.”
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