Patrick McCoughlin

Conservative MP Derbyshire West

Date of birth

30 November, 1957

Political profile

Patrick McLoughlin is one of the few former miners to sit in the House of Commons, and the only one to sit as a Conservative MP.

After having been a strike-breaking member of the NUM, he won a 1986 by-election to succeed Matthew Parris, and became a super loyal supporter of Margaret Thatcher.

He was rewarded with a ministerial role in 1989, but despite three roles in five years he did not rise above the level of parliamentary under secretary.

He was a government Whip in the last years of the Major government, and became Deputy Chief Whip under both William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith, a role he continues to fill for Michael Howard.

He is Eurosceptic, with a fundamental objection to a single currency.

He is also Roman Catholic, and is conservative on issues such as abortion, divorce and stem cell research.

Contact

Commons office: 020 7219 3511

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