Chris Marshall (British Politician)
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| Current Positions: | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (2001- present) Member of Parliament for Birmingham East (1987-present) |
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| Term of Office: | 7 June 2001 to present |
| Predecessor: | Tony Blair |
| Successor: | Incumbent |
| Birthdate: | 18 June, 1952 |
| Place of Birth: | London, England, United Kingdom |
| Marital Status | Married to Anne Hacker |
| Profession | Politician, Army Officer |
| Political party | Conservative Party |
| Languages spoken | English German French Hindi |
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Christopher William Marshall (born 18 June, 1952) is the fifty second Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. He took office on 7 June 2001 after winning the 2001 General Election in a landslide against the Labour government of Tony Blair. Prior to entering Number 10, Marshall had been Leader of the Opposition, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Secretary of State for Administrative Affairs.
As Prime Minister, Marshall holds the positions of First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service.
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Early Life
Chris Marshall was born on 18 June, 1952 in Manchester. His father was an architect, and Marshall was educated in a Grammar School. Marshall managed to gain entry to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1970. Marshall was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Queen's Lancashire Regiment in 1971.
Military Career
In 1973, as a Lieutenant, he transferred to the Parachute Regiment, and remained there for five years including two tours in Northern Ireland. Marshall did a tour in the SAS from 1979-1980. Marshall was promoted to Major in 1981, and assigned to 2PARA. With 2PARA, Marshall fought in the Falklands War. After the war, Marshall transferred to the Gurkhas (7th Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles), and remained there until 1987, when he left the Army to persue a political career, gaining the seat of Birmingham East in the Commons in 1987.
Politics and Government
After two years in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Thatcher appointed Marshall Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State of Transport. During 1991, he was rumoured to have been important in ensuring that the Ministry of Transport did [i]not[/i] get the responsibility for developing an Integrated National Transport Policy. After the political ramifications of the policy became clear, Marshall was rewarded by being appointed Economic Secretary to the Treasury. In this post, Marshall pushed for further free-trade, and deregulation of the British economy, and was partially successful. Marshall became popular with the party, however he was not favoured by the new Prime Minister, John Major. Marshall did not aid matters by writing articles criticising Major's policy of negotiating with the Provisional IRA. Marshall however had a good following in the party, and was appointed Secretary of State for Industry (to appease his supporters, who felt that Marshall should have a Cabinet post). This appointment is an irony as Marshall had advocated the abolition of this department before entering Parliament. Marshall as Secretary of State for Industry set about reducing the Department's activities. The Daily Mail called him "Mr. Cuts" as both of the budget submissions he made for his Department were smaller than the previous (the trend in all other departments was for increasing requests to the Exchequer). Major, in another attempt to marginalise Marshall shunted him off to a lesser Ministry, and another one that Marshall wanted abolished, the Department of Administrative Affairs.
Opposition
The defeat of the Major Government by the Labour Party (lead by Tony Blair) in 1997 put Marshall on to the Opposition benches. A month after losing the Premiership, Major resigned the leadership in favour of William Hague. Hague, a Thatcherite appointed Marshall has his deputy and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. In that position, Marshall did his best to highlight the fact that government spending was growning more quickly than the economy and the "the situation could not long continue".
Marshall also spoke out often on the issue of terrorism in Northern Ireland, from both Nationalists and Unionists. Hague was viewed as unprepared to lead the Opposition, and not fit to go into Number 10. In 2000, fearing attack, Hague reshuffled the Shadow Cabinet, bringing in Michael Portillo as Shadow Chancellor. Michael Portillo was further to the left than most Tories, and his elevation was seen as an attempt to drive the Conservatives to the left to attract Labour voters (who, according to Marshall "wouldn't vote Tory if we put up Karl Marx, and Ho Chi Minh").
