Patrick Cormack

Sir Patrick was born in 1939 and was educated in Grimsby and at the University of Hull where he graduated with Honours in English and History.

Before entering Parliament, Sir Patrick was a schoolmaster.

He is a Freeman of the City of London, and he was knighted in the New Year's Honours List in 1995. In 1995 he was elected to the General Synod of the Church of England.

Sir Patrick's Experience

Sir Patrick was elected Member of Parliament for Cannock in the General election of June 1970. Following boundary redistribution he was elected Member for South West Staffordshire in the General Election of February, 1974, and continues to represent it to the present day.

He founded the All Party Parliamentary Arts and Heritage Group and has been its Chairman for the last 18 years. He is also Chairman of the All Party Parliament groups for Finland, Bosnia and Croatia.

He is a former Chairman of the Campaign for the Release of Soviet Jewry, Chairman of the Widows and One Parent Families Group and Chairman of the Parliamentary Group of the Anti-Slavery Society. He was a member of the Council of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust from 1983-1993. In 1984 he was visiting lecturer at the university of Texas and in 1985 made an Honorary Citizen of that State.

He is a senior member of the Speaker's Panel of Chairmen of Committees in the House of Commons. He was Chairman of the Party's Advisory Committee on Arts and Heritage from 1987 until 1999 and has served on the House of Commons Select Committee on Education, Science and the Arts. He was Chairman of the House of Commons Works of Art Committee from 1987 to 2001 and, in that capacity, was responsible for all the works of art within the House of Commons.

Since 1979, he has been Chairman of the All Party Arts and Heritage Group. In 2001, he became Chairman of the History of Parliament Trust and was appointed to the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs. He 2002, he was appointed as the Conservative Parliamentary Party's representative on the House of Commons Commission.