Martin Callanan, Baron Callanan

The Lord Callanan
Official portrait, 2018
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance
Assumed office
7 February 2023
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded byOffice established
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Corporate Responsibility
In office
14 February 2020 – 7 February 2023
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Liz Truss
Rishi Sunak
Preceded byThe Lord Duncan of Springbank
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Minister of State for Exiting the European Union
In office
27 October 2017 – 31 January 2020
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Boris Johnson
Preceded byThe Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport
In office
14 June 2017 – 27 October 2017
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byThe Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Succeeded byThe Baroness Sugg
Chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists
In office
11 December 2011 – 12 June 2014
Preceded byJan Zahradil
Succeeded bySyed Kamall
Leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament
In office
23 November 2010 – 1 March 2012
Preceded byTimothy Kirkhope
Succeeded byRichard Ashworth
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
6 November 2014
Life peerage
Member of the European Parliament
for North East England
In office
10 June 1999 – 2 July 2014
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byJonathan Arnott
Personal details
Born (1961-08-08) 8 August 1961 (age 62)
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England
Political partyConservative
Alma materNewcastle Polytechnic

Martin John Callanan, Baron Callanan (born 8 August 1961) is a British Conservative Party politician. He was Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for North East England from 1999 to 2014 and Chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists group from 2011 to 2014. Callanan failed his bid to win re-election in the 2014 European Parliament elections, becoming the first sitting chairman of a European parliamentary group to lose his seat. On 8 August 2014, it was announced that he would be made a Conservative life peer in the House of Lords.

Following the 2017 general election, Callanan was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport. In October the same year, he was appointed Minister of State for Exiting the European Union.

Early life

Callanan was born on 8 August 1961 in Gateshead. In 1985, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree (BSc) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Newcastle Polytechnic. He worked as an engineer at Scottish and Newcastle breweries from 1986 to 1998.

Political career

Local councillor

Callanan was a Conservative councillor on Tyne and Wear County Council between 1983 and 1986 (when the council was abolished) and Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council between 1987 and 1996, for the Low Fell ward. He worked as a project engineer at Scottish and Newcastle breweries from 1986 to 1998, when he was elected to the European Parliament.

He unsuccessfully stood as a parliamentary candidate for Washington (in the 1987 election), Gateshead East (in the 1992 election), and Tynemouth (in the 1997 election).

Member of European Parliament

He was a Member of the European Parliament for the North East England constituency from 1999, re-elected in 2004 and 2009. In December 2011, he became the leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists group in the Parliament; as a leader of a parliamentary group, he had a seat in the political leadership of the European Parliament, the Conference of Presidents.

He was a member of the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, and of the European Parliament's committee on the environment, public health and food safety (ENVI). Callanan was a regular contributor to ConservativeHome, writing a monthly report.

Callanan failed to win re-election in the 2014 European Parliament election, becoming the first sitting chairman of a European parliamentary group to lose his seat.

Peer and government minister

Callanan was created a life peer on 24 September 2014, taking the title Baron Callanan, of Low Fell in the County of Tyne and Wear.

Following the 2017 general election, Callanan was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport. In the role he introduced the Space Industry Bill.

In October the same year he was appointed Minister of State for Exiting the European Union. The following month he was obliged to apologise for incorrectly stating in the Lords that the Supreme Court had ruled Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union was irreversible.

Callanan was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the newly created Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, on 7 February 2023, following a Cabinet reshuffle.

He piloted many significant Bills through the Lords, including the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023, the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 and the landmark Energy Bill, which is still in Parliament.

Notes


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