Christopher Gill 523985 203847235 2008-04-06T22:10:37Z Art LaPella 94794 /* References */ disambiguate '''Christopher John Frederick Gill''' (born [[October 28]], [[1936]]) is a politician in the [[United Kingdom]]. He was one of the [[Maastricht Rebels]] and is the current President of [[The Freedom Association]] (TFA). He is also a member of the [[National Executive Committee]] of the [[United Kingdom Independence Party]] (UKIP). Gill was born in [[Wolverhampton]] where he was a local councillor and was educated locally at Birchfield Preparatory School and then [[Shrewsbury School]]. His national service was in the [[Royal Navy]], serving aboard ''HMS Modeste'' and ''HMS Birmingham''. He is a director of his family's sausage making business called F.A. Gills Ltd. Gill served as [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Ludlow (UK Parliament constituency)|Ludlow]] from [[1987]] to [[2001]], when he stepped down. He was known as the "Butcher from Ludlow", due to his family company being a meat processing firm. During the [[Maastricht Rebels|Maastricht Rebellion]], Food Minister [[Nicholas Soames]] threatened to: "close every abattoir you own". He had the Conservative Whip withdrawn over the EC Finance Bill on [[November 28]] 1994. He was a dedicated constituency MP, who fought against the closure of local cottage hospitals. Gill was known for being an expert on [[European Union]] legislation regarding farming and also unusually (for a landlocked constituency) fishing. He served as Chairman of The Freedom Association from 2001, before becoming its President in 2007. In [[2006]], Gill announced that he had joined the [[United Kingdom Independence Party]] (UKIP), having endorsed the Party's policies at the [[European Parliament election, 2004]] and resigned his membership of the Conservatives shortly afterwards. In [[2007]], he was elected to UKIP's [[National Executive Committee]]. Gill's autobiography is entitled ''Whip's Nightmare: Diary of a Maastricht Rebel''. ==References== ''Whip's Nightmare'' (2003) {{start box}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Ludlow (UK Parliament constituency)|Ludlow]] | years = [[United Kingdom general election, 1987|1987]]–[[United Kingdom general election, 2001|2001]] | before = [[Eric Cockeram]] | after = [[Matthew Green (politician)|Matthew Green]] }} {{end box}} {{Conservative-UK-MP-stub}} [[Category:1936 births|Gill, Christopher]] [[Category:Living people|Gill, Christopher]] [[Category:People from Wolverhampton|Gill, Christopher]] [[Category:Conservative MPs (UK)|Gill, Christopher]] [[Category:Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies|Gill, Christopher]] [[Category:Old Salopians|Gill]] [[Category:Councillors in the West Midlands|Gill, Christopher]] [[Category:UK MPs 1987-1992|Gill, Christopher]] [[Category:UK MPs 1992-1997|Gill, Christopher]] [[Category:UK MPs 1997-2001|Gill, Christopher]] [[Category:United Kingdom Independence Party politicians|Gill, Christopher]]