John Browne (Conservative politician)

For other people named John Browne, see John Browne (disambiguation).

John Ernest Douglas Delavalette Browne (born 17 October 1938) is a British former politician, soldier, and financial consultant now based in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States of America.

Early life

Browne was born in Hampshire, raised on a family farm near Bath, and educated at Malvern College, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Cranfield Institute of Technology and Harvard Business School. He served as an officer in the Grenadier Guards from 1959 to 1967 and in the Grenadier Guards (V), retiring as a Major. He served abroad in Germany, Cyprus, and British Guiana as Signals Officer and as the Battalion Pilot in British Guiana. Upon graduation from Harvard, he joined Morgan Stanley & Co. on Wall Street. On returning to England, he became Director, Middle East Operations of European Banking Company, a director of Worms Investments, Tijari Finance (a Kuwaiti bank), The Churchill Clinic, Scansat TV. He was a Court Member of Southampton University and an Advisor to Control Risks and to Barclays Bank. He served as a Councillor for Knightsbridge ward on Westminster City Council from 1974-78.

Parliamentary career

Browne was Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Winchester from 1979 to 1992. In Parliament, he introduced The Privacy Bill (which was talked out under government 'persuasion' at its third reading), The Armed Forces Liability for Injury Bill and one Act of Parliament to further the protection of animals. He was elected Chairman of the Conservative Backbench Small Business Committee (1984–87) and Secretary of the Conservative Backbench Finance (1981–83) and Defence (1982–83) Committees; appointed a Member of the Treasury Select Committee (1982–87) and a Delegate to the North Atlantic Assembly (1986–92) where he was Rapporteur on Human Rights (1989–92).

At the 1992 general election, he decided to stand as an Independent Conservative candidate in Winchester after he refused to submit his name for what he termed "a disgraceful socialist style fixed" re-selection by the Conservative Party after being suspended briefly from the House of Commons for not declaring two of the clients of his finance company, as he was instructed not to do by the Registrar of Members' Interests, as being "unnecessary as farmers and lawyers do not have to declare any clients and if you were the director of a large company, like ICI, with thousands of clients, you would make a mockery of the registry". He lost his seat.

Post Parliament

Subsequently, Browne stood as a "Conservative against European Union" in the European Election of 1992 achieving the highest vote of any minor party or independent candidate in the nation. The following year, Browne stood unsuccessfully at the 1993 Newbury by-election. Later he joined the UK Independence Party, becoming a vice-president. He stood unsuccessfully for UKIP as a parliamentary candidate in Falmouth and Camborne in 2001 and in North Devon in 2005, where he was one of only a few UKIP candidates to save their deposits.

He divorced from his first wife, French-born Elizabeth Garthwaite in 1985. He is currently divorced from his second wife, American-born Elaine Boylen.

He works for Euro Pacific Capital (founded by Peter Schiff) as its Senior Market Strategist.

He is a Liveryman of the Goldsmiths Company, an Officer of the Order of Saint John (where he served on Chapter General from 1987 to 1990) and a Governor of Malvern College

He is the author of two books, Grenadier Grins in 2006 and Hidden Account of the Romanovs in 2013.

In popular culture

Browne was portrayed by Charles McCurdy in the 2002 BBC production of Ian Curteis' controversial The Falklands Play.

References

• The Times Guide to the House of Commons, Times Newspapers Ltd, 1992
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Browne
• Official website
• Euro Pacific Capital Inc : Broker's Corner.