Matthew Gordon Banks

Matthew Richard William Gordon Banks (born 21 June 1961^[1]), known as Matthew Banks while in Parliament and sometimes known as Matthew Gordon-Banks, is a British intelligence and international relations consultant and former Conservative Party politician, who served as the Member of Parliament for Southport between 1992 and 1997. Gordon Banks left the Conservative Party in 2004 to join the Liberal Democrats.

Education and military service

Gordon Banks was educated privately and at Sheffield City Polytechnic, where he obtained a BA (Hons) in history and economics.^[2] He served in the 1st Battalion, 51st Highland Volunteers, from 1979 to 1981 before attending the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and being commissioned into the Gordon Highlanders in 1981.^[3][2]

Banking and political career

After leaving the Army in 1983 with a war disablement pension^[2] he worked for Barclays Bank^[3][2] and in 1984 he was elected as Conservative member for the Heswall Ward on Wirral Borough Council, serving as chairman of the Schools Committee from 1985 to 1986 and the Works Committee from 1986 to 1987.^[2] He was re-elected with 75% of the vote in 1988, before standing down from the council in 1990. From 1988 to 1989 he worked as private secretary to Cecil Franks, Conservative MP for Barrow and Furness, and from 1989 he was senior adviser on Middle East affairs for LBJ Ltd.^[2]

In 1987 he fought Manchester Central for the Conservatives, retaining second place. In 1990 he was selected to fight Southport. He was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Southport in 1992, gaining the seat from the Liberal Democrat Ronnie Fearn. In Parliament he served on the Transport Select Committee from 1992 to 1997. He was also chairman of the Anglo-Venezuela Parliamentary Group and secretary of the Anglo-United Arab Emirates Parliamentary Group from 1993 to 1997.^[2] In 1997, Fearn won the seat back from Banks.

Gordon Banks represented Northleach on Cotswold District Council from 2000 to 2004,^[4] sitting as an Independent Conservative and chairing the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for two years. Having been re-elected unopposed in May 2004 he resigned from the council in November of that year.^[5] In 2004 Gordon-Banks switched party allegiance to the Liberal Democrats, joining the Lib Dem Executive Committee in Moray, Scotland.^[6][7]

Post-Parliament career

Gordon Banks obtained an MBA from the Donald Harrison School of Business at Southeast Missouri State University in 2001.^[2] From 2002 to 2006 he was an adviser to the Joint Security Industry Council and in 2004 he joined the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom as Senior Research Fellow, Middle East and South Asia, a post he held until 2012.^[2] From 2006 to 2010 he was Senior Adviser regarding the Middle East and South East Asia in the Advanced Research and Assessment Group of the Defence Academy and from 2007 to 2009 he was an adviser to the International Institute for Security Services.^[2] In 2014 he became Director, Middle East and South Asia, of the International Institute for Strategic Affairs.^[2]

Banks was suspended from membership of the Liberal Democrats in late September 2016 for a series of tweets which Marie van der Zyl, Vice-President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews described as being of "very deep concern. He talks about Jews and money and hints at the age-old canard of the 'Jewish conspiracy'".^[8]

Personal life

Gordon Banks married Jane Miller in 1992 and has a son and a daughter.^[5][2] He owns Gordon Castle near Fochabers, Morayshire, and also has a home in Charlbury, Oxfordshire.^[2]

References