Lembit Opik MP

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Lib Dem majority: 7,173  (24%)

Constituency: Montgomeryshire

Region: Wales

PA Number: 400

Address:
3 Park Street
Newtown
Powys
SY16 1EE

Tel: 01686 625 527

Fax: 01686 628 891

Web: http://montlibdems.org.uk/pages/lembitopik.html

Date of Birth: 02/03/1965

Occupation: MP

Education: Royal Belfast Academical Institution; Bristol University

Experience: Brand Assistant for Proctor and Gamble, Corporate Training and Organisation Development Manager from 1991, Global Human Resources Training Manager from 1996

Council Experience: Elected to Newcastle City Council in 1992

Parliamentary Experience: December 2007 - present Housing Spokesperson, 2007- Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform,2001- 07 Shadow Welsh Secretary and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (N.Ireland since 1997).

Memberships: Spinal Injuries Association

Interests: Aviation, gliding, motorcycling

BIOGRAPHY

Lembit Opik has been Liberal Democrat MP for Montgomeryshire since 1997 and is the party's Shadow Spokesman for Housing.

Lembit Opik was born in Bangor, County Down, Nothern Ireland, in March 1965, the son of Estonian parents whose families had fled from Stalin. He attended the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, and read philosophy at Bristol University, gaining a 2.1 in 1987. While at university he was president of the Student Union (1985-6) and a member of the national executive of the National Union of Students (1987-8). In 1988 he joined Procter and Gamble in Newcastle upon Tyne as a brand assistant, but soon moved from developing brands to developing people. In 1991 he became Corporate Training and Organisation Development Manager, and was promoted to be Global Human Resources Training Manager in 1996.

Lembit was elected to the Liberal Democrats' Federal Executive Committee in 1991 and to Newcastle City Council in 1992. He stood in Newcastle Central in the 1992 General Election and in the largely rural seat of Northumbria in the 1994 Euopean elections. In September 1996 he was chosen as candidate for Montgomeryshire to replace the retiring MP, Alex Carlile, and he was elected as MP for Montgomeryshire at the General Election of May 1997.

On election he became  the party spokeman on Northern Ireland and for young people. In 2001 he became spokesman for Wales and joined Charles Kennedy's Shadow Cabinet. In 2007 he was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. He now serves as Housing Spokesperson after Nick Clegg became leader of the Liberal Democrats.

Lembit works hard to raise issues affecting Montgomeryshire in Parliament, including rural policing, cost of fuel, train services, and the future of the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. Locally he has pressed for long-term measures to combat risks of flooding. In the 2001-5 Parliament Lembit was a member of the Agriculture Select Committee in the House of Commons, raising issues such as over-regulation, red tape, and the high cost of welfare regulations affecting small abattoirs. He has also supported Post Offices and small local businesses. In the debates on fox hunting. Lembit took a prominent part as a member of the Middle Way Group whose proposals aimed to balance animal welfare considerations with the importance of individual freedoms.

On April 13th 1998 Lembit came close to death in a near fatal para-gliding accident. He fell some 80 feet onto a Welsh mountain in his constituency, and broke his back in 12 places, as well as his ribs, sternum and jaw. This near-death experience has caused him to take a keen interest in the Spinal Injuries Association, of which he is a member. Despite the accident, he continues with his interest in aviation. He holds a pilot's licence and speaks for British Gliding in the House of Commons. Lembit also rides motorcycles and lobbies for the interests of bikers when occasion arises.

Lembit can be contacted by using the email form on his website.

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