In a ceremony at Westminster Cathedral tonight, Archbishop Moth invested Sir Edward Leigh, the veteran Member of Parliament and Father of the House of Commons, as a knight of the Order of St Gregory the Great. The papal honour was given in recognition of a lifetime of service to the Catholic Church and to public life in Great Britain.
The Conservative MP has represented the Gainsborough constituency in Lincolnshire since 1983 and is the longest continuously serving member of the House of Commons. His parliamentary career has been noted for his independence of mind and willingness to defend principle over party, with several notable instances of defying his own party’s whips. Sir Edward’s ministerial career was cut short in the 1990s over his opposition to the Maastricht Treaty, and the MP was vocal in his opposition to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. He served two terms in the influential role of chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, investigating value for money in state spending, and famously described the New Labour government’s Private Finance Initiatives as “the unacceptable face of capitalism”. The experience he gained then has been instrumental in his scrutiny of plans for restoring the Palace of Westminster, which the MP has criticised as costly, inefficient and destructive.
