Bill Newton Dunn

Infobox MEP


honorific-prefix =
name = Bill Newton Dune
honorific-suffix =MEP
constituency_MP = East Midlands, UK
parliament = European
majority =
predecessor =
successor = Incumbent
term_start = 1 May 1999
term_end =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1941|10|03|df=yes
birth_place = Greywell, Hampshire, England
death_date =
death_place =
nationality = British
spouse =
party = Liberal Democrats
(Conservative Party until 2000 defection)
relations =
children = 2: Tom Newton Dunn
Daisy Newton Dunn
residence =
alma_mater =
occupation =
profession =
religion =


website = http://www.libdemeuro.com/
footnotes =

William "Bill" Newton Dunn (born 3 October 1941 in Greywell, Hampshire) is a British politician. He is a Member of the European Parliament for the East Midlands for the Liberal Democrats.

Early life

He attended the independent Marlborough College in Wiltshire from 1955-9, then gained a Diploma from the University of Paris (the Sorbonne) in 1960. He completed an MA in Natural Sciences (Physics and Chemistry) in 1963 at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He gained a tri-lingual MBA from the INSEAD Business School at Fontainebleau, which no doubt fuelled his interest in European matters where he studied from 1965-6. From 1963-79, he worked in industry.

Parliamentary career

He was a Conservative Party MEP from 1979 to 1994 for Lincolnshire. After a spell out of the Parliament, he was re-elected a Conservative MEP for the East Midlands in 1999. He defected to the Liberal Democrats in 2000 because he felt that the Conservatives were increasingly negative towards the prospect of Britain playing a leading role in Europe.

Newton Dunn was elected as a Lib Dem MEP for the first time in the European elections, 2004. He claims to have the highest attendance record of all the UK MEPs.

Newton Dunn coined the now much-used phrase "Democratic deficit" in a pamphlet in the 1980s.

Personal life

He is married with two children, living in Navenby. His son is Tom Newton Dunn, an award-winning journalist for The Sun newspaper. His daughter is Daisy Newton Dunn, TV producer and Mandarin speaker.

External links

* [http://www.libdemeuro.com/ Bill Newton Dunn MEP] official site
* [http://www.libdemmeps.eu/new/index.php?page=bill-newton-dunn Liberal Democrat MEPs]
* [http://www.europarl.eu.int/members/expert/groupAndCountry/view.do?partNumber=1&group=1550&country=GB&language=EN&id=1394 Bill Newton Dunn] profile at the European Parliament
* [http://www.libdems.org.uk/people/bill-newton-dunn Bill Newton Dunn] profile at the site of the Liberal Democrats
* [http://www.eastmidslibdems.org.uk/ East Midlands Liberal Democrats] site for his constituency party
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9T7a0pAkU4 YouTube]

Offices held