# Christopher Gill

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{{Short description|British politician (born 1936)}}
{{for|the British philosopher|Christopher Gill (philosopher)}}
{{BLP sources|date=December 2010}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix =
| name             = Christopher Gill
| honorific_suffix = [RD](/source/Decoration_for_Officers_of_the_Royal_Naval_Reserve)
| image            = Christopher Gill 2010.jpg
| image_size       = 
| alt              = 
| caption          = Gill in 2010
| constituency_MP  = [Ludlow](/source/Ludlow_(UK_Parliament_constituency))
| parliament       = 
| majority         = 
| term_start       = 11 June 1987
| term_end         = 14 May 2001
| predecessor      = [Eric Cockeram](/source/Eric_Cockeram)
| successor        = [Matthew Green](/source/Matthew_Green_(British_politician))
| birth_name       = Christopher John Freddy Gill
| birth_date       = {{birth date and age|1936|10|28|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [Wolverhampton](/source/Wolverhampton), England
| death_date       = 
| death_place      = 
| resting_place    = 
| party            = [UKIP](/source/UKIP) (2006–present)
<br /> [Conservative](/source/Conservative_Party_(UK)) (until 2001)
| other_party      = 
| spouse           = 
| relations        = 
| children         = 
| alma_mater       = 
| occupation       = 
| profession       = 
| cabinet          = 
| committees       = 
| portfolio        = 
| signature        = 
| signature_alt    = 
| website          = 
| footnotes        =  
}}
'''Christopher John Fred Gill''' [RD](/source/Decoration_for_Officers_of_the_Royal_Naval_Reserve) (born 28 October 1936) is a British politician, and a former member of the National Executive Committee of the [UK Independence Party](/source/UK_Independence_Party) (UKIP). He is the president of [The Freedom Association](/source/The_Freedom_Association) (TFA). A former [Conservative Party](/source/Conservative_Party_(UK)) [Member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament_(United_Kingdom)), he was one of the [Maastricht Rebels](/source/Maastricht_Rebels) of the mid-1990s.

==Biography==
Gill was born in [Wolverhampton](/source/Wolverhampton), where he later became a local councillor, and was educated locally at Birchfield Preparatory School, then at [Shrewsbury School](/source/Shrewsbury_School). His national service was in the [Royal Navy](/source/Royal_Navy), serving aboard {{HMS|Modeste|U42|6}} and {{HMS|Birmingham|C19|6}}. He retired as Chairman of his family's sausage-making business, F.A. Gill Ltd., in 2006.

Gill served as Conservative MP for [Ludlow](/source/Ludlow_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) from 1987 to 2001, when he stepped down. He was known as the "Butcher from Ludlow" because of his family company being a meat processing firm.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}} He had the Conservative [whip](/source/Whip_(politics)) withdrawn over the EC Finance Bill on 28 November 1994.

As a constituency MP, Gill fought against the closure of local [cottage hospital](/source/cottage_hospital)s. Gill was also known for being an expert on areas of [European Union](/source/European_Union) legislation, and he was a notable [Eurosceptic](/source/Euroscepticism).{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}

Shortly before leaving Parliament in 2001, he resigned his membership of the Conservatives. In 2006, Gill announced that he had joined the [UK Independence Party](/source/UK_Independence_Party) (UKIP), having endorsed the party's policies at the [2004 European Parliament election](/source/2004_European_Parliament_election_in_the_United_Kingdom). He was an elected member of UKIP's National Executive Committee from 2007 until 2010. He stood for Ludlow as a UKIP candidate at the [2010 general election](/source/2010_United_Kingdom_general_election), coming fourth with 2,127 votes, 4.4% of the total, losing his [deposit](/source/Election_deposit) but almost tripling the 2005 vote. At the time of the election, Gill stated that his reasoning for standing was: "I am standing against 'call me Dave's' Tories because I cannot tolerate their utter contempt for the concerns of voters on matters of immigration, economy, individual liberty and the broken promise of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty."<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/shropshire/8564184.stm Former Tory MP to stand for UKIP in Ludlow]</ref>

He was chairman of [The Freedom Association](/source/The_Freedom_Association) from 2001, before becoming its president in 2007.

==Publications==
*{{cite book |title=Whip's Nightmare: Diary of a Maastricht Rebel |isbn=978-1841040868 |publisher=The Memoir Club |date=2003}}
*{{cite book |title=Cracking the Whip |isbn=978-1909099067 |publisher=Bretwalda Books |date=13 Dec 2012}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* {{Official website|http://vote-gill.info/}}
* {{Hansard-contribs|mr-christopher-gill|Christopher Gill}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box
| title  = [Member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament_(United_Kingdom)) for [Ludlow](/source/Ludlow_(UK_Parliament_constituency))
| years  = [1987](/source/1987_United_Kingdom_general_election)–[2001](/source/2001_United_Kingdom_general_election)
| before = [Eric Cockeram](/source/Eric_Cockeram)
| after  = [Matthew Green](/source/Matthew_Green_(British_politician))
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gill, Christopher}}
Category:1936 births
Category:Living people
Category:Politicians from Wolverhampton
Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Category:People educated at Shrewsbury School
Category:Councillors in Wolverhampton
Category:Military personnel from Wolverhampton
Category:20th-century Royal Navy personnel
Category:Royal Navy sailors
Category:UK MPs 1987–1992
Category:UK MPs 1992–1997
Category:UK MPs 1997–2001
Category:UK Independence Party parliamentary candidates
Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Shropshire
Category:Members of the Freedom Association
Category:Conservative Party (UK) councillors
Category:British Eurosceptics

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Christopher Gill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Gill) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Gill?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.