{{Short description|British politician (born 1964)}} {{Use British English|date=August 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name =Laura Sandys | honorific_suffix = CBE | image = Laura Sandys.jpg | caption = Sandys in 2012 | term_end= | successor=Incumbent | office2 = Member of Parliament <br /> for South Thanet | parliament2 = | term_start2 = 6 May 2010 | term_end2 = 30 March 2015 | majority2 = | predecessor2 = Stephen Ladyman | successor2 = Craig Mackinlay | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1964|06|05}} | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | spouse = Randolph Kent | party = Conservative | relations = | children = | other_party = | alma_mater =Open University <br /> Wolfson College, Cambridge }}
'''Laura Jane Sandys'''<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=59418 |date=13 May 2010 |page=8743}}</ref> {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} ({{IPAc-en|s|æ|n|d|z}}; born 5 June 1964) is a former chair of the European Movement UK, and a British Conservative Party politician, who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Thanet between 2010 and 2015.
==Early life== The daughter of Duncan Sandys through his second marriage to Marie-Claire (''née'' Schmitt), Sandys was born on 5 June 1964<ref name="dellam">{{cite web |url=http://www.dellam.com/03117836-POLICY%20CONNECT%20LIMITED.html |title=Policy Connect Limited |publisher=Dellam Corporate Information |date=9 August 2011 |accessdate=20 November 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223163313/http://www.dellam.com/03117836-POLICY%20CONNECT%20LIMITED.html |archive-date=23 February 2014 }}</ref> and christened on 17 July 1964 in the Crypt Chapel of the Palace of Westminster.<ref name="stanford1">[http://www.stanford.edu/group/auden/cgi-bin/auden/individual.php?pid=I6193&ged=auden-bicknell.ged&tab=0 Auden] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023010645/http://www.stanford.edu/group/auden/cgi-bin/auden/individual.php?pid=I6193&ged=auden-bicknell.ged&tab=0 |date=23 October 2012 }} at stanford.edu</ref> Her father was a member of parliament, and later a life peer, who served as Minister of Defence in Harold Macmillan's government and was also the son-in-law of Winston Churchill (through his first marriage to Diana Churchill).<ref>Paul Waugh, ''Writer wins fight for Tory seat'', Evening Standard, 6 July 2004. [https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/writer-wins-fight-for-tory-seat-6979810.html ''Evening Standard'', 6 July 2004]</ref>
==Career before Parliament== In the 1980s, Sandys was a Director of Barter Group, an organisation doing business by exchange of goods or services rather than cash in the former Eastern Bloc.<ref>[http://www.bartergroup.com/how-it-works.asp How it Works] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060428114413/http://www.bartergroup.com/how-it-works.asp |date=28 April 2006 }} at bartergroup.com</ref> She moved on to lead the Parliamentary Unit at the Consumers' Association. Sandys has also worked in public relations; since 1992 she worked through Laura Sandys Associates, also known by its abbreviation LSA. She later became Head of Communications at the Shopping Hours Reform Council, an organisation which promotes allowing shops to open on Sundays.<ref>{{cite web |author=Department of the Official Report (Hansard), House of Commons, Westminster |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199293/cmhansrd/1993-01-22/Debate-1.html |title=Parliament publications/Hansard 1993 |publisher=Publications.parliament.uk |date=22 January 1993 |accessdate=26 November 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629163427/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199293/cmhansrd/1993-01-22/Debate-1.html |archive-date=29 June 2011 }}</ref> She is also a journalist, also writing for newspapers, and a commentator appearing on television and radio on a wide range of issues, including urban development and the Iraq war. She contributed the opening chapter Paul Cornish's book ''The War in Iraq'' (October 2004).<ref>{{cite book|title=''The War in Iraq'' by Paul Cornish |id={{ASIN|1403935262|country=uk}} }}</ref>
Sandys completed an Open University course on Environment and Development in 1993 and is currently a trustee of the Open University Foundation, which was established in 1973 as an independent charitable trust to further the objects of the University. She is a non-executive director on the board of openDemocracy;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://opendemocracy.net/about/team |title=OpenDemocracy |publisher=OpenDemocracy |accessdate=1 January 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121223220010/http://opendemocracy.net/about/team |archive-date=23 December 2012 }}</ref> her biography on that site describes her as: "having experience of political structures across Europe, Turkey, South America and the US". The site also states that she has worked as a journalist and policy strategist in Washington D.C.<ref>[http://www.opendemocracy.net/author/laura-sandys Laura Sandys] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129010910/http://www.opendemocracy.net/author/laura-sandys |date=29 November 2010 }} at opendemocracy.net</ref> She was appointed a Trustee of the Civic Trust on 18 July 2000 and is a member of its Policy Committee.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.civictrust.org.uk/about/trustees.shtml |title=Civic Trust |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050312010349/http://www.civictrust.org.uk/about/trustees.shtml |archive-date=12 March 2005 }}</ref> and was also a Senior Research Associate for the Centre for Defence Studies at King's College London.<ref>[http://cds.ipi.kcl.ac.uk/C010611.htm Centre for Defence Studies] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20040614163801/http://cds.ipi.kcl.ac.uk/C010611.htm |date=14 June 2004 }}</ref> She also completed a Master's degree in International Relations at Wolfson College, Cambridge in 2003.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://issuu.com/wolfsoncollegecambridge/docs/wolfson_college_annual_review_2020_online_version_|title=Wolfson Review 2019-2020 by WolfsonCollegeCambridge - Issuu|date=4 December 2020|access-date=4 April 2021|archive-date=13 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210713092430/https://issuu.com/wolfsoncollegecambridge/docs/wolfson_college_annual_review_2020_online_version_|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Political career == Before the 2005 general election, Sandys applied to be selected as a Conservative candidate in fourteen parliamentary constituencies<ref>{{cite news|author1=Sophie Tedmanson |author2=Sadie Gray |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1880236,00.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110604104610/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1880236,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 June 2011 |title=''UK Times Online'' |publisher=Timesonline.co.uk |date=27 September 2011 |accessdate=26 November 2011}}</ref> and was shortlisted in Surrey Heath and Arundel and South Downs. She missed out, however, to Michael Gove and Nick Herbert respectively. With a group of other women Conservatives, Sandys signed a letter in support of David Cameron's election as Conservative Party leader which was printed in ''The Daily Telegraph'' in August 2005.<ref>{{cite news|author=Letters |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2005/11/08/dt0801.xml |title=''Daily Telegraph'', 11 August 2005 |publisher=Telegraph.co.uk |accessdate=26 November 2011}}{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Sandys nominated Christabel Flight in the May 2006 Westminster City Council elections.<ref>[http://www.westminster.gov.uk/councilgovernmentanddemocracy/elections/upload/Statement%2520as%2520to%2520persons%2520nominated.pdf 2006 Westminster City Council elections] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060415184917/http://www.westminster.gov.uk/councilgovernmentanddemocracy/elections/upload/Statement%20as%20to%20persons%20nominated.pdf |date=15 April 2006 }} at westminster.gov.uk</ref>
In 2006, Sandys was placed on the new 'A-list' of Conservative candidates ahead of the 2010 general election.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://conservativehome.blogs.com/goldlist/2006/05/as_promised_thi.html |title=Conservativehome.blogs |publisher=Conservativehome.blogs |date=11 May 2006 |accessdate=26 November 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108042851/http://conservativehome.blogs.com/goldlist/2006/05/as_promised_thi.html |archive-date=8 January 2012 }}</ref> In October 2006, she was selected to stand as the Conservative candidate for South Thanet, defeating Mark MacGregor, the party's previous candidate at the 2001 and 2005 elections.<ref>Melissa Kite [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/6425381/The-softly-softly-fight-for-the-womens-vote-at-the-general-election.html "The softly, softly fight for the women's vote at the general election"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028054237/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/6425381/The-softly-softly-fight-for-the-womens-vote-at-the-general-election.html |date=28 October 2009 }}, ''The Sunday Telegraph'', 25 October 2009</ref> The constituency was then held by Stephen Ladyman for the Labour Party. She lives locally within the constituency in the town of Ramsgate with her husband, Randolph Kent, whom she married on 3 September 2007 in Ramsgate, Kent.<ref name="stanford1"/><ref name="conservativesprofile">{{cite web |url=http://www.conservatives.com/People/Members_of_Parliament/Sandys_Laura.aspx |title=Laura Sandys |publisher=The Conservative Party |accessdate=20 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121127202310/http://www.conservatives.com/People/Members_of_Parliament/Sandys_Laura.aspx |archive-date=27 November 2012 }}</ref>
In the 2010 general election, Sandys gained the South Thanet seat from Stephen Ladyman with 48% of the popular vote.
In August 2014, Sandys announced that she would not be standing in the 2015 general election.<ref>{{cite news |first=Josephine|last=Fairley |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-politics/10475939/Laura-Sandys-quits-What-Westminster-can-learn-from-business-to-keep-top-talent.html |work=The Telegraph |location= London |title= Laura Sandys quits: What Westmiinster can learn from business to retain top talent |date=26 November 2013 |accessdate=15 August 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140819125521/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-politics/10475939/Laura-Sandys-quits-What-Westminster-can-learn-from-business-to-keep-top-talent.html |archive-date=19 August 2014 }}</ref> She explained, "I have been considering my future in light of a wide range of family demands and have decided that I cannot combine the level of dedication and service needed for the constituency with my growing personal responsibilities to those closest and dearest to me."<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25087265 |work=BBC News |date=25 November 2013 |title= Laura Sandys to stand down as Conservative MP in 2015 |accessdate=28 August 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140708195516/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25087265 |archive-date=8 July 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25087265 |title=Laura Sandys to stand down as Conservative MP in 2015 |publisher=BBC News |date=25 November 2013 |accessdate=6 January 2024}}</ref>
As Chair of the European Movement, Sandys played a role in campaigning to remain in the EU during the 2016 referendum on EU membership. After the result, she resigned as Chair of the Movement and was succeeded by Richard Corbett.{{citation needed|date=April 2017}}
On 30 April 2019, Sandys joined former Labour Party leader Ed Miliband and Caroline Lucas in calling for a Green New Deal in the UK.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Stewart |first=Heather |url= https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/16/momentum-urges-labour-to-adopt-radical-pledges-in-next-manifesto |title=Momentum urges Labour to adopt 'radical' pledges in next manifesto |date=16 May 2019 |work=The Guardian |access-date=29 February 2020 |location= London}}</ref>
Sandys was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to UK energy policy as chair of the Energy Data Taskforce.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=62866|supp=y|page=N10|date=28 December 2019}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
== External links == *[http://conservativehome.blogs.com/goldlist/2006/10/laura_sandys_se.html Conservativehome.blogs] *[http://www.telllaura.org.uk/ Laura Sandys campaign website]
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{s-bef|before=Stephen Ladyman}} {{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament for South Thanet|years=2010–2015}} {{s-aft|after=Craig Mackinlay}} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandys, Laura}} Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:UK MPs 2010–2015 Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Category:British activists Category:British women activists Category:Alumni of the Open University Category:People from Ramsgate Category:Daughters of life peers Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:People with epilepsy Category:British politicians with disabilities Category:21st-century British women politicians Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:21st-century English women Category:21st-century English politicians Laura Category:Free Enterprise Group