Bill Wiggin

Sir William David Wiggin (born 4 June 1966) is a British Conservative Party politician, and a former Shadow Minister for Agriculture & Fisheries.

Wiggin was born in London in 1966.

He attended Eton College, where he was an older contemporary of David Cameron, and later read Economics at the Bangor University, gaining a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in 1988.

He also served in the Royal Welch Fusiliers in the TA, being a platoon commander for Holyhead, Bangor and Caernarfon.

Following this, Wiggin worked as a Trader in Foreign Exchange Options for UBS from 1991 to 1993, then was an Associate Director of Kleinwort Benson from 1994 to 1998, then as a manager in the Foreign Exchange department of Commerzbank from 1998.

Wiggin was selected as the official Conservative Party candidate for Burnley at the 1997 general election.

He finished in second place behind Peter Pike of the Labour Party, who defeated him with a majority of 17,062 votes.

He was selected as the Conservative Party candidate for the Conservative safe seat of Leominster in April 1999, replacing Peter Temple-Morris, who had defected to the Labour Party.

He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Herefordshire, previously Leominster, since the 2001 general election.

He was elected in 2001 with a majority of 10,367 votes over his Liberal Democrat opponent.

Initially a backbencher, he became a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee in 2002.

During 2003, Michael Howard appointed him to the position of Shadow Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Shadow Secretary of State for Wales.

Wiggin has voted against a blanket ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants, the 2004 Hunting Bill which outlawed fox hunting, and some sections of the Prevention of Terrorism bills.

During his time Shadow Secretary of State for Wales the Conservatives won three seats in Wales at the 2005 general election, the first time Conservatives had been elected as MPs for Wales since the party had lost all its MPs in Wales at the 1997 election.

Wiggin welcomed the gains, saying that "Never again will Wales be a Conservative-free zone", although he admitted that while the wins were "a good start" he would have liked the Conservatives to have gained more Welsh seats.

Wiggin also expressed regret at Howard's decision to stand down as Conservative Leader after the election, adding that he thought Howard had "done a tremendous job" and was "a fantastic example to young Conservative MPs like myself".

He was re-elected at the 2005 general election with a 2.4% swing in his favour.

In 2007, he took Environment Secretary Hilary Benn on a tour including some of the areas affected by the summer 2007 floods, and in 2009 he took representatives from the Environment Agency on a series of visits to some of the villages and towns worst affected.

In January 2009, Wiggin became a whip.

During parish council elections in Leominster during September 2009, Wiggin complained to the returning officer about the leaflets of a candidate who was standing to protest at Wiggin's parliamentary expenses.

The candidate, Jim Miller, was disqualified by the returning officer, who was also the chief executive of the Conservative-run Herefordshire County Council.

This left the Conservative candidate unopposed.

According to The Telegraph, Miller was disqualified over a technicality that the council previously told him had been resolved.

The Mayor of Leominster expressed his astonishment at Wiggin's intervention.

"I was just stunned that Wiggin contacted the returning officer," "It's not totally blatant, but what in god's name is an MP doing poking his nose into a little parish election? I can't understand what he thinks he's up to."

In the reshuffle following the election, he was moved to Shadow Minister of Agriculture & Fisheries, where he remained until the 2010 general election.

Wiggin was re-elected at the 2010 general election for the new constituency of North Herefordshire with a reduced majority, after Parliament had accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which slightly altered his former Leominster constituency to exclude those areas of the former county of Hereford and Worcester which are now in Worcestershire.

In June 2013, Wiggin spoke in debate in favour of the badger cull, saying he supported the Government policy to "combat" bovine tuburculosis.

As Chair of this Select Committee, Wiggin will also sit on the Liaison Committee which takes evidence from the Prime Minister and did so on four occasions during the 2014/15 Parliamentary session.

In May 2015, Wiggin was re-elected once again increasing his vote share by 3.9% and more than doubling his majority from 9,887 to 19,996 votes.

Following the election, Wiggin was initially set to contest the Chairmanship of the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Select Committee against eventual chair Neil Parish MP.

Instead Wiggin was subsequently appointed as Chair of the Committee of Selection.

He is a member of the European Research Group and signed a letter to Prime Minister Theresa May on 16 February 2018 regarding Brexit negotiations.

Wiggin has described the trend away from eating meat as "a disaster for British agriculture."

He has also advised MPs "not to be fooled" by arguments against chlorinated chicken.

In December 2019, Wiggin held his Conservative seat of North Herefordshire with 63% of the vote and a majority of 24,856.

He was knighted in the 2022 New Year Honours for political and public service.

In March 2022, Wiggin questioned Boris Johnson over his immigration record in the liaison committee and called on the prime minister to stop letting refugees ‘in rubber boats’ into the country ahead of Ukrainians and Qataris.

Within his constituency, Wiggin successfully campaigned for improved broadband to rural areas, and helped to secure funding for a new swimming pool.

Wiggin has also campaigned for improved flood defences in Herefordshire, and frequently raises the issue in the House of Commons.