About Edward

Edward McMillan-Scott was first elected as an MEP for Yorkshire & The Humber UK in 1984. He was first elected Vice-President of the European Parliament in 2004 as top of the list for the EPP-ED Group and was re-elected in 2007.

In 2009 he was elected as the first ever independent Vice-President, after protesting at David Cameron's decision to split from the EPP. He joined the ALDE Group in 2010, and received his group's nomination for re-election as a Vice-President.

Edward chairs a voting session in the Strasbourg Chamber; he holds the record for speed in voting

Edward's vice-presidential portfolio includes democracy and human rights; relations with national parliaments and Question Time. He is chairman of the European Parliament's internal Audit Panel.

His responsibilities from 2004-2009 as Vice-President included relations with the Arab world and in particular, the Euro Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly, comprised of 260 MPs and MEPs from the EU and Mediterranean.

< With Palestine President Abu Mazen

Representing the EP in the Bundestag as Angela Merkel addresses MPs from across Europe >

Since 2004 he has represented the European Parliament at meetings with the 27 national parliaments within the EU as part of the COSAC process. He attended almost all scheduled meetings during his Vice-Presidency.

Political Background

Edward was the first EU politician to get to Cairo as Hosni Mubarrak fell. He has visited the region six times since. He has forged stronger ties between the Parliament and liberal and women's rights groups in the region. He was the European Parliament's chief observer at the fraudulent elections in 2005 and in the same year he freed opposition leader Ayman Nour from unfair imprisonment.

Edward was chief parliamentary observer to the Palestinian presidential election in 2005 and parliamentary elections in 2006. During a visit in 2011 Edward met key Palestinian and Israeli politicians, as well the Quartet and UN personalities. He spoke at a conference on UN recognition of Palestine alongside Martin Schulz MEP.

He was the European Parliament's rapporteur on the EU's China Strategy and was the first politician to visit Tibet after a political embargo. In May 2006 he returned to China. All those with whom he had contact were arrested, imprisoned - and in some cases tortured.

Edward is a long-standing pro-European and writes and broadcasts frequently. He joined the Conservative Party in 1967 and the European Movement in 1973. From September 1997 - December 2001 Edward was leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament. He was one of the architects of the Conservative MEPs' association with the EPP-ED Group in 1999.

He also served on the Conservative Party Board and the Shadow Cabinet Europe Committee, and sat on the Conservative Party's Election Strategy and Committee Candidates Committee.

However, the Conservative Party became increasingly Eurosceptic and Edward voiced his concerns about David Cameron's controversial leadership pledge to leave the EPP. After protesting Edward joined the Liberal family in 2010: "I was always a liberal Conservative; now I am a conservative Liberal" he explained. He now sits as an ALDE Vice-President.

A 'green' MEP and a vegetarian for health and ethical reasons, Edward organised and chaired a Bureau Hearing in December 2009 called "Less Meat = Less Heat" which focused on meat consumption/production and its impact on climate change.

The event attracted high profile keynote speakers, including Sir Paul McCartney (former Beatle and founder of Meat-Free Monday) and Dr Rajendra Pachauri (Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).

For the last two years Edward has been invited to attend the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo.

In 2011 Edward founded the European Parliament - Human rights and Democracy Network (EP-HRDN) Group of Friends, consisting of over 40 Brussels-based NGOs and democracy and human rights actors in the Parliament.

In 2010 Edward established the informal, cross-party Brussels-Strasbourg Seat Study Group which provides objective information and reports on the Parliament's controversial two-seat arrangement.

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the European Democracy Initiative (EIDHR) which he founded has assisted the transformation of the ex-Soviet bloc. By 1997, some 1,200 grassroots projects were being funded. Today, the fund has grown to €150 million per year, and finances the EU's election missions.

He is a founding member of the Washington-based International Movement of Parliamentarians for Democracy. In 2011 Edward established and co-chairs the EP-HRDN (European Parliament - Human Rights and Democracy Network) with over 40 Brussels-based human rights NGOs.

Personal Background

Edward McMillan-Scott - a relative of T E Lawrence (of Arabia) - was born in Cambridge in 1949, the third of seven children. His father was an architect, his mother did charity work. Both are now dead. Edward was educated privately by the Catholic Dominican friars and at school he ran the debating society and the printing press.

He was a tour manager for a US company in Europe, Africa, Scandinavia and the USSR and then a parliamentary and government affairs consultant in London, founding his own company.

He is a Patron of the BBC World Service Trust, Member of Court of University of Bradford and the Liaison Committee of the National Coal Mining Museum for England. He speaks French, Italian, some Spanish and German. Since 2008 he has been a vegetarian.

He comes from a farming and professional background and is married to Henrietta, a lawyer. They have two daughters, Lucy (left, born 1973) and Arabella (born 1976) and two grand-daughters.