Mark Menzies

Early life

Menzies grew up in Ardrossan, Ayrshire, raised by his mother after his Merchant Navy father died a month before he was born. With his mother working shifts at the local ICI factory to support them, he attended a local primary school before benefiting from the Assisted Places Scheme at a nearby independent secondary school, the Keil School. At the University of Glasgow he was President of the Conservative Association, in 1994 and graduated from the university with an honours degree in economic and social history. Menzies' professional career was spent in the retail sector. He joined Marks & Spencer as a graduate trainee in 1994 and has later worked in marketing for two large UK supermarkets. In 2007, he was the recipient of the IGD/Unilever Social Innovation Marketing award.

Menzies stood as a Conservative candidate for the safe Labour seat of Glasgow Govan in the 2001 general election, where he came fourth. In 2005 he stood in Selby in Yorkshire, a Labour marginal, and came in second. He was added to David Cameron's "A-List" in 2006 and Menzies was selected for Fylde in November 2008. He was elected at the 2010 general election, retaining the seat for the Conservatives, gaining 22,826 votes, 52.2% of the total.

Parliamentary career

After his election in May 2010, Menzies made his maiden speech on 21 June 2010. In November 2010, Menzies was one of only seven newly elected MPs to be chosen as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to a Minister of the Government.

Menzies has been involved in the advocacy of several issues in relation to his Fylde constituency. In the autumn of 2011 he successfully called upon the Government to establish an Enterprise Zone at Warton which he believes will attract international investment and mitigate the compulsory redundancies announced at BAE. Similarly, he has also praised BAE Warton as being a centre of excellence in nine different practice areas and acknowledges the contribution that the company makes to the local economy.

In October and November 2011, reports emerged of dangerous cockling practices in the Ribble Estuary. Menzies raised Governmental awareness of this issue and called for urgent action to avoid a repeat of the 2004 Morecambe Bay cockling disaster. He succeeded in implementing a temporary ban pending further emergency by-laws.

Menzies campaigned for the liberalisation of Sunday Trading legislation. He brought forward a Bill which sought to allow local authorities to vary Sunday trading restrictions in their jurisdiction contemporaneously to large national events. More specifically, he argued that the retail sector should be able to take advantage of any extra revenues generated by the Olympics in London 2012. In line with Menzies' interest in defence, he is a member of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme. Menzies was a member of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee for a time in 2010 before his appointment as a PPS. His website states that his main political priorities include "UK energy security, changing the planning system to empower local communities and limit inappropriate development and ensuring a vibrant future for the defence industry within the UK".

Menzies was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.

Resignation

At the end of March 2014 he resigned as PPS, following tabloid newspaper stories about his private life. In a statement, he said: "A number of these allegations are not true and I look forward to setting the record straight in due course." A further report emerged in May 2017 involving an alleged incident in 2015, involving feeding alcohol to a dog and brawling with a friend.