Anthony Steen
Anthony David Steen CBE is a British Conservative Party politician who was a Member of Parliament from 1974 to 2010, and the Chairman of the Human Trafficking Foundation. Having represented Totnes in Devon since 1997, he was previously MP for South Hams from 1983, and had also been the MP for Liverpool Wavertree between February 1974 and 1983.
Steen is widely acknowledged as one of the foremost figures acting to combat human trafficking in the UK, and in 2015 he was appointed a CBE for his contribution to the fight against modern slavery. In February 2016, Steen and Baron Randall of Uxbridge were appointed Special Envoys on modern slavery to the Mayor of London.
Early life
Steen was born in 1939 to Ashkenazi Jewish parents, Stephen Nicholas Steen, one time Chairman and President of Smith & Nephew, and Jacqueline Annette, daughter of William Slavouski, a Russian fur and skin trader. He attended Westminster School and University College London where he gained an LLB. He became a barrister in 1962.In 1964, Steen founded 'Task Force', an organisation where young people help the elderly with the help of a government grant and served as its Director from 1964–68. He then founded the Young Volunteer Force, serving as Director from 1968–74.
Legal career
Steen was a pupil in Heathcote Williams QC, Leonard Caplan QC Chambers, and was offered a tenancy by Sir John Foster MP QC in his Hare Court Chambers. He was called to the Bar in 1962 and practised as a Barrister in landlord and tenant and common law from 1962 to 1974. He worked on the Court Martials' Defence Counsel for the Ministry of Defence from 1964 to 1968. He lectured in law for the Council of Legal Education, 1964-67. He acted for the National Union of Headteachers from 1968-72. He championed pro-bono legal advice at the Mary Ward Advice Centre. In 1970–71, he was an adviser to federal and provincial Canadian governments on unemployment and youth issues.Parliamentary career
In the House of Commons, Steen served as a member of the Select Committee on Immigration and Race Relations, as Vice-Chairman of the Select Committee on Social Services and subsequently as a member of that committee, as Vice-Chairman of the Select Committee on the Environment, and subsequently as a member of that committee, as Chairman of the Urban and Inner City Committee, as a member of the European Scrutiny Committee. He was also Chairman of the group of Conservative MPs elected in the 1974 general elections, and chaired the Conservative backbench committees on youth and young children and urban affairs and new towns, and served as Chairman of the Conservative Deregulation Committee and of the West Country Members’ Group. He was also Vice Chairman of the All-Party Fisheries Committee, Chairman of the All-Party Group on Trafficking of Women and Children, Chairman of the backbench Sane Planning Group, and a member of the Parliamentary Population and Development Group. He was elected by Conservative MPs as Secretary of the Conservative Backbench 1922 Committee.From 1992-94, Steen served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Rt Hon Peter Brooke MP when Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
In 1985, Steen piloted the Dartmoor Commons Bill through Parliament. In 1993-94, his three Ten Minute Rule Bills on deregulation contributed to the Major government’s Deregulation Initiative. In 1994, he initiated a Ten Minute Rule Bill, the French Language Bill, which proposed to ban the use of words of French origin in the UK, to 'highlight the bizarre situation', as he put it, whereby the French National Assembly and Senate had recently passed legislation banning the use of English words and expressions, such 'software', 'tee-shirt' and 'hamburger', in France. A 'tongue in cheek' initiative, it would have been administered by traffic wardens. In 2000, he initiated a Private Member’s Bill on urban regeneration and protection of the countryside.
In his role as chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Trafficking of Women and Children, Steen did much to raise awareness of the scourge of human trafficking in the UK.. In February 2010, Steen saw his Private Member's Bill to establish a national Anti-Slavery Day adopted by the House of Commons, as the Anti-Slavery Day Act. Since then there have been two annual events to mark Anti-Slavery Day - on 18th October each year - and to raise awareness of the issue of human trafficking in the UK. In 2011, activities took place across the country, including a reception at 10 Downing Street to mark the occasion, hosted by Prime Minister David Cameron, whilst the inaugural Human Trafficking Foundation Media Awards, when the Commons Speaker and Home Secretary give awards to journalists, broadcasters and film makers in recognition of their fight to end slavery, took place at Westminster.
Viewed as on the centre-left of the Conservative Party, Steen backed Kenneth Clarke's three leadership bids in 1997, 2001 and 2005. In 2001, he denounced the supporters of Iain Duncan Smith as 'bigots'. Steen describes himself as a 'Euro-pragmatist' and was in favour of the UK continued membership of the European Union, voting to remain in the June 2016 referendum.
Expenses scandal
In May 2009, Steen was involved in the parliamentary expenses scandal, and was reported by The Daily Telegraph to have claimed over £87,000 on his constituency mansion which he designated as his second home. Expenses included items for rabbit fencing, tree surgery woodland consultants and bore hole maintenance. As a result, he announced he would not contest the next general election.Here is the full transcript of the interview for BBC Radio's World at One programme on 21 May 2009:
"I think I behaved, if I may say so, impeccably. I've done nothing criminal, that's the most awful thing, and do you know what it's about? Jealousy. I've got a very, very large house. Some people say it looks like Balmoral. It's the photographs, it looks like Balmoral, but it's a merchant's house of the 19th century. It's not particularly attractive, it just does me nicely – it's got room to actually plant a few trees."
"Can you understand why there has been this outcry?"
"Look, that's clearly what has emerged. But, and I understand now, it was there for claims to maintenance of your home and garden. I was never told otherwise. As far as I'm concerned, and as of this day, I don't know what the fuss is about."
"So why have you decided to stand down? Why not stay as an MP and fight your corner?"
"No, no. I understand your message. This decision was taken by me and me alone. I'd no pressure at all from the party leader. Quite the contrary, I think he was a bit surprised! He didn't understand that I was going to do it. I think it was a shock to him. The pressure came from the constituents. And I took soundings and the last week I've been taking soundings, and they are absolutely beside themselves with anger."
"Why is it, do you think, that you didn't anticipate, you didn't see what the public reaction would be, when they found out what MPs were claiming for, such as trees?"
"This was a failure on my part. We have a wretched government here, which has completely mucked up the system and caused resignation of me and many others 'cause it was this government that introduced the Freedom of Information Act, and it's this government that's insisted for the things which has actually caught me on the wrong foot. Which if I'd been cleverer it wouldn't have done."
"So you don't think any of the information should have ever been released?"
"No! What right does the public have to interfere with my private life? None. Do you know what this remindes me of, this whole episode? An episode from Coronation Street. Do you know what members are doing now? They are waiting by their phones between three and four o'clock in the afternoon because that's the time the Prime Minister used to ring you if you were going to get a job, and now it's a question of whether the Daily Telegraph are going to ring you because that's the time they will ring you. 'Is it the Prime Minister?' 'No, it's the Daily Telegraph.' They just know this is a kangaroo court going on."
Human Trafficking Foundation
Having founded the All Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking, Steen established the Human Trafficking Foundation, an organisation that works with NGOs and charities in the sector combatting human trafficking around the UK. Since the Foundation's inception, the UK Government have signed up to the EU Directive on Human Trafficking and introduced a new strategy to combat trafficking, whilst Prime Minister David Cameron hosted the first-ever reception at 10 Downing Street to mark Anti-Slavery Day 2011.Under Steen's stewardship, the Human Trafficking Foundation is working with ECPAT UK and Asociata High Level Group for Children to establish 'Parliamentarians Against Human Trafficking', a Europe-wide project to forge a network of parliamentarians across the continent fighting human trafficking.