Richard Simmonds

Richard James Simmonds, CBE (born 2 August 1944) is a retired English Conservative Party politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Midlands West from 1979 to 1984 and then for Wight and Hampshire East from 1984 to 1994.

Biography Richard J. Simmonds was born on 2 August 1944 in Maidenhead, Berkshire.

He was re-elected in 1984, again for the Conservative Party, and served until 24 July 1989.

He was re-elected in 1989, again for the Conservative Party, and served until 18 July 1994. He was also the Chief Whip for the Conservative Party's European Parliament group. During the vote on the 1995 enlargement of the European Union, Simmonds took a plane to Strasbourg to join the other Conservative MEPs in their vote. Simmonds did not stand in 1994 due to being physically incapacitated by a stroke. He was also chairman of the Countryside Commission.

In 2018, Simmonds, by then a European Commission consultant, informed the Maidenhead Advertiser of his concern regarding the need of a post-Brexit United Kingdom for regulations to be in pace with other European Union members.

Family His sister is the cartoonist Posy Simmonds.

Electoral history