Charles Walker

Charles Walker
Name	Charles Ashley Rupert Walker (born 11 September, 1967)
Politics
Party	Conservative
Constituency	Broxbourne (2005 - present)
Positions	• Chair of the Procedure Committee (October 2012 - March 2015) • Vice-Chair of the 1922 Committee (May 2010 - present)
Likes	Parliament, fishing
Dislikes	Stigmatising mental health issues, black deaths in custody, shady Government stitch-ups, Twitter, Facebook, colds
Friends	John Bercow, David Nuttall (sometimes)
Enemies	?
Relationships
Partners	Fiona
Children	Charlotte, Alistair and James
Personal Attributes
Nationality	English
Religion	Catholic
Sexuality	Straight
Height	5' 11"
Eye Colour	Blue-grey
Handedness	Right
Accent	RP with some Estuary vowels

I have been played as a fool. When I go home tonight, I will look in the mirror and see an honourable fool looking back at me. And I would much rather be an honourable fool, in this and any other matter, than a clever man.~ Charles Walker

Over the course of the 2010-2015 Parliament Charles attracted some minor acclaim for a brave speech on his OCD and his heroic chairing of the troll-ridden Procedure Committee. But his big moment came on the final day, when he made the key speech that thwarted the Cameroon plan to oust John Bercow as Speaker and launched himself into national and fannish prominence.

Life and Career

Early Life and Pre-political Career

Charles attended the American School in London and went on to study at the University of Oregon, where he majored in political science. After college he worked in the IT industry, holding a number of communication and marketing positions with both private and listed companies. He's a member of the Amicus trade union.

Early Political Career

Charles' political career began at the age of six, when he went leafletting during the February 1974 General Election. When he returned to the UK after college he joined his local Conservative Association and rose in the ranks, preparing the ground for a possible parliamentary run. In 2001 he stood in Ealing North and lost, but he was elected to Wandsworth Council in 2002 and served until 2006.

In 2005 he stood in the safe Tory seat of Broxbourne and was elected to Parliament with a healthy 10,000 vote majority.

Parliamentary Career

I wouldn't sit in an alliance with Ukip so whatever Ukip MP we gained I'd be off. I'm not sitting in an alliance with Ukip as a Conservative MP, I'd rather sit as an independent Conservative MP than sit alongside Ukip.~ Charles Walker

Charles' first term in Parliament passed without much incident, apart from a minor rebellion on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill to try to limit abortion rights. He was one of the 23 MPs to sign the motion of no confidence in Speaker Michael Martin.

When he returned in 2010 he became involved with the Eurosceptic/Parliamentarian wing of the Conservative Party. He gave by far the best speech in David Nuttall's EU referendum debate, winning him the Spectator's "Speech of the Year" award, and spoke out and in some cases rebelled on various other constitutional issues. He joined a number of committees and panels relating to the internal governance of the House of Commons.

He also took brave stances on some unrelated matters. In 2010 he became chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mental Health, and in June 2012 he was one of four MPs to go public with their mental health issues in a debate in Parliament. He spoke eloquently about his obsessive-compulsive disorder, winning accolades amongst mental health activists and the Spectator's "Speech of the Year" award for the second year running.

Through his work in this area Charles met Matilda MacAttram, the founder of Black Mental Health UK, and in June 2013 she invited him to come along with her to a conference in Wolverhampton on black deaths in custody. Charles was deeply shaken by what he heard, and that December he held an adjournment debate on the subject, the first time it had ever been debated in Parliament. He said in his speech,

I felt ashamed that the country I love so much, and which has given me so much, could let a group of good people down so badly... I always knew that we do not live in a perfect place, but I always thought that it was a good place and that, if challenged, this country did the right thing. We have not done the right thing by the African-Caribbean community.

Moving on to a more banal form of courage, he was also the only MP to admit he would take the 11% pay rise proposed by IPSA. "I've never turned down a pay rise before and I don't intend to start any time soon," he said, although he acknowledged his stance would not be popular with the public.

Charles contemplates the prospect of tweeting about his lunch.

He does not have an official Facebook or Twitter account and says he'll never get one. "Really, the idea that [my constituents] want to know what I am having in the dining room is just utterly, utterly objectionable."

In the run-up to the 2015 general election, he vowed to resign the Conservative whip if David Cameron made an alliance with Ukip after the election. (In the event the Tories won a majority and it became a moot point.)

Committee Work

In October 2012 Charles was elected Chair of the Procedure Committee, a small circle of hell containing David Nuttall and Jacob Rees-Mogg. Charged with considering issues like the election of the Speaker and reform to Filibuster Fridays, the committee was naturally impeded in all its business by the delegation from the CBCJS. Charles persevered, steering his troll-ridden ship with good humour and superhuman patience to arrive at reports containing actual recommendations to improve things. If the 2015-2020 Parliament works better than its predecessor, the credit should above all go to Charles.

The Bercow Coup

How you treat people in this place is important.~ Charles Walker

On the final day of the 2015 Parliament the Government launched a sneak attack on John Bercow, proposing a last minute rule change that would enable them to vote him out in the next Parliament and hoping they could railroad it through as Opposition MPs had already returned to their constituencies to fight the general election. To do it they used a report of the Procedure Committee from two years earlier, which had recommended not making the rule change and asked the Government to hold the debate on it in prime time so that the whole House could come to an informed decision.

Charles was not happy. In his speech he explained how after two years of refusing to act on his committee's report the Government were now misusing it and ignoring its recommendations. He condemned their grubby stitch-up and their abuse of Parliament, and then rounded on the ministers responsible. His voice breaking, Charles told the House how he had been to William Hague's retirement party the day before and spoken to his special advisers and his Lib Dem deputy, along with Chief Whip Michael Gove. Every one of them knew what they were planning and not one of them breathed a word of it to Charles, leaving him to find out at 6:30 the night before how his report was to be misused.

The speech nearly made Bercow cry and won a rare standing ovation from the Opposition. It is likely that it was the deciding factor in swinging enough Tories around into the Noes Lobby to save Bercow's job.

Full List of Appointments
• Vice-Chair of the 1922 Committee (May 2010 - present)
• Chair of the Procedure Committee (17 October, 2012 - 30 March, 2015)

Greatest Moments
Date	Summary	Video	Transcript
24/10/2011	The best, and definitely the briefest, speech in the 2011 EU referendum debate		"If not now, when?" Debate in Hansard
26/03/2015	The speech that saved Bercow's career.		"I have been played as a fool. When I go home tonight, I will look in the mirror and see an honourable fool looking back at me. And I would much rather be an honourable fool, in this and any other matter, than a clever man." Debate in Hansard

Personal Life

Charles with his daughter Charlotte and son Alistair.

Charles is married with three kids. They have a miniature dachshund named Ambrose and the children have rabbits. His wife Fiona's habitual weekend response to their reluctance to clean the rabbit hutches- "If not now, when?"- was the inspiration for his EU speech.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

I am delighted to say that I have been a practising fruitcake for 31 years.~ Charles Walker

Charles has moderately severe OCD. Although as his record in Parliament shows it doesn't impede his ability to work, it does interfere with his life. He operates on a rule of fours, so he has to wash his hands four times or switch the lights on and off four times. (It's very inconvenient if he flicks the switch five times, as he then has to do another three- precision in counting is very important.) It's a hassle for him to throw away items like crisp packets because if he goes near a bin he has to wash his hands a bunch of times, so he tends to leave them lying around. When he first developed the condition he hoped having to wash his hands constantly would at least protect him from catching colds, but alas, it doesn't seem to work that way.

Sometimes the disease is worse than an inconvenience. Charles wrote in a Daily Mail article:

I was on holiday recently and I took a beautiful photograph of my son carrying a fishing rod. My love of fishing is well known.

There was my son carrying the rod, I was glowing with pride and then the voice started: 'If you don’t get rid of that photograph, your child will die.'

You fight those voices for a couple or three hours and you know that you really should not give in to them because they should not be there and it isn’t going to happen, but in the end, you are not going to risk your child, so one gives into the voices and then feels pretty miserable about life.

Charles spent his first few years in Parliament in terror of being outed, afraid that if his condition was revealed the tabloids would crucify him and he would be rejected by his constituency association and the voters. At one point someone mailed him a book with a letter saying "Managing your OCD" and he sat in a cold sweat for ten minutes, certain he'd been discovered, before he realised it was a circular that had gone to all 650 MPs.

In 2012 he came out as an OCD sufferer in a mental health debate in Parliament, ending his years of closeted anguish. He says he's never regretted it.

Personality

Charles is respected across the House and across fandom for his bravery and decency.

Appearance

With a mild manner but a slightly manic expression, Charles is fairly unremarkable in the Commons. He looks very cuddly in a jumper though.

Cuddle him! Actually don't, he'll have to wash his hands 400 times.

Portrayal

In the Media

That Charles Walker clip will be played and replayed but I'll always remember being here. One of the most electric parliamentary moments I've ever seen.~ Paul Waugh, on the Bercow Coup speech

The Spectator gave Charles the "Speech of the Year" award two years running for his speeches on the EU referendum and his OCD. After the mental health debate he featured in a number of articles about his condition, including a shockingly non-gross one in the Daily Mail. His Bercow Coup speech also received widespread coverage in the press.

In Fanon

Charles has yet to appear in fandom, although that may change with his newfound prominence.

Shipping

None as yet, but let the record show that when Charles sat down in tears after his Bercow Coup speech David Nuttall scooted four feet along the bench so he could reach over to pat him on the shoulder.

Also, purely on the basis of this photo and their shared interest in procedural matters, Walker/Engel seems like it has some potential:

Their love is so obsessed with procedural minutiae