Ian Liddell-Grainger

Ian Richard Peregrine Liddell-Grainger (born 23 February 1959) is a British former Conservative Party politician and former property developer. He was MP for Bridgwater from 2001 until 2010, and until 2024, MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset. Through his mother, he is a great-great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria, third cousin of Charles III and second cousin once removed of Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.

Ian Liddell-Grainger was born on 23 February 1959 in Edinburgh to David Liddell-Grainger and Anne (née Abel Smith), whose mother was Lady May Abel Smith, great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. The Liddell-Grainger family were landed gentry, of Ayton Castle, Scottish Borders, formerly of Middleton Hall, Middleton, Northumberland.

Liddell-Grainger was privately educated at Wellesley House School in Broadstairs and Millfield School in Somerset, before gaining a National Certificate of Agriculture at the South Scotland Agricultural College in Edinburgh. He ran a 250-acre (1.0 km²) farm in the Scottish Borders from 1980 to 1985 before becoming the managing director of his family's property management and development company.

Commissioned in the Territorial Army, Liddell-Grainger was promoted to major serving with the 6th Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, and commanded the Machine-Gun Platoon and then X Company of the Battalion in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

In 1991, he was elected for the Conservative Party as a District Councillor on Tynedale District Council in Northumberland, representing the East Tynedale ward. He served until 1995, when Labour took the seat.

Liddell-Grainger stood as the Conservative candidate in Torridge and West Devon at the 1997 general election, coming second with 38.5% of the vote behind the Liberal Democrat candidate John Burnett.

At the 2001 general election, Liddell-Grainger was elected to Parliament as MP for Bridgwater with 40.4% of the vote and a majority of 4,987. He was re-elected as MP for Bridgwater at the 2005 general election with an increased vote share of 44.1% of the vote and an increased majority of 8,469.

In 2006, Liddell-Grainger was disqualified from the WriteToThem league table after faking e-mails and replies to himself to improve his "responsiveness rating" on a website which helps people contact their elected representatives. Liddell-Grainger's spokesman commented that the e-mails had been sent to test the data that the website was judging him on.