Tania Mathias

Tania Wyn Mathias (born 21 June 1964) is a British ophthalmologist and Conservative Party politician. She served as the Member of Parliament for Twickenham from May 2015 to June 2017.[1][2]

Tania Mathias
Mathias in 2013
Member of Parliament
for Twickenham
In office
8 May 2015 – 3 May 2017
Preceded byVince Cable
Succeeded bySir Vince Cable
Personal details
Born
Tania Wyn Mathias

(1964-06-21) 21 June 1964
Kensington, London, England
Political partyConservative
Alma materSt Catherine's College, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford

Early life and career

Mathias was born in Kensington, London on 21 June 1964 and raised in Barnes.[3] She was educated at St Paul's Girls' School, an all-girls private school in Hammersmith, London.[4] She studied at St Catherine's College, Oxford and Christ Church, Oxford, graduating with Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MB BCh) degrees in 1988.[5] Her grandfather, Fred Mathias, played rugby and cricket for Glamorgan and in 1918 was awarded the Military Cross after his exploits flying over enemy lines in Belgium and France.[4]

Soon after graduating in medicine, Mathias was a refugee worker for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip and treated HIV, AIDS and tuberculosis patients in Africa. She has also treated leprosy patients in North Bihar, India and South China. She was employed by the NHS as an eye doctor.[6]

Political career

In 2010, Mathias was elected to the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as councillor for Hampton Wick.[7] She was re-elected in 2014, but stepped down as a councillor shortly after becoming MP.[4][8]

At the 2015 general election, Mathias was elected as the MP for Twickenham, defeating the Liberal Democrat cabinet minister, Vince Cable.[9] She was appointed a member of the Science and Technology Select Committee in July 2015.[10]

Mathias was defeated by Vince Cable, now knighted, in the snap 2017 general election by almost 10,000 votes, when Cable won the highest vote share for the Liberal Democrats in any constituency nationally at 52.8%.[11] She was one of the five Conservative candidates controversially funded for targeting Liberal Democrat opponents who had supported the EU remain campaign.[12]

Views

In Parliament, Mathias voted the same way as other Conservative MPs on the vast majority of issues.[13][14] However, she voted differently from her colleagues on occasion, most consistently for: allowing terminally ill people to be given assistance to end their life, requiring pub companies to offer pub landlords rent-only leases and for unilaterally guaranteeing the rights of EU citizens living in the UK;[13] (she was one of only two Conservative MPs to vote against the government on this).[15]

Mathias opposed US President Donald Trump's refugee policy.[16] She was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.[17]

Mathias is an opponent of the expansion of Heathrow Airport, and voiced her objection in the House of Commons on several occasions.[18] She reacted negatively to the UK government's decision to begin consultation for the construction of a third runway, declaring expansion "misguided and not in the nation's interest".[19]

Personal life

Mathias is a Quaker. She is one of three Quakers elected during the 2015 general election, the others being Ruth Cadbury and Catherine West, both Labour MPs.[20]

References
  1. "Vince Cable loses seat to the Conservatives". BBC. 8 May 2015. Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  2. "General election 2015: the winners and losers". The Guardian. 8 May 2015. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  3. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  4. "Meet Tania Mathias: Your new MP for Twickenham". Richmond and Twickenham Times. 15 May 2015. Archived from the original on 17 July 2015. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  5. "MATHIAS, Tania Wyn". Who's Who 2017. Oxford University Press. November 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  6. "Dr Tania Mathias – about me". Ashley Fraser. 17 May 2015. Archived from the original on 1 May 2015. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  7. "Local election results May 6 2010 – London Borough of Richmond upon Thames". Archived from the original on 18 January 2017.
  8. "Hampton Wick by-election 2015 – London Borough of Richmond upon Thames". Archived from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  9. "General Election 2015: Conservative Tania Mathias stunned after defeating Vince Cable in Twickenham seat – South West Londoner". South West Londoner. 8 May 2015. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  10. "Dr Tania Mathias MP". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Archived from the original on 16 January 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  11. "GE2017 - Constituency results". Britain Elects (Google Docs). Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  12. Treanor, Jill (5 July 2017). "City firm Nex to pay back donations made to Tory election candidates". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 July 2017. Retrieved 6 July 2017 – via www.theguardian.com.
  13. "TheyWorkForYou: Tania Mathias's voting in Parliament". theyworkforyou.org. 2017. Archived from the original on 23 April 2017. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  14. "Tania Mathias, former MP, Twickenham - TheyWorkForYou". TheyWorkForYou. Archived from the original on 23 April 2017. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  15. "Voting Record – Tania Mathias MP, Twickenham (25333) – The Public Whip". Publicwhip.org.uk. Archived from the original on 20 April 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  16. "Tania Mathias: A Trump state visit cannot be justified while this refugee ban is in place". Conservative Home. 5 February 2017. Archived from the original on 20 April 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  17. Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 22 October 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  18. "No to Heathrow Expansion". Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  19. Sands, Mark (25 October 2016). "The best reactions from MPs to the government's Heathrow verdict". City AM. Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  20. "First Quaker MPs elected in a decade". Quakers in Britain. Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). 8 May 2015. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015.
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