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Political Interests Since 2001, he has been Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. Edward Leigh was a member of Richmond Borough Council and then the Greater London Council from l974 until l98l. Mr Leigh worked in the private office of Mrs Thatcher from l976-77 as private secretary in charge of her correspondence as Leader of the Opposition. He fought Teeside Middlesborough in the October l974 General Election. He was elected as Member of Parliament for Gainsborough & Horncastle in the June l983 General Election. He was Joint Secretary of the Conservative Parliamentary Defence Committee and the Parliamentary Agriculture Committee from 1983-85. Mr Leigh was Chairman of the National Council for Civil Defence and was Director of the Coalition For Peace Through Security, until early 1985. From 1990-1993 Mr Leigh was a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry. Prior to that he was a Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Home Office. In May 1997 he was elected Member of Parliament for the new seat of Gainsborough with a majority of 6,826. He is currently a member of the Social Security Select Committee, and Joint Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee.