Lembit Öpik

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Lembit Öpik

Lembit Öpik (IPA for Estonian pronunciation: ['lem.b̥it 'øpik]) (born 2 March 1965) is a British politician of Estonian origin. He is a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for the Montgomeryshire constituency and is also his party's shadow spokesman in opposition to the Secretary of State for Wales and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

1 Early life
2 Parliament
3 Public appearances
4 Liberal Democrat party elections
5 Trivia
6 See also
7 External links
8 Offices held

[edit] Early life

His parents were refugees from Estonia who settled in Northern Ireland. Lembit was born in Bangor, County Down and grew up there with sister Urve Öpik (born 1960, a psychotherapist) and brother Endel "Tal" Öpik (12 April 1968-21 November 2005 [1], a musician). He was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. He took a degree in philosophy at the University of Bristol, where he became President of University of Bristol Union, and was also on the National Union of Students National Executive Committee.

Before his election to Parliament in 1997, he was a personnel manager at Procter & Gamble LTD. He had stood in Newcastle upon Tyne Central in the 1992 election. Although unsuccessful he was elected as a councillor on Newcastle City Council.

[edit] Parliament

At the 1997 general election, the Liberal Democrat MP for Montgomeryshire, Alex Carlile, retired. Öpik was elected as his successor, with an increased majority. He retained the seat at the 2001 election and at the 2005 general election, his majority falling very slightly in 2001 but incresaing again in 2005 to over 7,000 votes.[2]

To the general public he is perhaps best known for his concerns about the possibility of an asteroid impact on Earth, and his advocacy for increased funding for attempts at detection, under the banner of Spaceguard. His grandfather was Ernst Julius Öpik, an Estonian astronomer who worked at Armagh Observatory.

He was also joint chair of the Middle Way Group, a cross-party parliamentary group which supported the regulation, not banning, of fox hunting. In 2001/2, he chaired an Ethics Committee overseeing production of the BBC series, The Experiment, a reproduction of the Stanford Prison Experiment. From 1999 to 2001 he was a member of the Agriculture Select Committee.

[edit] Public appearances

Öpik has appeared several times on the BBC satirical current affairs quiz show, Have I Got News For You. Due to his unusual name (which is an anagram for "I like to b MP" or "I kil to be PM"), he has been nicknamed "The Human Anagram". He became a member of the Spinal Injuries Association after a near-fatal paragliding accident in 1998 broke his back in 12 places.

[edit] Liberal Democrat party elections

In September 2004 he campaigned for the internal party election for the position of President of the Liberal Democrats, which was won by Simon Hughes.

During the leadership crisis and election of the Liberal Democrats in the first weeks of 2006, Öpik garnered an unfortunate reputation for backing campaigns that soon collapsed. Initially was a fervent supporter of Charles Kennedy and urged him to retain the leadership. Immediately following Kennedy's resignation on 7 January 2006, Öpik said to BBC News 24 that he would support Mark Oaten in the leadership contest if Oaten chose to stand. When Oaten did Öpik became his campaign manager but it soon emerged that he was the only MP publicly backing Oaten, who subsequently withdrew from the contest. This has given Öpik a reputation for bringing disaster to any leadership prospects. [3] He said that he would not stand himself, but that he would stand for party President when Simon Hughes' term ends in two years and that he would stand in the leadership contest after next.

[edit] Trivia

He speaks fluent Estonian and is learning Welsh.
He is engaged to ITV weather presenter Sian Lloyd, and the two are due to marry in 2006. In April 2006 they appeared together on a Celebrity edition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, where they won £64,000 for charity.