Background
TREND, Michael StJohn was born on April 19, 1952 in Greenwich, England. Parents: the Rt, Honorary Lord Trend PC, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, Commander of the Royal Victorian Order and Patricia Charlotte Trend (née Shaw).
TREND, Michael StJohn was born on April 19, 1952 in Greenwich, England. Parents: the Rt, Honorary Lord Trend PC, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, Commander of the Royal Victorian Order and Patricia Charlotte Trend (née Shaw).
Oriel College, Oxford, Bachelor of Arts, history, Master of Arts, history, 1971-1974. British Council Scholarship, Greece, 1974-1975. Spoken languages: English, some French.
He became a journalist for The Times Literary Supplement, History Today and The Spectator. He was chief leader writer for the Daily Telegraph from 1990-1992. When that constituency was abolished for the 1997 election, he was returned for the new Windsor constituency.
Trend was a frontbench spokesman and Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive of the Conservative Party until 2000.
He was Chairman of the party"s International Office until September 2005 and has done extensive democracy-building work in much of the former Soviet Union and also in Africa. In 2003 Trend was found guilty of abusing the allowances system and ordered to repay £90,277.
He was briefly suspended from parliament and did not stand again at the following election. Trend claimed he "believed that I could properly continue to designate London as "home" for the purposes of American Counseling Association, even though, in domestic terms, Windsor had become my "main residence"." lieutenant was not accepted.
There was no doubt in the Standard"s Committee"s minds that there was no "real scope for doubt that the words "main residence" were intended to have other than their natural meaning." The Committee ruled that "Mr Trend should have recognised that, by claiming Additional Costs Allowance in relation to his Windsor home, the taxpayer was meeting some of the core running costs of what was in reality his main residence.
He should have realised that this was wrong. Accordingly, we agree with the Commissioner that Mr Trend was negligent and has breached the Code of Conduct by making improper use of the Additional Costs Allowance and by failing strictly to observe the administrative rules relating to the Allowance.".
Church of England
51st United Kingdom Parliament. 52nd United Kingdom Parliament. 53rd United Kingdom Parliament]
He was elected at the 1992 general election as Member of Parliament for Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire.
Spouse Elizabeth Jill Trend (née Kershaw), 1987. Children: one son, one d.