Hazel Grove Stunell was elected as the member of parliament for
Hazel Grove in
1997 having fought the seat previously in
1992 when he came second with 43.1% of the vote. The
general election of 1997 resulted in a majority of 11,814 and a 54.5% of the vote, taking the seat from the Conservatives. He retained the seat at the
2001 (52%),
2005 (49.5%) and
2010 (48.8%) general elections.
Liberal Democrat Frontbench at Conservative Party conference in 2011 On entering parliament in 1997 Stunell was appointed the Shadow Energy minister under
Paddy Ashdown, a role he performed until 2005. At the same time Stunell operated as the party's deputy chief whip, only stepping down from that position in 2001 when he was elected to the position of
Chief Whip, a position he was re-elected to in 2005. He stood down from the role in March 2006 to serve as the Shadow Secretary of State for communities and local government which concluded in December 2007 when
Nick Clegg asked him to become chair of the Liberal Democrat local elections team. In January 2009 Stunell was appointed to be the Liberal Democrat representative on the International Development Select Committee and in August 2009 he was asked to take on the role of vice-chair of the general election campaign.
Sustainable and Secure Buildings Act 2004 In 2003 Stunell came top in the regular ballot of
private members' bills and was successful in having his Sustainable and Secure Buildings Bill become an
Act of Parliament in 2004. As part of the bill Stunell wanted to see all new and existing homes either built or renovated with security and energy saving features with Stunell saying that he wanted the bill to promote "greener and safer buildings".
Coalition negotiations Following the general election of 2010, no one political party was able to secure a majority in the House of Commons. As a result, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats entered into negotiations with each other to form the United Kingdom's first coalition government since the Second World War. Stunell along with
Danny Alexander,
Chris Huhne and
David Laws acted as the negotiating team for the Liberal Democrats with
William Hague,
Oliver Letwin,
George Osborne and
Edward Llewellyn acting for the Conservatives.
Coalition Government Following the formation of the coalition, Stunell was appointed a
Parliamentary under-secretary of state at the
Department for Communities and Local Government under Secretary of State
Eric Pickles. His responsibilities in the role were community cohesion, race equality, building regulations and the implementation of the
Big Society particularly with regard to housing and regeneration. He was sworn in as a member of the
Privy Council on 7 November 2012 at
Buckingham Palace. This entitled him to the
Honorific Prefix "
The Right Honourable" for life. Stunell was
knighted for public and political service in the
2013 Birthday Honours. receiving the accolade from the
Prince of Wales on 24 January 2014. In 2013 he announced that he would be stepping down at the next general election. ==Life peerage==