In the
1983 general election, Malins was elected MP for
Croydon North West, defeating
Bill Pitt who had been the constituency's MP since the
1981 by-election. Malins spent most of his first period as an MP on the backbenches, but was
Parliamentary Private Secretary to
Tim Renton from 1987 to 1989 and then
Virginia Bottomley from 1989 to 1992. In the
1992 general election, he was defeated for re-election by the
Labour candidate
Malcolm Wicks. In 1993, he founded the
Immigration Advisory Service, a charitable organisation providing free legal advice on immigration and asylum issues. He became a District Judge in 1991 and in 1996 became a Recorder at the
Crown Court. In 1997 he was made a commander of the
Order of the British Empire for services to immigration policy. At the
1997 general election, he was selected for the safe Conservative seat of
Woking. On his return to Parliament, he became a member of the
Home Affairs Select Committee. Malins supported
Kenneth Clarke's failed bid in the
2001 leadership contest, but nonetheless was appointed to
Iain Duncan Smith's
front bench team as a junior home affairs spokesman. In March 2003, he resigned from the opposition front bench in protest at their support of the
Invasion of Iraq. He was later re-appointed to the front bench as a shadow home affairs minister when
Michael Howard became leader in November 2003, but returned to the backbenches under
David Cameron. He announced in March 2009 his intention to stand down, and left parliament at the
2010 general election. ==Personal life==