David Sumberg

Who is David Sumberg?

David Anthony Gerald Sumberg is a British politician, and former Member of the European Parliament for the North West England region for the Conservative Party. He was first elected to the European Parliament in 1999 and stood down in 2009.

He is married to Carolyn and has two grown up children, Jonathan and Katie. In the 1970s he was a partner in a firm of Manchester lawyers Maurice Rubin & Co. Sumberg was previously the Member of Parliament for Bury South, from 1983 to 1997, and is a former Manchester City Councillor. As an MP he acted as the Parliamentary Private Secretary for the Attorney General, Sir Patrick Mayhew.

As an MEP, he said that he was "not a signed up member" of the "European Project" and did not support a more centralised European Union, "unlike most of my MEP colleagues".

He has been criticised by members of other political parties and the national media for his low attendance and political inactivity. From 2004 to 2008 he made only two speeches and gave twelve “explanations of votes” - a total of 536 words. He has also tabled only five questions and has not written any of the reports or tabled any resolutions to the one committee he sat on. His local rival, Chris Davies MEP, said he would undoubtedly make the shortlist for Britain's laziest MEP. Defending himself, he said speeches in the European Parliament did not achieve a great deal as they are to empty chambers with no-one listening.