New Year Honours: Herefordshire MP among five locals recognised

Conservative MP Mr Wiggin has been made a Knight Bachelor for political and public service, with four other Herefordshire names gracing the list.

Meanwhile, former Conservative Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands Anthea Elizabeth Joy McIntyre has been made a CBE.

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Mrs McIntyre, who lives in Walford near Ross-on-Wye, earned recognition for political and public service.

Paralympian Dan Pembroke, of Hereford, has been made an MBE.

Paralympian Dan Pembroke. Picture: Tadeusz Skwiot.

Javelin thrower Pembroke, 30, was left stunned after grabbing gold in Tokyo with a mammoth Paralympic record on his Games debut.

Pembroke, who has a degenerative sight condition and previously competed in able-bodied events, threw 69.52m in the F13 final.

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In Burghill, near Hereford, Sally Robertson has been awarded a British Empire Medal for her services to the community.

A ward councillor for 12 years, Mrs Robertson, 66, went on to serve on the local parish council and is now involved in spearheading the project for a new community pavilion.

The fifth and final name on the list from Herefordshire is Susan Roberts, known by her middle name Jane.

Former Ross-on-Wye mayor Jane Roberts. Picture: Rob Davies

She has also been awarded a British Empire Medal, but for her services to the community in Ross-on-Wye, particularly during Covid-19.

A volunteer and trustee for the Ross-on-Wye Community Development Trust, she has also served as a town councillor, including a spell as mayor.

The aim of the trust is to help lonely and vulnerable people in the community with daily chores and also connect them with the many valuable services of local voluntary organisations.

As for Mr Wiggin, 55, he has been the MP for North Herefordshire since 2001, the first nine years when the constituency was known as Leominster.

He won the seat after Peter Temple-Morris stood down when he changed parties, going on to sit in the House of Lords as a Labour peer.

But for Mr Wiggin, born in London but now of Upton Bishop, he can often be thought of as a backbencher.

That hasn't always been the case though.

He became a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee in 2002. In 2003, Michael Howard appointed him to the position of Shadow Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Shadow Secretary of State for Wales.

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During his tenure, the Conservatives won seats in Wales and he announced "never again will Wales be a Conservative-free zone".

In 2009, he became a whip after a spell as Shadow Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries

In 2015 he was appointed as Chair of the Committee of Selection and remains there today.

Locally, he has campaigned for better flood defences, broadband and a swimming pool for Leominster.

He has also been vocal on the phosphate issue currently plaguing the rivers Wye and Lugg.

North Herefordshire Conservative MP Bill Wiggin

After raising the issue in parliament in early 2021, Mr Wiggin said: "In particular, I drew attention to the damaging housebuilding ban or moratorium currently enforced in North Herefordshire.

"Housebuilders are suffering when it comes to phosphate pollution in our watercourses.

"This seems unfair as new builds have a negligible impact on overall phosphate levels especially if their sewage emissions are properly processed.

"The health of our rivers and surrounding countryside we all care deeply about.

"I raised the need to address this issue in a way that satisfies everyone and most importantly, will really work."

Later in 2021, the publicly available Register of Members’ Financial Interests revealed Mr Wiggin had for the past six years been managing director of Bermuda-based Emerging Asset Management (EAM), and since 2016 has also been director of two “fund platforms” in the Cayman Islands, and two in Bermuda.

He received director’s fees of £21,942 in February for these directorships, plus a £3,195 bonus, as well as £49,140 a year “for an expected eight hours a week for these two directorships and for my managing director role”.

EAM “provides fund managers with an innovative turnkey solution on how to start a hedge fund and launch new funds in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Delaware, USA”, its website says.

Clients include “hedge funds, private equity funds, property funds, commodities funds and other fund types”.

Mr Wiggin announced in March that the company had reached the “milestone” of $1bn in managed assets.

He is also a non-executive director of Herefordshire payment collection firm Allpay, for which he receives £2,000 for “approximately 10 hours a year”.

He also listed “ad hoc income from lodgers at my London home, paid to my wife” in the register under “land and property giving rental income of over £10,000 a year”.