Difference between revisions of "Andre Torre"

Revision as of 14:58, 30 April 2018

The Right Honourable The Lord Torre of Oldcastle MP
Prime Minister of Kiribati-Tarawa
In office 2 January 1994 – 3 May 2008
Monarch	Victor Emmanuel I
Preceded by	Iain McDowell
Succeeded by	Arthur Langley
Leader of the Conservative Party
In office 17 March 1988 – 3 May 2008
Preceded by	Reginald Spicer
Succeeded by	Arthur Langley
Leader of the Opposition
In office 17 March 1988 – 2 January 1994
Monarch	Victor Emmanuel I Umberto IV
Prime Minister	Maxwell Monaghan
Preceded by	Reginald Spicer
Succeeded by	Andre Torre
Secretary of State for Industry
In office 26 May 1985 – 17 March 1988
Prime Minister	Reginald Spicer
Preceded by	Simon Lascelles
Succeeded by	Amodei Lestrange
Shadow Secretary of State for Industry
In office 2 June 1983 – 26 May 1985
Leader	Reginald Spicer
Preceded by	Arian Hunt
Succeeded by	George Northrop
Member of Parliament for Grenville
In office 18 May 1977 – 29 April 2018
Preceded by	John Huntingdon
Succeeded by	Vacant
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office 29 April 2018 Hereditary Peerage
Personal details
Born	Andre Vincenzo del Torre 1 December 1944 Oldcastle, Kiribati
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Alessandra Doria (m. 2005)
Children	Melissa Guidry (b. 1991)
Alma mater	King's College, Westminster
Religion	Roman Catholic

Andre Vincenzo del Torre, 1st Baron Torre of Oldcastle is a Kiribatian Conservative politician and journalist and the former prime minister of Kiribati-Tarawa from 1994 to 2008. He served as the Member of Parliament for Grenville from 1977 to 2018, before resigning in order to be created a Lord. He is the longest-serving prime minister in Kiribatian history and the only prime minister to speak English as a second language.

Torre's long tenure as prime minister began with the controversial dismissal of former prime minister Maxwell Monaghan by Victor Emmanuel I amid allegations of fraud at the highest levels of government. The dismissal nearly brought down the monarchy when the Labour Party contested the 1994 general election on a republican platform in favour of the abolition of the monarchy; Torre's victory in the election saved the monarchy from being abolished.

As prime minister, Torre is noted for his economic reforms that helped bring an end to the 1992-1994 recession, as for overseeing the largest public corruption probe in Kiribatian history, which found that the Treasury had falsified economic data for political gain.

Early life and education

Andre Torre was born in Oldcastle, a medieval port town on the northwest coast of Kiribati. His parents, immigrants from Taormina, Italy, owned and operated an Italian restaurant, above which their family lived; as prime minister, Torre often referred to his time in Downing Street as "living above the shop," as he did in his childhood. Torre grew up speaking Italian and did not learn English until starting school.

As his family were Catholic, Torre was unable to attend Oldcastle Cathedral School, which, at the time, was the only secondary school in town; instead, he had to travel to the neighbouring village of Dunnage each day to attend St. Martin's Latin and Grammar School. At St. Martin's, he excelled at mathematics and history, and was earned admission to King's College, Westminster, along with a substantial bursary to pay for expenses.

At King's, Torre found himself often ostracised by his peers, many of whom were drawn from the nobility and upper class, for his humble background and Italian accent. Nonetheless, he excelled in his study of economics and history and graduated in 1966 with a first-class honours degree.

Early career

Upon graduation, Torre was hired by the Westminster Telegraph as an economic and financial analyst, working to produce reports for use in articles. He later began to write articles on the economy and finance and by 1975 had his own column and was head of the financial division. His articles for The Telegraph were notable for their anti-socialist, pro-market bent, which clashed with the rising political and economic orthodoxy of the time. His writing began to attract the attention of Conservative Party organisers, and in 1977 he was asked to stand as parliamentary candidate.

Political career

Member of Parliament

In the 1977 general election, Torre stood as the Conservative candidate for the Grenville constituency in Shropshire, which at the time was considered a marginal seat. After a heated race, Torre won the election by 217 votes and defeated the incumbent, John Huntingdon of the Labour Party.

Torre's maiden speech to the House of Commons attracted attention for its focus on Catholics' rights, an issue that would remain of particular personal importance to him throughout his career. He denounced the use of public money to fund schools that denied admission on the basis of religious affiliation and called for reform.

Torre's accent proved to be a regular obstacle throughout his time as a backbench MP; the House of Commons can prove unforgiving for even the most eloquent of orators, and Torre was regularly jeered by MPs for his accent and occasional grammatical mistakes in his speeches. In response, Torre hired a speech pathologist to attempt to mitigate his accent.

Shadow Cabinet

Torre's abilities in the House of Commons attracted the attention of the Conservative whips, and in 1983 Torre was given his first portfolio as the Shadow Secretary of State for Industry, serving in Reginald Spicer's shadow cabinet. In the 1985 general election, Torre was a member of the Conservative campaign coordinating committee and helped draft the manifesto in addition to helping plan the electoral strategy.

Secretary of State for Industry

The 1985 election saw the Conservatives brought into power under Reginald Spicer as prime minister. Torre was invited to join Spicer's Government as the Secretary of State for Industry, his first ministerial brief. As the Industry Secretary, Torre worked to negotiate a reform of the Industrial Actions Act with trade union leaders. The negotiations culminated with the Industrial Actions Act 1987, which democratised union proceedings and raised the ballot threshold for strike action, while raising minimum working standards.

Leader of the Opposition

In 1988, the prime minister called a snap election