Nick Raynsford

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The Right Honourable
Nick Raynsford
MP
Member of Parliament
for Greenwich and Woolwich
Greenwich (1992-1997)
Incumbent
Assumed office
9 April 1992
Preceded by Rosie Barnes
Majority 10,153 (24.7%)
Member of Parliament
for Fulham
In office
10 April 1986 – 11 June 1987
Preceded by Martin Stevens
Succeeded by Matthew Carrington
Personal details
Born (1945-01-28) 28 January 1945 (age 68)
Northampton
Nationality British
Political party Labour
Spouse(s) Anne Jelley (m 1968)
Domestic partner Alison Seabeck
Alma mater Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge

Wyvill Richard Nicolls Raynsford (born 28 January 1945), known as Nick Raynsford, is a British Labour Party politician. A government minister from 1997 to 2005, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Greenwich & Woolwich since 1997, having previously been MP for Greenwich from 1992 to 1997, and for Fulham from 1986 to 1987.

Contents

[edit] Early life

He is the son of the late Wyvill Raynsford and Patricia Raynsford (née Dunn) and brought up at Milton Manor in Milton Malsor[1] a village just outside the town of Northampton. He was educated at Repton School and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, from where he graduated with a BA degree in History in 1966. He also has a Diploma in Art and Design from the Chelsea School of Art.[2]

At university Raynsford was rusticated (suspended) for a year for night climbing. In the course of this he had displayed a banner against the Vietnam War between the pinnacles of King's College Chapel.[3]

[edit] Family

He married Anne Jelley in 1968, and they had three daughters. They were divorced in 2011,[4] and he is now the partner of Alison Seabeck, the Labour MP for Plymouth Moor View.[5] Raynsford's ancestry can be seen in Burke's Landed Gentry.[6]

[edit] Member of Parliament

Raynsford was first elected a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Labour Party in a by-election in Fulham Constituency in 1986, but at the 1987 General Election lost to Conservative candidate Matthew Carrington.

He then became MP for Greenwich at the 1992 general election, and at the 1997 general election he won the re-drawn seat of Greenwich & Woolwich. He retained the seat at the 2001, 2005 and 2010 general elections, with majorities of 13,433,[7] 10,146[8] and 10,153[9] respectively.

In Parliament, Raynsford was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Roy Hattersley and an Opposition spokesman 1986-87 and an Opposition frontbench spokesman from 1993-97. When Labour came to power in 1997 he was appointed a Parliamentary Under Secretary in the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, and was promoted to Minister of State in the department as Minister for Housing and Planning from 1999 to 2001, and Minister for Local Government 2001-02, and in the again reorganised Office of the Deputy Prime Minister 2002-2005, with special responsibility for local government, English regions, electoral law, fire, health and safety and London.

After the 2005 general election Raynsford returned to the backbenches. In 2009 he publicly called for Gordon Brown to resign as Prime Minister.[10]

On 28 March 2010, The Sunday Times reported that Raynsford earns £9,000 per month from jobs in industries connected to his ministerial career.[11]

[edit] References

  1. ^ www.nickraynsford.org.uk "Andrew Roth's Parliamentary Profiles in The Guardian". 
  2. ^ Guide to the House of Commons. London: The Times. 2005. p. 166. ISBN 0-00-721182-1. 
  3. ^ Whipple, Tom (10 June 2007). "Nocturnal Missions - The Times on line, 10 June 2007". London. Retrieved 2008-08-10. 
  4. ^ RAYNSFORD, Rt Hon. Wyvill Richard Nicolls (Rt Hon. Nick), Who's Who 2012, A & C Black, 2012; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2011 ; online edn, Nov 2011, accessed 4 April 2012
  5. ^ MP leaves wife
  6. ^ www.burkespeerage.com: RAYNSFORD of Milton Malsor
  7. ^ "BBC News Vote 2005 map". Retrieved 6 January 2010. 
  8. ^ "BBC News Vote 2005". Retrieved 6 January 2010. 
  9. ^ "BBC News Election 2010 Greenwich & Woolwich Constituency". Retrieved 22 June 2010. [dead link]
  10. ^ "We're facing total disaster - Raynsford on The Andrew Marr Show, BBC TV 7 June 2009". BBC News. 7 June 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2009. 
  11. ^ Bremner, Charles; Robertson, David (28 March 2010). "My fee 2500 a dayplus expenses". The Times (London). Retrieved 20 May 2010. 

[edit] External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Martin Stevens
Member of Parliament for Fulham
19861987
Succeeded by
Matthew Carrington
Preceded by
Rosie Barnes
Member of Parliament for Greenwich
19921997
Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament for Greenwich & Woolwich
1997present
Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Hilary Armstrong
Minister of State for Housing and Planning
1999-2001
Succeeded by
Lord Falconer