Patrick Hall

This article is about the British politician. For the American Idol contestant, see Patrick Hall (singer).

Patrick Hall MP
Member of Parliament for Bedford
In office 1 May 1997 – 6 May 2010
Preceded by	Constituency Created
Succeeded by	Richard Fuller
Majority	3,383 (8.0%)
Personal details
Born	20 October 1951 (1951-10-20) Birmingham
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Claudia Caggiula
Alma mater	Oxford Brookes University

Patrick Hall (born 20 October 1951) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bedford from 1997 to 2010.

Early life

Patrick Hall was educated at the independent Bedford Modern School, the University of Birmingham and Oxford Polytechnic. He joined Bedford Borough Council in 1975 as a local government planning officer, becoming the borough's Town Centre Coordinator, he remained employed by the council until his election to Parliament.

Parliamentary career

He was elected as a councillor to the Bedfordshire County Council 1989-97 and was a member of the North Bedfordshire Community Health Council. He contested Bedfordshire North at the 1992 General Election, but was defeated by the veteran Conservative MP Trevor Skeet by 11,618 votes.

He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1997 General Election for the new seat of Bedford and Kempston with a majority of 8,300. He was re-elected at the 2001 and 2005 election, albeit with reduced majorities. He made his maiden speech on 30 July 1997.[1].

Patrick was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Caroline Flint MP, the former Minister for Europe until June 2009.

Patrick was not in favour of a public vote on the EU Referendum, though has stated on his own Parliamentary website in the past that Tony Blair did promise an EU vote in the Labour 2005 election manifesto, so as a result of being elected on that platform would so honour such a pledge.^{[citation needed]}

Patrick twice voted in favour of amending the Government's declaration of war on Iraq to reflect the belief that the case for war was yet unproven. However, the majority of MPs voted against making such changes to the motion.

Patrick voted with the Government in favour of introducing ID cards. Patrick voted in favour of student top up fees and has shown his support in the house by voting with the Government for the introduction of the anti-terrorist laws.^{[citation needed]}

His expense claims as an MP for 2007/8 were £131,390. This was one of the lowest total claims of all MPs.

He was beaten in the 2010 General Election by Conservative candidate Richard Fuller, who had also challenged him unsuccessfully in 2005, by 17546 votes to 16193. He had been the first Labour MP ever to hold the Bedford seat for more than a single term.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Patrick is married to Claudia and has two step sons, Giovanni and Gabriele. He enjoys squash and the therapeutic attractions of gardening.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• The Labour Party - Patrick Hall MP official biography
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Patrick Hall MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Patrick Hall MP
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Patrick Hall
• BBC Politics page

Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Bedford 1997–2010	Succeeded by Richard Fuller