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Eric Pickles

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Eric Jack Pickles (born 20 April, 1952 in Keighley) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He is seen as being on the Left of the party. He was Co-Chairman of the Joint Committee Against Racism between 1982 and 1987. Unlike many Conservatives, he is pro-European, and supported the UK's signing of the Maastricht Treaty.

Local Government

Between 1988 and 1990, Pickles had been leader of the Conservative group on Bradford Council. In September 1988 the Conservative Party gained control by a margin of a single vote to become the only inner-city council to be controlled by the Conservatives.

Whilst at Bradford, Pickles introduced several major changes, many of which proved controversial. A book (The Pickles Papers) was written about this period in Eric's life by Tony Grogan (See source links below).

Evidently Eric didn't appreciate it much "It is rubbish, inaccurate and defamatory. If any body or organisation reproduces any of it, I shall not hesitate to take litigation" - Eric Pickles.

Parliamentary Career

Pickles has been Member of Parliament for Brentwood and Ongar since 1992. He is currently the Shadow Minister for Local Government, having held that post since June 2002. Before that Pickles had served as Shadow Minister for Transport (September 2001 - June 2002), and Shadow Minister for London.

Since August 2005, Eric Pickles has also held the post of Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party.

At the 2001 general election, the Independent candidate Martin Bell, who had previously won Tatton from Neil Hamilton, stood against him, due to accusations that the local Peniel Pentecostal church had infiltrated the local Conservative branch. Eric's majority was severely reduced, but he retained his seat by a margin of 2,821 votes (6.5%) becoming elected with only 38% of the votes against Martin Bell's 31.5%.

At the 2005 general election Pickles retained the seat with an increased majority of 11,612 (26.3%), nearly as many as the total votes cast for the second place candidate, and making this the second safest seat in Eastern England, and Pickles the MP with the third-highest share of the vote cast [1] in this region. Pickles polled a total of 23,609 votes (53.5%). This was in spite of the fact that rival candidate Gavin Stollar pointed out that he had one of the worst Parliamentary turnout records in the previous sitting. Gavin Stollar did forget to mention to voters though that Eric did break his leg during the sitting and was unable to attend for such reasons.

Trivia

Pickles has also appeared as an occasional radio presenter on local community radio station Phoenix FM together with the Leader of Brentwood Council (and fellow Conservative) Brandon Lewis in a show titled 'The Eric and Brandon Show'. The show was billed as non-party political, and involved the two politicians interviewing a selection of local personalities intersperced with music.

Reference

  1. ^ House of Commons Research Paper 05/33 - The General Election 2005

Sources

  • Grogan, Tony, The Pickles Papers, Bradford, 1989, ISBN 0-948994-04-5


  • [1] Eric Pickles MP official site
  • [2] - some background information on the Peniel Church and Martin Bell's involvement
  • [3] The Brentwood Peniel Pentecostal Church
  • [4] The Pickles Papers, an account of Pickles's time as Leader of Bradford Council
  • [5] Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Eric Pickles MP
  • [6] - They Work for You - Eric Pickles MP
  • [7] Open Directory Project - Eric Pickles' directory category

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