Clive Betts
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Clive Betts | |
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Chairman of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee | |
Assumed office 10 June 2010 | |
Preceded by | Phyllis Starkey |
Member of Parliament for Sheffield South East Sheffield Attercliffe (1992–2010) | |
Assumed office 9 April 1992 | |
Preceded by | Patrick Duffy |
Majority | 12,311 (29.5%) |
Leader of Sheffield City Council | |
In office 1987–1992 | |
Preceded by | David Blunkett |
Succeeded by | Mike Bower |
Personal details | |
Born | successor 13 January 1950 Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England |
Died | successor term_end2 |
Resting place | successor term_end2 |
Political party | Labour |
Domestic partners | James Thomas |
Parent |
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Alma mater | Pembroke College, Cambridge |
Website | clivebetts.com parliament..clive-betts |
Clive James Charles Betts (born 13 January 1950) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Attercliffe from 1992 to 2010, when he became Member of Parliament for Sheffield South East.
Early life
Born in 1950 in Sheffield, Betts was educated at the Longley School in Sheffield, King Edward VII School, Sheffield and Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he received a BA in Economics and Politics.
He joined the Labour Party in 1969 and joined the Trades Union Congress in 1971 as an economist. In 1973 he was appointed as an economist with Derbyshire County Council, and moved to the South Yorkshire County Council in 1974.
In October 1974 he stood for election to the House of Commons in the safe Conservative seat of Sheffield Hallam, being defeated by the incumbent John Osborn. At the subsequent general election he fought the safe Conservative seat of Louth against the sitting MP Michael Brotherton and lost.
Betts had been elected as a councillor to Sheffield City Council in 1976. He was the Council's deputy leader under Roy Thwaites for a year in 1986, and succeeded Thwaites as the council leader later that year. He left the council on his election to Westminster. In 1986 he was appointed as an economist with Rotherham Borough Council.
Parliamentary career
He was selected to contest the safe Labour seat of Sheffield Attercliffe following the retirement of the veteran Labour MP Patrick Duffy. At the 1992 general election, Betts was elected with a large majority, and made his maiden speech on 6 May 1992.
Government career
Betts was made an opposition whip under Tony Blair in 1996, and after the 1997 general election, he entered the government as an Assistant Whip. He was promoted in 1998 to full Whip, with the title of Lord Commissioner to the Treasury, but like the majority of whips at that time was dropped from the government after the 2001 general election.
Select Committee membership
Betts is a previous member of the former Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Select Committee. Since the 2005 general election he has also been a member of the Finance and Services Committee.
Since 10 June 2010 he has been Chairman of the Communities and Local Government Committee, and on 19 June 2015 was returned unopposed as its chairman.[1]
Suspension
In 2003 Betts was suspended from the House of Commons for 7 days for irregularities involving the employment and visa of Jose Gasparo, a Brazilian student with previous experience as a male escort.[2] The Telegraph newspaper reported on 10 July 2010 that Betts' partner and parliamentary assistant, James Thomas, had tried to edit this fact from Betts' English Wikipedia page in an attempt to cover it up.[3]
Betts was found guilty of breaching the MPs' code of conduct, with the Standards and Privileges Committee stating that he had acted "extremely foolishly" and had risked damaging public confidence in the integrity of Parliament. Particular concerns involved Betts' failure to disclose Gasparo's background to Parliamentary authorities and the fact that Betts had knowingly photocopied an altered document on Gasparo's behalf.[4] Betts apologised unreservedly for his behaviour, which had been described as "well below the standard expected of a Member in terms of ... never undertaking any action which would bring the House of Commons or its members generally into disrepute"[5][6]
Personal life
His lives in a farmhouse on the Derbyshire border with his partner James Thomas, who is also employed as his parliamentary assistant.[7] He plays cricket and supports Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
References
- ^ "Winning candidates for select committee Chairs announced". UK Parliament. 18 June 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
- ^ "House of Commons - Standards and Privileges - Fifth Report". parliament.uk.
- ^ Ben Leach and Rebecca Lefort (10 July 2010). "MPs' scandals covered up on Wikipedia". Telegraph.co.uk.
- ^ http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmstnprv/947/947.pdf
- ^ "Labour MP suspended from Commons". Mail Online.
- ^ "BBC NEWS - UK - England - South Yorkshire - MP suspended from Commons". bbc.co.uk.
- ^ "Login". timesonline.co.uk.
External links
- Clive Betts MP official site
- Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
- Use dmy dates from June 2012
- 1950 births
- Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge
- Councillors in Sheffield
- Gay politicians
- Labour Party (UK) MPs
- Living people
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
- People educated at King Edward VII School, Sheffield
- Politics of Sheffield
- UK MPs 1992–97
- UK MPs 1997–2001
- UK MPs 2001–05
- UK MPs 2005–10
- UK MPs 2010–15
- UK MPs 2015–20
- LGBT politicians from England