John Spellar
John Francis Spellar (born 5 August 1947) is a British Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament (MP) having sat for the seat of Birmingham Northfield between 1982 and 1983, for Warley West from 1992 to 1997, and in the redrawn Warley since 1997. He served as a minister in numerous departments between 1997 and 2005 and later served as Comptroller of the Household in the Whips' Office between October 2008 and May 2010. After Labour entered opposition he served as a shadow Foreign Office Minister from 2010 to 2015.
Early life
Spellar was born in Bromley and educated at Dulwich College and St Edmund Hall, Oxford and worked as a trade union official. He was the Political Officer of the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union (EETPU) from 1969 to 1992.[1] As a young union officer he attended, along with John Golding and Roger Godsiff, the St Ermin's group of senior trade union leaders who organised to prevent the Bennite left taking over the party in the years 1981–1987.[2]
He was a councillor in the London Borough of Bromley between 1970 and 1974.
Parliamentary career
Spellar stood for the constituency of Bromley at the 1970 general election and came second.
He was first elected to the House of Commons in the 1982 Birmingham Northfield by-election but lost at the 1983 General Election. At the 1987 general election he stood again for the same seat but was again unsuccessful. Spellar returned to the House of Commons in the 1992 general election becoming the MP for Warley West with a majority of 5,472, and was appointed an opposition whip. Following a period as opposition spokesman for Northern Ireland in 1994, he was moved to shadow Defence minister in 1995.
In 1997, Warley West was abolished and Spellar was selected to stand for Warley, which he won in that year with a majority of 15,451.
When Tony Blair formed his government in 1997, Spellar was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence, being promoted to become Minister of State for the Armed Forces in 1999. In 2001, he was appointed to the Privy Council, as Minister of State for Transport in the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions[1] with rights to attend Cabinet. After the 2002 reshuffle, he became Minister of State at the Department for Transport, and moved to the Northern Ireland Office in 2003. He was banned from the offices of both the Mayor of Derry and the Mayor of Belfast during that year, because he supported the reinstatement to the British Army of convicted murderers Mark Wright and James Fisher of the Scots Guards.[3] He left the front benches in 2005, but in 2008, he rejoined the government as a whip (Comptroller of the Household) and served until Labour entered opposition in May 2010.
In November 2015, he suggested on BBC Radio 5 Live that his party leader Jeremy Corbyn should resign over the question of whether to conduct air strikes on ISIL in Syria, saying: 'What we're seeing here is an attempted coup by Jeremy Corbyn and the people around him in the bunker trying to take over the party. It's unacceptable. How does Jeremy Corbyn and his tiny band of Trots in the bunker think they've got the unique view on it all? If anyone should resign after this incident, it should be Jeremy Corbyn'.[4] He supported Owen Smith in the 2016 Labour leadership election.[5]
Spellar is a vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel.[6][7] He is a Director of the 'moderate' Labour grouping, Labour First[8] and also of the Henry Jackson Society Advisory Council.[9]
In June 2016, Spellar raised a formal objection to a parliamentary order creating the West Midlands Combined Authority, delaying its creation, because its size had been increased since its proposal and Spellar believed its funding was not clear.[10]
Spellar supported continued membership of the European Union in the 2016 referendum.[11]
In March 2019, Spellar was the only Labour Party MP to vote against improved LGBT education in schools, prompting criticism from LGBT Labour.[12]
References
- ^ a b Clark, Phil (2001). "John Spellar". building.co.uk. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
- ^ Hayter, Dianne (2004). "St Ermins group (act. 1981-1987)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/96690. Retrieved 26 April 2017. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Greenslade, Roy (10 September 2003). "Remember Peter McBride?". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
- ^ Jonathan Walker (27 November 2015). "Black Country Labour MP suggests Jeremy Corbyn should resign over Syria". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
- ^ Smith, Mikey; Bloom, Dan (20 July 2016). "Which MPs are nominating Owen Smith in the Labour leadership contest?". Mirror. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
- ^ "MPs flock to support Labour Israel group". The Jewish Chronicle. 22 September 2016.
- ^ Harpin, Lee (7 August 2019). "Dame Louise Ellman becomes new Labour Friends of Israel chair". Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
- ^ "Labour First Ltd Company Data". Companies House, UK. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
- ^ "Advisory Council". Henry Jackson Society. Archived from the original on 23 September 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
- ^ Elkes, Neil (9 June 2016). "MP Spellar throws spanner into launch of West Midlands Combined Authority". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
- ^ "Contacts". labouragainstbrexit.co.uk. Labour Against Brexit. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
- ^ Parker, Connor (28 March 2019). "Disgraced Fiona Onasanya Among MPs Who Voted Against Improved LGBT Education In Schools". Huffington Post. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
External links
- 1947 births
- Living people
- Advocates of the European Union
- Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford
- Councillors in the London Borough of Bromley
- Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union-sponsored MPs
- Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
- Labour Friends of Israel
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- Northern Ireland Office junior ministers
- People educated at Dulwich College
- People from Bromley
- UK MPs 1979–1983
- UK MPs 1992–1997
- UK MPs 1997–2001
- UK MPs 2001–2005
- UK MPs 2005–2010
- UK MPs 2010–2015
- UK MPs 2015–2017
- UK MPs 2017–2019
- UK MPs 2019–