John Spellar

John Francis Spellar (born 5 August 1947) is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Warley, formerly Warley West, since 1992. A member of the Labour Party, he previously represented Birmingham Northfield from 1982 to 1983. 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 2008 and 2010. After Labour entered opposition, he served as a shadow Foreign Office minister from 2010 to 2015.


John Spellar

Spellar in 2017
Shadow Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
In office
8 October 2010  18 September 2015
LeaderEd Miliband
Harriet Harman
Preceded byChris Bryant
Succeeded byCatherine West
Comptroller of the Household
In office
5 October 2008  11 May 2010
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded byTommy McAvoy
Succeeded byAlistair Carmichael
Minister of State for Northern Ireland
In office
13 June 2003  10 May 2005
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byJane Kennedy
Succeeded byDavid Hanson
Minister of State for Transport
In office
8 June 2001  13 June 2003
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byThe Lord Macdonald of Tradeston
Succeeded byKim Howells
Minister of State for the Armed Forces
In office
29 July 1999  8 June 2001
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byDoug Henderson
Succeeded byAdam Ingram
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence
In office
6 May 1997  28 July 1999
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byThe Earl Howe
Succeeded byPeter Kilfoyle
Member of Parliament
for Warley
Warley West (1992–1997)
Assumed office
9 April 1992
Preceded byPeter Archer
Majority11,511 (30.9%)
Member of Parliament
for Birmingham Northfield
In office
28 October 1982  13 May 1983
Preceded byJocelyn Cadbury
Succeeded byRoger King
Personal details
Born (1947-08-05) 5 August 1947
Bromley, Kent, England
Political partyLabour
Alma materSt Edmund Hall, Oxford
WebsiteParty website

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 MP to vote against allowing compulsory LGBT education in schools, prompting criticism from the Liberal Democrats and LGBT Labour.[12] He apologised two weeks later, highlighting the fact that he had made a mistake and was misguided.[13]

References

  1. Clark, Phil (2001). "John Spellar". building.co.uk. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  2. 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.)
  3. Greenslade, Roy (10 September 2003). "Remember Peter McBride?". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  4. Jonathan Walker (27 November 2015). "Black Country Labour MP suggests Jeremy Corbyn should resign over Syria". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  5. Smith, Mikey; Bloom, Dan (20 July 2016). "Which MPs are nominating Owen Smith in the Labour leadership contest?". Mirror. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  6. "MPs flock to support Labour Israel group". The Jewish Chronicle. 22 September 2016.
  7. Harpin, Lee (7 August 2019). "Dame Louise Ellman becomes new Labour Friends of Israel chair". Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
  8. "Labour First Ltd Company Data". Companies House, UK. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  9. "Advisory Council". Henry Jackson Society. Archived from the original on 23 September 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
  10. Elkes, Neil (9 June 2016). "MP Spellar throws spanner into launch of West Midlands Combined Authority". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  11. "Contacts". labouragainstbrexit.co.uk. Labour Against Brexit. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  12. Parker, Connor (28 March 2019). "Disgraced Fiona Onasanya Among MPs Who Voted Against Improved LGBT Education In Schools". Huffington Post. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  13. https://www.expressandstar.com/news/politics/2019/03/31/mp-branded-a-dinosaur-for-voting-against-teaching-children-about-lgbt-families-says-he-made-a-mistake/
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Jocelyn Cadbury
Member of Parliament
for Birmingham Northfield

19821983
Succeeded by
Roger King
Preceded by
Peter Archer
Member of Parliament
for Warley West

19921997
Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament
for Warley

1997–present
Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Doug Henderson
Minister of State for the Armed Forces
1999–2001
Succeeded by
Adam Ingram
Preceded by
Gus Macdonald
Minister of State for Transport
2001–2003
Succeeded by
Kim Howells
Preceded by
Tommy McAvoy
Comptroller of the Household
2008–2010
Succeeded by
Alistair Carmichael
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.