Roger Godsiff

Roger Duncan Godsiff (born 28 June 1946) is a British politician who served as the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Hall Green from 2010 to 2019, and previously as MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath from 1992 to 2010.

Roger Godsiff
Official parliamentary portrait, June 2017
Member of Parliament
for Birmingham Hall Green
In office
6 May 2010 – 6 November 2019
Preceded bySteve McCabe
Succeeded byTahir Ali
Member of Parliament
for Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath
Birmingham Small Heath (1992–1997)
In office
9 April 1992 – 12 April 2010
Preceded byDenis Howell
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born (1946-06-28) 28 June 1946
Lewisham, London, England
NationalityEnglish
Political partyIndependent (2019-present)
Labour (until 2019)
Spouse(s)Julia Brenda Morris

In October 2019, Hall Green Constituency Labour Party members overwhelmingly voted to open selections for their Parliamentary Candidate, with votes of 86 to 6 in Moseley and Kings Heath Branch and 37 to 11 in Hall Green Branch to have the option to choose a candidate other than Roger Godsiff.[1] This followed many years of controversy about the MP's behaviour and stances, including voting with the Conservative Party on key Brexit votes,[2] and outspokenly opposing LGBT+ Inclusive Education in Birmingham schools.[3] Godsiff subsequently declared his intention to stand as an independent candidate.[4][5] He lost the seat to the official Labour Party candidate, Tahir Ali, coming third behind Labour and the Conservatives.[6]

Early life

Roger Godsiff was born in London and educated at Catford Comprehensive School.

He was a bank clerk for five years from 1965, joining the Labour Party in 1966.[7]

He was a political officer from 1970 with the trade union APEX and then from 1990 with its successor the GMB until his election to Parliament in 1992.[7] During his time as a trade union official, he was a member of the St Ermins group, a secret caucus of moderate trade unionists who moved the Labour Party back towards the political centre by organising slates for elections to the party's National Executive Committee.[8]

Political career

Elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Lewisham in 1971, he became the Mayor of Lewisham for 1977–78, before quitting the council at the 1990 London Borough elections. He unsuccessfully contested Birmingham Yardley at the 1983 general election, where he finished in second place behind the sitting Conservative MP David Gilroy Bevan. He was elected to the House of Commons for Birmingham Small Heath at the 1992 general election following the retirement of Denis Howell. Godsiff held Small Heath with a majority of 13,989 votes and remained an MP from that point. His constituency was abolished in 1997 and, aided by the retirement of Birmingham Sparkbrook MP Roy Hattersley, Godsiff was elected for the newly combined constituency of Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath at the 1997 general election.

The Sparkbrook and Small Heath seat was abolished at the 2010 election, with its constituent parts moving into neighbouring seats. Godsiff was selected for the redrawn Birmingham Hall Green seat in 2008, which includes some of his existing constituency and wards which were formerly in the two Birmingham constituencies of Hall Green and Selly Oak. He was re-elected at the May 2010 general election with a majority of 3,799.[9]

In Parliament he was a special adviser to the former Minister of Sport Richard Caborn on cricket and was the chairman of the All Party Japan Group. In October 2006, Godsiff was one of 12 Labour MPs to back Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party's call for an inquiry into the Iraq War.[10] He also rebelled against the government in November 2005 on legislation permitting the detention of terrorist suspects for 90 days without trial.[11]

Godsiff called for economic migration to the UK to be "stopped" in 2005.[12] He was one of seven signatories in 2014 of an open letter to Ed Miliband calling upon him to commit to restricting the ability of workers from low income EU countries to move to the UK.[13]

In the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, Godsiff supported the Leave campaign,[14] although his constituency voted by 66.4% to remain in the European Union.[15] Unusually for a pro-Brexit MP, he abstained from the vote to invoke Article 50, which would commence the UK's process of withdrawal from the EU, on the grounds that he was respecting his constituents' pro-Remain vote.

Godsiff supported Owen Smith in the latter's failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour leadership election.[16]

During the 2017 election campaign, his local campaign leaflet went viral in the UK due to its slogan "unwanted, unnecessary, opportunistic", which was supposed to be about the snap election called by Theresa May, but appeared, due to the format, to be referring to Godsiff himself.[17] At the election he gained 42,143 votes (77.6%), giving him a majority of 33,944 (62.5%), which was the twelfth largest majority of any UK MP by percentage of constituency vote.[18]

In October 2019, Labour Party members in all four branches of his Hall Green constituency opted to trigger a re-selection process to choose the Labour candidate at the next general election. As a sitting Member of Parliament, Godsiff was automatically entitled to be shortlisted as a potential candidate. Godsiff had indicated that he intended to stand for re-selection.[19]

However, the process was paused due to the election being called that month, resulting in the decision being made by the NEC to not endorse Godsiff and select a new candidate with a local panel.[20]

He stood as an Independent at the 2019 general election and came third. He was succeeded in the seat by Tahir Ali.

Controversy

Andy McSmith's book Faces of Labour (1996), contends that Godsiff obtained selection for his seat in 1992 by dubious means which, although accepted by the Labour Party, were too late to act upon. In 2005, Tribune made similar allegations about his successful bid to stave off deselection, which was only thwarted by the local votes of his former employer, the GMB Union. Godsiff had angered many in his local party by his calls for curbs on immigration.

Godsiff also attracted attention in the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal, where he was reported as using office expenses for extensive roofing work, rewiring, replacement guttering and even clock repair at a property he owns.[21] He incurred the second highest expenses of all 647 MPs' for 2008/2009 with claims for £189,338.[22]

Further controversy followed when he used images of convicted child sex offender and nursery worker Vanessa George in campaign material for the 2010 election, claiming the Liberal Democrats were seeking for "convicted murderers, rapists and paedophiles to be given the vote", which the Lib Dems denied was their policy. The local campaign was later scrapped.[23]

In 2011, The Guardian declared that, based on his participation in votes, Godsiff was "Britain's laziest MP", being absent from 88% of votes at the start of that year. He had attended less than 50% of parliamentary debates during his whole time in office and refused to take any part in hustings meetings.[24] He responded to the Birmingham Mail about his participation, saying, "when you are in opposition and the government has a substantial majority, you know perfectly well that you aren't going to be able to have an effect on every vote".[25]

Godsiff opposed same-sex marriage in 2013, saying that he did not want to "[redefine] the current definition of marriage."[26] In May 2019, in the wake of protests in Birmingham over LGBT-inclusive education in primary schools, Godsiff sided with the protestors: "I have concerns about the age appropriateness of children of four and five being introduced to these ideas", he said, later admitting that he had not read the books. Anderton Park Primary School in Sparkhill, which has been at the centre of the row, is in Godsiff's former constituency. He defended his voting record on equality legislation, stating, "I am supportive of the LGBT community. I have consistently voted for all laws pertaining to equality and to defend the rights of everyone to live the lifestyle they choose."[27]

Personal life

Godsiff has been married to Julia Brenda Morris since 1977 and they have a son and a daughter.[28]

He is a lifelong supporter of Charlton Athletic F.C.[29] and was previously the chairman of the Charlton Athletic Community Trust, which oversees the club's community work. He resigned from this position on 26 June 2019 following the controversy surrounding his support for the anti-LGBT protesters in Birmingham.[30]

References
  1. Haynes, Jane (2 October 2019). "MP Roger Godsiff faces battle to hang on to his seat after activists trigger selection contest". Birmingham Mail. Archived from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  2. Goodman, Paul (30 January 2019). "Which Labour MPs defied their party on key amendments – including latest abstention news". ConservativeHome. Archived from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  3. Rodger, James (8 June 2019). "Roger Godsiff sparks fury over LGBT lesson protester support". birminghammail. Archived from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  4. Media, P. A. (8 November 2019). "Ex-Labour MP to run as independent after being dropped over LGBT row". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  5. "Dropped Labour MP vows to run as independent after LGBT schools row". inews.co.uk. Archived from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  6. "Birmingham Hall Green parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  7. "BBC NEWS | VOTE 2001 | CANDIDATES". news.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 June 2004. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  8. Hayter, Dianne (2004). "St Ermins group (act. 1981-1987)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/96690. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  9. "Birmingham City Council: General Election 2010". Archived from the original on 24 November 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  10. "Labour MPs who rebelled on Iraq". BBC News. 31 October 2006. Archived from the original on 30 June 2009. Retrieved 31 October 2006.
  11. "Terrorism Bill – Clause 23 – rebels". Public Whip. 9 November 2005. Archived from the original on 29 December 2006. Retrieved 1 November 2006.
  12. "Labour MP wants immigration end". BBC. 31 January 2015. Archived from the original on 26 July 2008. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  13. "Labour MPs urge leadership to curb free movement within EU". Observer. 1 June 2014. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  14. "Roger's views on the EU referendum". Roger Godsiff MP. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  15. Brown, Graeme (28 June 2016). "Birmingham Leave MPs' constituencies voted Remain". birminghammail. Archived from the original on 6 April 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  16. "Full list of MPs and MEPs backing challenger Owen Smith". LabourList. 21 July 2016. Archived from the original on 15 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  17. Walker, Jonathan (15 May 2017). "Election candidate Roger Godsiff's leaflet attacking himself". birminghammail. Archived from the original on 16 May 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  18. "Constituencies A-Z - Election 2017". BBC News. Archived from the original on 17 May 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  19. Walker, Jonathan (8 October 2019). "MP Roger Godsiff fights on in battle to remain Labour candidate". birminghammail. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  20. watson, iain (6 November 2019). "Breaking: Chris Williamson, Stephen Hepburn and Roger Godsiff not endorsed as @uklabour candidates by NEC and new ones will be selected". @iainjwatson. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  21. Jamieson, Alastair (31 May 2009). "Roger Godsiff: Claimed for bath mats and property repairs on MPs' expenses". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 5 June 2010. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
  22. Jamieson, Alastair (31 May 2009). "Roger Godsiff: Claimed for bath mats and property repairs on MPs' expenses". ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 3 June 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  23. "Row over paedophile vote leaflet". BBC News. 19 April 2010.
  24. "PoliticsHome.com". PoliticsHome.com.
  25. Curtis, Polly (8 September 2011). "Reality check: Who are Britain's laziest parliamentarians?". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 November 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  26. Duffy, Nick (21 May 2019). "Joe Lycett responds to Labour MP who criticised LGBT+ education". PinkNews. Archived from the original on 21 May 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  27. Haynes, Jane (21 May 2019). "MP says four and five year olds 'too young' for LGBT teaching". Birmingham Mail. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  28. "BBC NEWS | VOTE 2001 | CANDIDATES". news.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 June 2004. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  29. Jamieson, Alastair (31 May 2009). "Roger Godsiff: Claimed for bath mats and property repairs on MPs' expenses". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 3 December 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  30. "A statement from Charlton Athletic Community Trust". cact.org.uk. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Denis Howell		 Member of Parliament for Birmingham Small Heath
1992–1997		 Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament for Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath
1997–2010		 Constituency abolished
Preceded by
Steve McCabe		 Member of Parliament for Birmingham Hall Green
2010–2019		 Succeeded by
Tahir Ali
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