Alan Amos | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for Hexham | |
| In office 11 June 1987 –9 April 1992 | |
| Preceded by | Geoffrey Rippon |
| Succeeded by | Peter Atkinson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 10 November 1952 |
| Political party | Reform UK (since 2025) |
| Other political affiliations | Labour (1994–2015) Conservative (1978–94;2015–25) |
| Alma mater | St John's College,Oxford |
Alan Thomas Amos (born 10 November 1952) is a British politician who sat as Conservative Member of Parliament for Hexham from 1987 to 1992.
After serving as a Labour Party Councillor for both Tower Hamlets and Worcester,he defected back to the Conservatives and was elected as a Conservative member on both Worcester City Council and Worcestershire County Council. [1] He later resigned from the Conservatives and was re-elected as a member of Reform UK in the 2025 Worcestershire County Council election. [2]
He attended the independent St Albans School. He studied PPE at St John's College,Oxford. From the Institute of Education,he gained a PGCE in 1976.
From 1976 to 1984,he was an Economics teacher,and a sixth form form-teacher,at Dame Alice Owen's School in Hertfordshire. From 1986 to 1987,he was Assistant Principal of Davies's College of Further Education on Old Gloucester Street,Queen Square,London,
From 1978 to 1987 he was a Conservative Party councillor on Enfield Borough Council.
At the 1983 general election,he stood unsuccessfully in Walthamstow as a Conservative candidate. [3]
Amos was elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Hexham in the 1987 general election.
In Parliament,Amos was known for his right wing views,e.g.,he believed rapists and muggers should be flogged. [4] He was opposed to tobacco advertising. [5]
Shortly before the 1992 general election,Amos was arrested,along with another man,at a well known homosexual pickup spot on Hampstead Heath. Amos was not charged but accepted a police caution for indecency,and stood down as MP for Hexham. [6] [7]
After failing to be readopted as a Conservative local councillor in the London Borough of Enfield,where he had previously been deputy leader of the council, [8] he joined the Labour Party in 1994,giving a self-exculpatory interview to The Spectator magazine. [9] In the 2001 general election he fought the Hitchin and Harpenden constituency for Labour,coming second to the Conservative Peter Lilley. [10]
He was elected for Labour to the Millwall ward of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in 2002,serving as councillor for four years before losing the seat to the Conservatives in the 2006 election. He returned to local politics in May 2008 with his election as a Labour Councillor to the Warndon ward of Worcester City Council. [11] In 2013 he was also elected as a Labour member to Worcestershire County Council.
Following the May 2014 local government elections,the composition of Worcester City Council was 17 Conservative,16 Labour,1 Liberal Democrat and 1 Green,making both major groups reliant on minority support to gain control of the council. [12] Before the Council AGM,Alan Amos announced he was leaving the Labour group to sit as an Independent councillor,allegedly from dissatisfaction that he had not been selected by Labour as a future Mayor of Worcester. [13] At the council's AGM on 3 June 2014,Amos accepted the Conservative nomination as Mayor of Worcester,and as Mayor,voted for the Council administration to change from Labour to Conservative. [14]
Following the 2015 Worcester City Council election and hours before his tenure as Mayor of Worcester was to end,Amos announced he was rejoining the Conservative party. [15] In the 2024 Worcester City Council election he was re-elected and was the sole Conservative on the city council. In 2025,then sat as an Independent on the city council and on Worcestershire County Council. [16]
On the 3rd April 2025 Amos announced that he was rejecting the life of an independent councilor after less than four months,and was joining ReformUK,after "an unexpected approach" [17] .
"The approach from Reform was unexpected but I have found that we have much in common on the need for Britain to change direction and make a decisive break from the old,tired and discredited parties."
In the 2025 Worcestershire County Council election,he was a candidate for Reform UK. [2] He was re-elected under his new banner with 1,182 votes (41.47% of those cast). [18] In doing so,he beat fellow former Conservative MP and Cabinet Minister Stephen Dorrell who was standing for the Liberal Democrats.
He stood as a candidate for the Leadership of the Reform UK group at the County Council,held on the 11th May at The Severn's Club,Stourport-on-Severn,but withdrew his candidacy after "being unable to secure enough support". The contest came to down to two former Conservatives Bill Hopkins and Joanne Monk. The selection was won by Joanne Monk. [19]
Following the election and the commencement of the Council,Amos was selected to join the cabinet of the new administration on the 22nd May - serving as Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Business and Training. [20]
In 2016 Amos claimed women make up rape. [21] He is known for his right-wing views on immigration,when in 2019,23 child asylum seekers were resettled in Worcestershire. [22] He has also made derogatory remarks about cyclists when he called cyclists "morons and dangerous" as well as describing courier riders as "Deliveroo Idiots". [23]
In 2021,Amos suggested the Worcester's "woke" theatres could lose funding after axing a "comedians' show". The comedian in question was Andrew Lawrence,and his appearance was cancelled following offensive social media posts about the England national football team's black players during Euro 2020 [24]
In April 2024 Amos asked for funding allocated to housing Ukrainian Refugees to be used to clean up dog mess and litter instead despite knowing it was ring-fenced funding [25]
In 2024 Amos,as a Conservative Councilor,said it was "discriminatory" for a Green Mayor of Worcester City Council to serve plant-based food at civic functions. [26]
New Labour is gearing up for the next election with a raft of unlikely new candidates who a decade ago would have been happier canvassing for the Tories. And perhaps the strangest of this new breed is the former Tory MP Alan Amos, who was once anti-abortion and pro-flogging. Sally Weale profiles Millbank's next wave of hopefuls