Sir Alan Meale | |
---|---|
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment | |
In office 6 May 1997 –29 July 1999 | |
Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | Chris Mullin |
Member of Parliament for Mansfield | |
In office 11 June 1987 –3 May 2017 | |
Preceded by | Don Concannon |
Succeeded by | Ben Bradley |
Personal details | |
Born | Bishop Auckland,County Durham,England | 31 July 1949
Political party | Labour |
Spouse | Diana Gilhespy |
Alma mater | Durham University Sheffield Hallam University |
Website | www.alanmeale.co.uk |
Sir Joseph Alan Meale (born 31 July 1949) is a former British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mansfield from 1987 to 2017.
Meale attended St Joseph RC School in Bishop Auckland and studied at Ruskin College (in Oxford),and Durham University, [1] his CV also mentions Sheffield Hallam University. [2]
Meale's website lists his previous occupations as author,editor,development officer,trade union official,researcher,political adviser and journalist. [2]
Meale entered Parliament on 11 June 1987 [3] and made his maiden speech on 3 July 1987 in the Tourism debate where he commented on the poverty,lack of provision,opportunity and services in the Mansfield community. [4] Meale was a whip from 1992 to 1994 when he became Parliamentary Private Secretary to John Prescott in Prescott's different portfolios until 1998. [5]
Meale served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State,Department of the Environment,Transport and the Regions under John Prescott from January 1998 to January 1999. [1] He became a government whip Council of Europe Delegation in 2007 and acting Leader of the UK Delegation in 2010. [6] He has been the chair of the British Section of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Cyprus Group since 2007. [5]
In 1998,Michael Ancram accused Meale of "cronyism" following allegations in The Sunday Times that he had lobbied on behalf of Anthony Kleanthous,the millionaire Greek-Cypriot chairman of Barnet football club. Kleanthous wanted to build a £14 million stadium on green belt land,140 miles from Meale's constituency. The Sunday Times article said that Britain's Greek-Cypriot lobbying groups had paid for Meale and his wife to go to Cyprus and donated thousands of pounds to Labour. Meale denied cronyism,whilst Kleanthos insisted he had not donated to the Labour party and said it was "a bit racist" to link his business interests to Greek-Cypriot political lobbying efforts based on his ethnicity. [7] [8]
Meale was Vice Chair of the APPG for Cyprus, [9] and was regarded by Greek Cypriot groups as one of their "oldest and closest friends in Parliament". [10] According to Meale,he first became interested in the political situation in Cyprus back in 1987 when Tony Benn advised him to "pick a political issue and stick with it". [10]
In the run-up to the UK referendum on membership of the European Union,Meale campaigned to remain in the EU. [11]
Meale was mentioned in the Parliamentary expenses scandal having claimed £13,000 over four years for gardening. The limit set retrospectively by Sir Thomas Legg was £1,000 /year. [12] The Legg Report showed that Meale repaid £11,859.47. [13]
Meale was one of sixteen MPs to sign an early day motion tabled by Conservative MP David Tredinnick regretting the British Medical Association's opposition to further National Health Service funding of homoeopathy. [14]
Meale lost his seat at the 2017 general election when Ben Bradley overturned a 2015 Labour majority of 5,315 to become the first ever Conservative MP for the seat. Labour had held this seat since 1923 and the constituency had been represented by Meale since 1987 –before Bradley was born - making the latter one of the youngest MPs elected, [15] despite the acting returning officer wrongly announcing Meale as the victor. [16]
Meale married Diana Gilhespy on 10 March 1983,his second wife;he has a son and daughter from his first marriage in 1970. Meale was knighted by Prince Charles officiating at the ceremony in January,2012,after the 2011 Birthday Honours list was announced,chosen for his "public and political service". [17] [18] [19]
Alan Gordon Barraclough Haselhurst,Baron Haselhurst,,is a former British Conservative Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Saffron Walden from 1977 to 2017,having previously represented Middleton and Prestwich from 1970 to February 1974. Haselhurst was Chairman of Ways and Means from 14 May 1997 to 8 June 2010,and later Chairman of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association between 2011 and 2014.
Sir Kevin John Barron is a British Labour Party politician and former coal industry worker. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rother Valley from 1983 until 2019.
Eric Evlyn Illsley is a former British Labour politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Barnsley Central from 1987 until 2011. He was a Labour Party representative until suspended from the party after being charged with false accounting as part of the United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal,and then sat as an Independent. When he pleaded guilty to three counts of false accounting on 11 January 2011,he became the first sitting Member of Parliament to be convicted of a criminal offence in the scandal. Illsley resigned from the House of Commons on 8 February 2011,following his conviction,and was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment on 10 February 2011.
Sir Alan Campbell is a British politician who has served as Chief Whip of the House of Commons and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party,he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tynemouth since 1997.
James Dobbin was a British Labour and Co-operative Party politician and microbiologist who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Heywood and Middleton from 1997 until his death in 2014.
David Arthur Stephen Tredinnick is a British Conservative former Member of Parliament who represented Bosworth in Leicestershire from 1987 to 2019.
Edward Henry Garnier,Baron Garnier,is a British barrister and former Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. A former lawyer for The Guardian newspaper,Lord Garnier is on the socially liberal wing of his party and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Harborough in Leicestershire from 1992 until 2017. He most recently served as Solicitor General for England and Wales from the election of 2010 until the 2012 ministerial reshuffle. He stood down from the House of Commons at the 2017 general election before entering the House of Lords in 2018.
Sir Anthony Joseph Lloyd was a British Labour politician. He served as a member of Parliament (MP) for 36 years,making him one of the longest-serving MPs in recent history. He served as MP for Stretford from 1983 to 1997,Manchester Central from 1997 to 2012,and represented Rochdale from 2017 until his death in 2024. He was Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner between 2012 and 2017 and served as the interim Mayor of Greater Manchester in his last two years in the role.
Iain David Wright is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hartlepool from 2004 to 2017,and served also as the Chairman of Business Innovation and Skills Committee. He was previously Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State with responsibility for apprenticeships,and 14 to 19 reform in the Department for Children,Schools and Families until 11 May 2010.
James Fitzpatrick is a British politician and former firefighter who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1997 to 2019,for Poplar and Canning Town until 2010 and for Poplar and Limehouse until his retirement. He is a member of the Labour Party.
Mansfield is a constituency created in 1885 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Steve Yemm of the Labour Party,who gained the seat at the 2024 general election,from the Conservative Party. Between 2017 and 2024 the seat was represented by a Conservative for the first and only time since its creation in 1885.
Sir Michael Alan Penning is a British Conservative Party politician,who served as the member of parliament (MP) for Hemel Hempstead from 2005 to 2024.
David John Barrington Burrowes is a British politician. He was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate from 2005 to 2017,is the co-founder of the Conservative Christian Fellowship. He has been the Chairman of the Equity Release Council since 2017
John Dennis Concannon,known as Don Concannon,was a British Labour Party politician.
Benjamin David Bradley is a British Conservative Party politician who formerly served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mansfield,Nottinghamshire from 2017 to 2024.
Susan Elan Jones is a British former Labour Party politician. She was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Clwyd South,replacing the previous Labour MP Martyn Jones after his retirement. She returned to the voluntary sector after leaving Parliament.
Emma Elizabeth Reynolds is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wycombe since 2024. A member of the Labour Party,she previously served as MP for Wolverhampton North East from 2010 to 2019. She has served as Parliamentary Secretary for the Treasury and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pensions since July 2024.
Sir Mark Steven Spencer is a British politician who served as Minister of State for Food,Farming and Fisheries between 2022 and 2024. He previously served as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council from February to September 2022 and as Chief Whip from 2019 to 2022. A member of the Conservative Party,he served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sherwood from 2010 until 2024,when he lost his seat in the 2024 General election.
Jonathan Michael Graham Ashworth is a British former Labour and Co-op politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester South from 2011 to 2024. He had served as Shadow Paymaster General from September 2023. Having lost his seat at the 2024 general election,he was appointed chief executive of the Labour Together thinktank.
Sir Gerald Bernard Kaufman was a British politician and author who served as a minister throughout the Labour government of 1974 to 1979. Elected as a member of parliament (MP) at the 1970 general election,he became Father of the House in 2015 and served until his death in 2017.
Jacqueline Collins, acting returning officer at the Mansfield count, took to the stage to announce the result - and declared Labour candidate Sir Alan Meale had been elected. Except he wasn't the winner - Conservative candidate Ben Bradley was.