Parliamentary career
Hope joined the Labour Party in 1978,and the Co-operative party in 1982. He was elected as a councillor to the Kettering Borough Council in 1983,becoming the deputy Labour group leader in 1986,before leaving the council in 1987. He unsuccessfully contested Kettering at the 1992 General Election where he came second to the sitting Conservative Party transport minister Roger Freeman by 11,154 votes. He was elected to the Northamptonshire County Council in 1993,becoming the chairman of the Labour group in the same year,before standing down in 1997. He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1997 General Election for Corby,defeating the Conservative MP William Powell by 11,860 votes. He made his maiden speech on 14 May 1997. [3] He remained the MP for Corby until the 2010 election when he was defeated by the Conservative candidate.
In parliament he was appointed as the parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to Nick Raynsford,the Minister of State at the former Department for the Environment,Transport and the Regions in 1999,and following the 2001 General Election he became the PPS to the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. He was promoted to the government of Tony Blair in 2003 as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State,again under John Prescott,at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. He served as the Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Department for Education and Skills from the 2005 general election as the minister for vocational education until the department was disbanded in the reshuffle on 28 June 2007. He then moved to become Minister for the Third Sector,based in the Cabinet Office. [4] Following a reshuffle on 24 January 2008 he took on additional responsibility as Minister for the East Midlands. He retained the latter role but moved from the Cabinet Office to become a Minister of State in the Department of Health following a reshuffle in October 2008.
Expenses controversy
In May 2009,Hope was criticised for claiming £37,000 in expenses from the taxpayer over 4 years for a London flat. The Daily Telegraph claimed that the total size of the items claimed for would have difficulty fitting inside the small flat. [7] Less than a week after this revelation,Hope voluntarily agreed to return £41,709 to the taxpayer,despite claiming that he 'kept to the rules laid down by Parliament'. [8] Following this announcement there were calls on other MPs to take Hope's lead, [9] while the Legg Report into the scandal found that he was only liable to repay £4,365.65. [10]
The overall cost of his flat,including refurbishing,i.e. 'staying away from main home' during the previous 8 years was 166th out of 647 MPs whilst his 2008-2009 costs were ranked 467. [11]
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