Clive Lewis (politician)

For other uses, see Clive Lewis.

Katy Steel

​

(m. 2017)​

Clive Lewis MP
Official portrait, 2017
Shadow Minister for Sustainable Economics
In office 12 January 2018 –9 April 2020
Children	1
Alma mater	University of Bradford Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
Website	Official website
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch/service	British Army (Territorial Army)
Years of service	2006–2009
Unit	7th Battalion, The Rifles
Battles/wars	Operation Herrick

Clive Anthony Lewis (born 11 September 1971) is a British Labour politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich South since the 2015 general election. ^[1] Lewis was a candidate for Leader of the Labour Party in the 2020 leadership election. He is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group parliamentary caucus. ^[2]

He previously served as vice-president of the National Union of Students, worked as a TV reporter for BBC News and served as an infantry officer with the Territorial Army. Lewis also served a three-month tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2009.

He became shadow defence secretary in June 2016, and shadow business secretary in October 2016. Lewis left the Shadow Cabinet in 2017 in protest over the Labour Party's decision to whip its MPs into voting to trigger Article 50, but re-joined the front bench a year later as shadow minister for sustainable economics.

Lewis stood in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election, but did not receive the required 22 parliamentarian nominations, and withdrew.

Early life and education

Clive Antony Lewis was born in London on 11 September 1971. ^{[3] [4]} He grew up on a council estate in Northampton, the son of a single father, his father is from Grenada and his mother from England. ^{[5] [6]} He was the first member of his family to attend university, studying economics at the University of Bradford before being elected student union president, and later vice-president of the National Union of Students (NUS). ^[4] In November 1995, he was a signatory to a letter that argued for the abolition of student loans. ^[7]

Lewis was suspended from the role of vice-president of the NUS in 1996 by its president, Jim Murphy, for publicly supporting concerns about tuition fees. ^[8] Murphy's actions were condemned by Ken Livingstone, then a Labour MP. ^{[8] [9]} Lewis ran for president of the National Union of Students in 1996 on a platform of unfunded full grants and free education, and lost the election to Douglas Trainer. ^[10]

Early career

After completing a post-graduate diploma in journalism, Lewis worked on local newspapers in Northampton and Milton Keynes, and was then accepted into the BBC's News Trainee Scheme. He went on to work as a broadcast journalist in Nottingham, Norwich, and Coventry. He then became the main reporter on the BBC's Politics Show East . ^{[11] [12]}

Lewis joined the Territorial Army, passing out of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 2006 as an infantry officer with The Rifles. In 2009, he served a three-month tour of duty in Afghanistan. ^[12] In an opinion piece he wrote years later, Lewis said "despite being on the left, and despite being told in the cadets that 'there ain't no black in the union jack', I still opted to serve". ^[13] Shortly after returning from his tour of duty, he experienced depression, saying "I just felt like I was being crushed by it all." He receiving counselling through the Ministry of Defence and recovered. ^[14]

Political career

Parliamentary candidate

Lewis was selected as the Labour Party's prospective parliamentary candidate for Norwich South at the party's hustings in November 2011, beating other candidates including the musician Dave Rowntree. Norwich South had been won by Simon Wright of the Liberal Democrats in the 2010 general election with a majority of just over 300 votes, defeating former Home Secretary and Education Secretary Charles Clarke. ^[15]

In April 2015, during an interview by the New Statesman , in response to a question on whether he was taking his upcoming victory for granted, he said he would only lose if "he was caught with [his] pants down behind a goat with Ed Miliband at the other end". He subsequently apologised for the remark, saying he was sincerely sorry if anyone had been offended by the comment. ^[16]

Lewis opposed the Labour Party's position on immigration. ^[17] Locally, Lewis supported the campaign to prevent the Hewett School, a comprehensive school in Norwich, from being turned into an academy. ^[18]

First term (2015–2017)

At the 2015 general election, Lewis was elected MP for Norwich South with a majority of 7,654, and 39.3% of the vote. ^{[19] [1]} Lewis, in his victory speech, declared New Labour to be "dead and buried" and promised to stand up for Norwich's most vulnerable against an "onslaught of cuts" by the governing Conservative Party. ^[20]

In June 2015, Lewis was elected Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group. ^{[21] [22]} In the same month, he became a patron of the Anti-Academies Alliance. ^[23]

Lewis was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the 2015 Labour leadership election. ^[24] Corbyn credited Lewis with getting his nominations "off the ground". ^{[25] [26]} Lewis has been described as an ally of Corbyn, who was elected leader. ^[27] In September 2015, he was appointed to the Labour frontbench as a shadow minister in the Energy and Climate Change team. ^[28]

Lewis speaking at the 2016 Labour Party Conference

Following resignations from Corbyn's shadow cabinet after the 2016 EU referendum, Lewis was appointed as shadow defence secretary. ^[29] In September 2016, at the Labour Party's 2016 Conference, when Lewis was preparing to give his first speech as shadow defence secretary, a section of his speech announcing that he "would not seek to change" Labour's current policy on nuclear weapons was changed by Corbyn's communications advisor Seumas Milne. Lewis was informed of the change by a sticky note. ^{[30] [31]} A month later, Corbyn removed Lewis from the defence brief, replacing him with Nia Griffith. Lewis was then appointed as shadow business secretary, with the move viewed as a tactical demotion. ^[32]

On 8 February 2017, Lewis resigned from the shadow cabinet, citing the Labour Party's decision to whip its MPs to vote to trigger Article 50 to start Brexit negotiations. ^[33]

In April 2017, Lewis was one of thirteen MPs to vote against triggering the 2017 general election. ^[34] At the general election, he was re-elected with an increased vote share of 61% and an increased majority of 15,596. ^[35]

Second term (2017–2019)

At the 2017 Labour Conference, video footage taken at a fringe event emerged in which Lewis told the actor Sam Swann to "get on your knees, bitch". Lewis' language attracted criticism from Labour colleague, but Swann later described the situation as "jovial". Stella Creasy, a Labour colleague, said: "It's not OK. Even if it's meant as a joke, it reinforces menace that men have the physical power to force compliance." Swann told The Guardian: "It is clearly jovial and nothing vicious. Swann also said "The whole event was so brilliant for seeing MPs letting their hair down and fucking around with people who support them. I think Clive Lewis is an absolute legend." Lewis subsequently tweeted an apology, in which he described his behaviour as "offensive and unacceptable". ^[36]

Lewis was also accused of groping a woman at Momentum's The World Transformed event at the same conference. ^[37] In response, Lewis said he was "pretty taken aback" by the accusation and "completely" and "categorically" denied it. ^[38] On 12 December 2017, he was cleared by Labour's National Executive Committee sexual harassment panel. ^[39]

In January 2018, Lewis was reappointed to Labour's shadow frontbench as a shadow Treasury minister, responsible for sustainable economics. ^{[40] [41]}

Lewis supported Labour activist Marc Wadsworth, who was expelled from the party in April 2018 for bringing it into disrepute. Wadsworth had accused Jewish Labour MP Ruth Smeeth of working "hand in hand" with the media at the launch of the Chakrabarti report into anti-Semitism in the party. ^[42] Lewis, who had provided a character reference for Wadsworth, ^[43] opposed the decision to expel him. ^[44] Jewish students at the University of East Anglia, in Lewis's constituency, criticised him for his stance, whilst the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) issued an open letter to Lewis, who they believed had "categorically failed" Jewish people. ^{[45] [46]}

At the 2019 Labour conference, Lewis published a paper which accused the party of a "moral failure" on migrants' rights and called for the party to adopt an open border immigration policy. He also accused party leader Jeremy Corbyn of being "silent on detention centres" and the "no recourse to public funds" policy of the Conservative government. ^[47]

Third term (2019-)

At the 2019 general election, Lewis was again re-elected with a decreased vote share of 53.7% and a majority of 12,760. ^{[48] [49]}

In December 2019, he announced that he would run in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election following Corbyn's resignation. ^[50] Despite a petition by members and supporters to get him on the ballot due to his democratisation and electoral reform policies, he received only five of the necessary 22 nominations from Labour MPs, and withdrew from the contest, which allowed his five supporters to nominate other candidates before nominations closed on 13 January. ^[51]

A few days before Liz Truss became prime minister in September 2022, Lewis said that the government had the power to address the United Kingdom cost of living crisis through measures such as: a windfall tax, nationalisation of energy companies, implementing retrofits of homes, and establishing a universal basic income and universal basic services. He said such things would not be implemented under Truss because, "it will not favour the private interests who are benefiting from the cost of living crisis, such as the funders of dark money think tanks that appear to be driving the incoming Truss government's agenda." ^[52]

In September 2022, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Lewis wrote an article criticising the monarchy and the "flawed reality of the very limited democracy we inhabit". Lewis stated that he despaired at the queues to see Queen's coffin and noted that the royal succession "is as much about coercion as consent". He also criticised the language of "duty" and "sacrifice" used about the royal family which he said to be a lie and he called for constitutional, democratic reform. In the title of the article he referred to himself as a republican. ^{[53] [54]}

Personal life

Clive Lewis married Yorkshire school teacher and actress Katy Steel in May 2017. ^[55] Their daughter Zana was born in 2018. ^[56]

Bibliography

• Extinction Rebellion, ed. (2019). "Chapter 26: A Green New Deal". This Is Not a Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook. Penguin Books. pp. 155–161. ISBN   9780141991443.

Notes

1. As Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. Barry Gardiner preceded Lewis as Energy and Climate Change.

References

1. "Norwich South Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. 8 May 2015. Archived from the original on 8 May 2015.
2. Rodgers, Sienna (3 February 2022). "Revealed: 'New Left' group sparks debate over divisions among left MPs". LabourList . Retrieved 5 July 2023.
3. "Election results for the General election 2015 in Norwich South". Norwich City Council.
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5. "Britain's most diverse parliament ever: the new 'Class of 2015'". British Future. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
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17. Lewis, Clive (1 May 2015). "Interview: Clive Lewis". Concrete (Interview). Interviewed by Dan Falvey. Norwich: University of East Anglia. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015.
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35. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
36. Khomami, Nadia (20 October 2017). "Labour MP Clive Lewis apologises for 'get on your knees' comment". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 November 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
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40. Corbyn reappoints Clive Lewis to Labour front bench. Archived 13 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine BBC News. Published 12 January 2018. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
41. Clive Lewis returns to frontbench in Labour reshuffle. Archived 12 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine The Guardian. Author – Heather Stewart. Published 12 January 2018. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
42. "Labour activist expelled after remarks to MP at anti-Semitism event". BBC News. 27 April 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
43. Elgot, Jessica (28 April 2018). "Corbyn's office denies it advised Labour activist day before expulsion". The Guardian . ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 30 May 2023.
44. Hannah, Simon (20 May 2018). "Clive Lewis on Marc Wadsworth's expulsion". The Clarion. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
45. Bingham, Eddie (6 June 2018). "Norwich South MP addresses criticism over support for accused anti-Semite". Concrete. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
46. "Open Letter to Clive Lewis". UJS. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
47. Wearmouth, Rachel; Singh, Arj (23 September 2019). "Labour Must 'Open The Borders' And Back Free Movement, Says Clive Lewis". HuffPost UK. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
48. "Norwich South Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
49. "Norwich South parliamentary constituency - Election 2019" . Retrieved 13 December 2019.
50. Mason, Rowena (19 December 2019). "Clive Lewis joins race to be Labour leader pledging to 'unleash' party". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 27 December 2019.
51. McGuinness, Alec (13 January 2020). "Labour leadership: Clive Lewis pulls out of race to succeed Jeremy Corbyn". Sky News. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
52. Bychawski, Adam (1 September 2022). "Fears over cost of living 'solutions' proposed by Truss-backed think tanks". openDemocracy. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
53. Lewis, Clive (16 September 2022). "Amid the mourning, we republicans should look and learn – but we must not be silenced". The Guardian.
54. White, Josh (17 September 2022). "Labour MP claims idea of monarchy as symbol of duty is a 'lie'". The Telegraph.
55. "Black Rod opens the Houses of Parliament – just for Clive and Katy to marry". Norwich Eye. 6 May 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
56. Scott, Geraldine (13 June 2018). "Norwich MP's baby praised for her 'impeccable' behaviour in Parliament". Eastern Daily Press.

External links

• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Simon Wright	Member of Parliament for Norwich South 2015–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Emily Thornberry	Shadow Secretary of State for Defence 2016	Succeeded by Nia Griffith
Preceded by Jon Trickett as Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills	Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy 2016–2017	Succeeded by Rebecca Long-Bailey
Preceded by Barry Gardiner as Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change