David Anderson (British politician)

For other people named David Anderson, see David Anderson (disambiguation).
Dave Anderson
MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
Assumed office
1 July 2016
Leader Jeremy Corbyn
Preceded by Ian Murray
Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Assumed office
27 June 2016
Leader Jeremy Corbyn
Preceded by Vernon Coaker
Member of Parliament
for Blaydon
Assumed office
5 May 2005
Preceded by John McWilliam
Majority 14,227 (31.7%)
Personal details
Born (1953-12-02) 2 December 1953
Sunderland, England, UK
Political party Labour
Spouse(s) Eva Anderson
Alma mater New College Durham
Doncaster College
Durham University
Website Official website
Commons website

David Anderson (born 2 December 1953) is a Labour politician in the United Kingdom who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Blaydon since 2005.

Early life

Born in Sunderland, Anderson was educated at Maltby Grammar School, Durham Technical College, Doncaster Technical College and Durham University.[1] He worked as a miner from 1969 until 1989 at Eppleton Colliery near Hetton-le-Hole, then as a care worker until he entered Parliament. During his time as a care worker, he was also an activist in the public sector trade union UNISON and served as its President for 2003-4.

Parliamentary career

Anderson was first elected at the 2005 general election, after the sitting Labour MP for Blaydon John David McWilliam stood down.

In Parliament, Anderson has been a member of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee since 2005, having long been interested in the peace process in Northern Ireland, and was also a member of the House of Commons Procedure Committee for a year. In 2006 he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Education and Skills Minister Bill Rammell.

Anderson chairs the Labour Friends of Iraq group, a body dedicated to supporting ordinary Iraqis as they attempt to rebuild their lives.[2] In a 2008 interview with SOMA Digest Anderson urged the implementation of article 140 of the Iraqi constitution regarding the normalisation process of Kirkuk and other formerly Arabised towns.[3] He also called for solving the Kurdish issue in Turkey in a democratic way.

Anderson was nominated as the Parliamentary Champion for Education and Sport by the anti-racist group Show Racism The Red Card. He has been active in the campaign to overturn a House of Lords ruling that would have had a devastating impact on people suffering from asbestosis, pleural mesothelioma and peritoneal mesothelioma, all crippling diseases caused by exposure to asbestos.

Although Labour lost the 2010 general election, Anderson's majority in the Blaydon constituency rose from 5,335 in 2005 to 9,117 on a turnout of 44,913 (66.2%).

He was one of 16 signatories of an open letter to Ed Miliband in January 2015 calling on the party to commit to oppose further austerity, take rail franchises back into public ownership and strengthen collective bargaining arrangements.[4]

He was appointed on 27 June 2016 to shadow Northern Ireland Secretary by Jeremy Corbyn following resignations.[5] On 1st July he was made Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, replacing Ian Murray who had resigned five days earlier.[6]

Personal life

He married Eva in 1973.

References

  1. ↑ "Dave Anderson MP -official constituency website". Dave Anderson website. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  2. ↑ Labour Friends of Iraq - Who we are Archived 24 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ SOMA Digest Interview Archived 13 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ Eaton, George (26 January 2015). "The Labour left demand a change of direction - why their intervention matters". New Statesman. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  5. ↑ "Jeremy Corbyn unveils new top team after resignations". BBC News. 27 June 2016.
  6. ↑ "English MP Dave Anderson is shadow Scottish Secretary". BBC News. 2016-07-01. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
John McWilliam		 Member of Parliament
for Blaydon
2005–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Vernon Coaker		 Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
2016–present 		Incumbent
Preceded by
Ian Murray		 Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
2016–present
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.