Alan John Simpson (born 20 September 1948) is a British former Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nottingham South from

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Early life

Simpson attended Bootle Grammar School for Boys and studied economics at

Trent Polytechnic Trent may refer to: Places Australia * Trent, Western Australia, a locality of the Shire of Denmark Germany * Trent, Germany, a municipality on the island of Rügen Italy * Trento in northern Italy, site of the Council of Trent United Kingdom ...

, where he was President of the Student Union from 1969 to 1970. After graduating in 1972, he became a community worker, holding the post of Assistant General Secretary at the Nottingham Council of Voluntary Service from 1970 to 1974, and working on an anti-vandalism project from 1974 to 1978. He later became a research officer for the city's Racial Equality Council from 1979 to 1992. He joined the Labour Party in 1973 and was elected a county councillor in 1985. He first contested his eventual seat in 1987.

Parliamentary career

Simpson is on the left-wing of the Labour Party. He was a member (and latterly treasurer) of the

Socialist Campaign Group The Socialist Campaign Group, also simply known as the Campaign Group, is a UK parliamentary caucus of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party including Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Members of Parliament in the House of Commons of the Uni ...

of MPs, as well as being on the board of the left-wing ''

Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...

'' magazine. Simpson's opinions ran counter to those of the Labour frontbench: in the mid-1990s, he led the campaign to retain the original wording of

Clause IV Clause IV is part of the Labour Party Rule Book which sets out the aims and values of the British Labour Party. The original clause, adopted in 1918, called for common ownership of industry, and proved controversial in later years; Hugh Gaitskel ...

, and later established the "Labour Against the War" group, which opposed the

Afghan war War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC), the conquest of Afghanistan by the Macedonian Empire *Muslim conquests of Afghanistan, a series of campaigns in t ...

and occupation of

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. On 31 October 2006, Simpson was among the 12 Labour MPs to back

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

and the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

's call for an inquiry into the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

. On 18 February 2007, Simpson announced his intention to stand down at the next general election. In a letter to his constituency party members, he felt his effectiveness would be greater outside parliament campaigning for radical environmental policy changes, rather than remaining on the back benches. Another factor behind his decision was the birth in 2006 of a baby daughter with his third wife.

Expenses controversy

Simpson was asked to pay back £500 that he was accused of over-claiming in cleaning bills by the auditor of MPs' expenses,

Thomas Legg Sir Thomas Stuart Legg (13 August 1935 – 8 October 2023) was a British senior civil servant, who was Permanent Secretary of the Lord Chancellor's Department and Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, United Kingdom (1989–98). Early life and educ ...

. Legg has been openly challenged by Simpson who refuses to return the money. Simpson threatened to take Legg to court over this matter.MPs' expenses: Labour MP Alan Simpson openly challenges Sir Thomas Legg
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', 14 October 2009

Personal life

Simpson married

Pascale Quiviger Pascale Quiviger (born 1969) is a Canadian writer and artist. Raised and educated in Quebec, she is currently based in the United Kingdom, where she writes, paints, teaches visual arts and practices hypnotherapy. Quiviger is married to former Briti ...

, a French-Canadian author and painter, in July 2005 at

Newstead Abbey Newstead Abbey, in Nottinghamshire, England, was formerly an Augustinian priory. Converted to a domestic home following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it is now best known as the ancestral home of Lord Byron. The Abbey is on the national ...

, the ancestral home of

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

. They have a daughter born in January 2006. He has two sons and a daughter from a previous marriage.

Notes

External links

Guardian Politics – Alan Simpson see red over Big Power anti-green agenda

TheyWorkForYou.com – Alan Simpson MP

The Public Whip – Alan Simpson MP
voting record
BBC News – Alan Simpson
profile 10 February 2005
Interview with Alan Simpson about how we should make cities that do not steal from their children

Video clips

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Alan 1948 births Living people Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People from Bootle Alumni of Nottingham Trent University UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 European democratic socialists Politicians from Liverpool