William Etherington (born 17 July 1941) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Sunderland North 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

Bill Etherington was born in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

and was educated at the Redby Infant and Junior Schools on Fulwell Road, Monkwearmouth Grammar School (five years above

Hilary Armstrong Hilary Jane Armstrong, Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top, (born 30 November 1945), is a British Labour Party politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Durham from 1987 to 2010. Early life Armstrong was born on 30 November 1 ...

) and latterly at

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

. He was an apprentice fitter at the Austin and Pickersgill

Shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

in Sunderland for five years from 1957. He became a fitter for Beal & Co in Sunderland in 1962, before joining the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...

in 1963 and for the following twenty years worked as a fitter at the

Dawdon Dawdon is a former pit community to the south of Seaham, County Durham, England. An area of the beach near Dawdon (known locally as "the Blast", a former waste coal dumping site) was used in the opening scenes of the science fiction film Alien ...

Colliery in

. He has been a member of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) since 1963, and from 1983 until his election was a full-time

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

official with them, as general secretary of its Durham Colliery Mechanics' Association affiliate. He was a full-time official during the

UK miners' strike (1984-1985) UK miners' strike may refer to: *1893 United Kingdom miners' strike *South Wales miners' strike (1910) *1912 United Kingdom national coal strike *UK miners' strike (1921) *UK miners' strike (1953) *1969 United Kingdom miners' strike, a widespread u ...

. From 1988 to 1992, he was also vice president of the North East Region of the NUM.

Parliamentary career

He was first elected in the 1992 General Election for Sunderland North, replacing fellow left-winger,

Bob Clay Robert Alan Clay (born 2 October 1946), known as Bob Clay, is a left-wing politician and former Labour Party (UK), Labour MP in the United Kingdom. Early life Robert Clay was educated at Bedford School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge ...

. Etherington held the seat comfortably with a majority of 17,004 votes, and was re-elected with strong majorities subsequently. He made his

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...

on 11 May 1992. In the 1992 general election, he polled 60.7% of the vote, with his

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

opponent winning 26.9% of the vote. In the 1997 election, he took 68.2% against Conservative

Andrew Selous Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (; born 27 April 1962) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Bedfordshire from 2001 until 2024, when the constituency was abolished. Selous stood for the new Dunstab ...

, who ranked in second place with just 16.7% of the vote. He also confidently beat his Conservative opponents in the

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

(62.7% against 17.9%) and 2005 general elections (54.4% against 19.8%). He is a left-winger, a member 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 ...

and rebelled against

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

's government. While debating the reform of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

in March 2007, Etherington also called for the abolition of the

British Monarchy The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with their powers Constitutional monarchy, regula ...

Personal life

He has been married to Irene Holton since 1963 and they have two daughters. He was characterised in parliament by his three-piece suits and strong '

Mackem Mackem, Makem or Mak'em is a nickname for residents of and people from Sunderland, a city in North East England. It is also a name for the local dialect and accent (not to be confused with Geordie); and for a fan, of whatever origin, of Sunder ...

' accent. In December 2006, Etherington announced he would be standing down at the end of the 2005 - 2010 Parliament as his constituency was to be abolished.

Notes

External links

Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Bill Etherington MP

TheyWorkForYou.com - Bill Etherington MP

The Public Whip - Bill Etherington MP
voting record
BBC News - Bill Etherington
profile 30 March 2006 *

News items

Firefighters attacked in 2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Etherington, Bill 1941 births Living people Alumni of Durham University Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies National Union of Mineworkers-sponsored MPs Politicians from Sunderland Politicians from Tyne and Wear UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 British republicans