William Ernest Rammell (born 10 October 1959) is a former

British Labour Party The Labour Party, often referred to as Labour, is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that sits on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. The party has been describe ...

politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Harlow Harlow is a town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a Planned community, new town in 1947, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire, and occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the ...

from

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

until

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 ...

, and served as a

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

in several departments from 2002. From August 2012 to December 2019 he was Vice-Chancellor of the

University of Bedfordshire The University of Bedfordshire is a Public university, public research university with campuses in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England. The university has roots in further and higher education from 1882: it gained university status in 19 ...

. He was chair of the university consortium MillionPlus from June to December 2019. In August 2021 he became president of the University of Kurdistan Hewler in

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan () refers to the Kurds, Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of Greater Kurdistan in West Asia, which also includes parts of southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdist ...

Political career

Rammell joined Tony Blair's government in October 2002 as an assistant whip but was promoted two weeks later to be a spokesperson for the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 ...

. Rammell, a pro-European, was supportive of joining the

Euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

, and until 2002 he was Chair of Labour Movement for Europe. In September 2004, he was the first British government minister to visit

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

. In the 2005 general election, Rammell held his seat with the third smallest majority of any Labour MP, at just 97 votes. The result was not declared until two days after voting, following four recounts. In May 2005, Rammell was made Minister of State for Higher Education. He was strongly supportive of top-up fees, arguing in 2005 that without such fees it would be necessary to put "3p or 4p on the standard rate of tax". In September 2007, he withdrew funding from some courses teaching

English as a second or foreign language English as a second or foreign language refers to the use of English by individuals whose native language is different, commonly among students learning to speak and write English. Variably known as English as a foreign language (EFL), Engli ...

. In February 2008, Rammell announced plans to create a national database of children's school records and exam results which would make up a publicly owned CV. The CV and "Learner Number" would stay with the child throughout adult life until retirement and only the British government would be able to remove records from their database entry. The plan would only have applied to English children, with education being a devolved matter. In October 2008, Rammell returned to the Foreign Office as

, and in June 2009, was moved again to the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

as Minister of State for the Armed Forces. He defended the Brown government's levels of spending on equipment in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, following a soldier's death because of a lack of available helicopters. In September 2009, Rammell confirmed he had told Libya that the Prime Minister did not want to see convicted

Lockerbie Lockerbie (, ) is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, located in south-western Scotland. The 2001 Census recorded its population as 4,009. The town had an estimated population of in . The town came to international attention in December 1988 when ...

bomber

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi ( , ; 1 April 1952 – 20 May 2012) was a Libyan convicted of the Lockerbie bombing of Pan Am flight 103. He was head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines, director of the Centre for Strategic Studies in Trip ...

, who had been serving a

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are c ...

, die in prison. In October 2009, following Sir Thomas Legg's audit, Rammell was ordered to repay £2,782 of wrongful expenses claims. In the 2010 general election, Rammell was defeated in Harlow by

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 ...

candidate

Robert Halfon Robert Henry Halfon (; born 22 March 1969) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician and was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Harlow (UK Parliament constituency), Harlow from 2010 ...

, who gained the seat with a majority of 4,925 votes. In August 2012, Rammell was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the

. He held the position until 2019. He had previously worked for

Plymouth University The University of Plymouth is a public research university based predominantly in Plymouth, England, where the main campus is located, but the university has campuses and affiliated colleges across South West England. With students, it is the ...

as Deputy Vice-Chancellor with responsibility for student experience and internationalisation.

References

External links

Ministerial responsibilities – DIUS

* ttps://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/bill_rammell/harlow TheyWorkForYou.com Bill Rammell MP
BBC Politics page

News items

Visiting Israel in June 2007

Getting poor people to university in November 2006

Visiting Cuba in March 2005

Visiting North Korea in September 2004

Talking to BBC Breakfast about Harlow in July 2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rammell, Bill 1959 births Alumni of Cardiff University Councillors in Essex Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) councillors Living people Ministers for universities of the United Kingdom People associated with the University of Bedfordshire People associated with the University of Plymouth People from Islington (district) Politicians from London UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010