Robert Alan Clay (born 2 October 1946), known as Bob Clay, is a left-wing
politician
A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...
and former
Labour MP in the United Kingdom.
Early life
Robert Clay was educated at
Bedford School
Bedford School is a 7–18 Single-sex education, boys Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the county town of Bedford in England. Founded in 1552, it is the oldest of four independent schools in Bedford run by the Harpur Trust. Bed ...
and
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and ...
. Unusually for a man of his background, he went on to become a bus driver, working for
Tyne and Wear PTE from 1975 to 1983. Clay first joined Labour as a teenager, but left to join the
Trotskyist
Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...
group
International Socialists. He became a union
shop steward
A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a trades/labour union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the un ...
in the 1980s and rejoined Labour.
Parliamentary career
Clay was first elected to Parliament in 1983 for the
Sunderland North constituency, replacing Labour MP
Frederick Willey
Frederick Thomas Willey (13 November 1910 – 13 December 1987) was a British Labour Party politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) representing a Sunderland constituency for 38 years, from 1945 to 1983.
Early life
Willey was educated a ...
. During his time in parliament he was treasurer, and later secretary, 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 "hard-left" Labour MPs.
He was re-elected in 1987, but stood down at the
1992 general election; Labour's
William Etherington was elected in his place.
Subsequent political activities
Clay opposed the 2003
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 ...
. He backed the left-wing party
RESPECT The Unity Coalition
The Respect Party was a left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left Socialism, socialist political party active in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2016. At the height of its success in 2007, the party had one Member of Parl ...
in the
2004 European Elections. At the
2005 general election, he acted as agent for
Reg Keys
'
Reginald Thomas Keys (born 1952) is the father of a British serviceman killed in the Iraq War. He stood in the 2005 general election as an anti-war independent candidate for in Sedgefield, a constituency represented by the then Prime Minister ...
, who stood against the Prime Minister
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 ...
in Blair's Sedgefield constituency on an anti-war ticket.
Keys' son Tom had been killed in action in Iraq. Although Clay was not an originator of Keys' campaign he used his position as agent to control all aspects of the campaign. He persuaded Derek Cattell, a former trade union officer and an executive member of Blair's Sedgefield Labour Party to join the campaign. Cattell's resignation from Labour during the election campaign, produced much publicity for the Keys campaign. Clay worked tirelessly for the Keys campaign helping build a coalition of support for Keys. Supporters included the former MP
Martin Bell
Martin Bell, (born 31 August 1938) is a British UNICEF (UNICEF UK) Ambassador, a former broadcast war Journalist, reporter and former independent politician who became the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Ta ...
who in his book, ''The Truth that Sticks'' (2007) wrote "Of great value was Derek Cattell, formerly on the executive of Sedgefield Labour Party. He defected to Reg's campaign after some heart searching; it cost him some fair weather friends, but the candidate had no loyal supporter from start to finish." (page 103)
In 2015, the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
announced that it was to produce a biographical drama film about Reg Keys' life called ''
Reg''.
In the film, broadcast on 6 June 2016, Clay was portrayed by
Ralph Brown
Ralph William John Brown (born 18 June 1957) is an English actor and writer, known for playing Danny the drug dealer in '' Withnail and I'', the security guard Aaron (a.k.a. "85") in ''Alien 3'', DJ Bob Silver in '' The Boat That Rocked'' aka ...
and the script was by
Jimmy McGovern
James Stanley McGovern (born September 1949) is an English screenwriter and producer. He is best known for creating the drama series '' Cracker'' (1993–1995), for which he received two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. He als ...
and
Robert Pugh
Robert Pugh (born 3 November 1948) is a Welsh actor, known for his many television appearances, including the role of Craster in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones''.
Life and career
Pugh was born in Tyntetown, Mountain Ash and attended Ynysbo ...
.
Clay went on to live in the
Marches
In medieval Europe, a march or mark was, in broad terms, any kind of borderland, as opposed to a state's "heartland". More specifically, a march was a border between realms or a neutral buffer zone under joint control of two states in which diffe ...
city of
Hereford
Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...
, and remained politically active as a volunteer official in the local Labour Party. He involved himself in a number of local causes, including a group opposed to the building of a by-pass which would disturb ancient archaeological remains known as The
Dinedor Serpent. He now lives in the Llansamlet ward of
Swansea East, where, on 4 July 2013, he was elected in a by-election, as a Labour Party councillor for the
City and County of Swansea Council. His wife, Uta Clay, served as a councillor for the same council, but both stood down at the
2017 election.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clay, Bob
1946 births
Living people
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 1983–1987
UK MPs 1987–1992
Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
People educated at Bedford School
Socialist Workers Party (UK) members