Neil Francis Gerrard (born 3 July 1942) is a

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

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a town within the London Borough of Waltham Forest in east London. The town borders Chingford to the north, Snaresbrook and South Woodford to the east, Leyton and Leytonstone to the south, and Tottenham to the west. At ...

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 ...

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 ...

Early life

Gerrard was born in

Farnworth Farnworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southeast of Bolton, 4 miles south-west of Bury (7 km), and northwest of Manchester. Within the historic county of Lancashire, Farnworth lies on ...

, England, and educated at

Manchester Grammar School The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) is a highly Selective school, selective Private_schools_in_the_United_Kingdom, private day school for boys aged 7-18 in Manchester, England, which was founded in 1515 by Hugh Oldham (then Bishop of Exeter). ...

and

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street, Oxford, Broad Street and Parks Road ...

where he was awarded a BA degree in

natural science Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

in 1964. He later studied at the

Chelsea College of Science and Technology Chelsea College of Science and Technology was established as a College of Advanced Technology (United Kingdom), College of Advanced Technology on a single site on the corner of Manresa Road and King's Road, Chelsea, London, Chelsea, London SW ...

where he received a MEd in Education in 1973. He received a Diploma in Professional Studies in Education (DPSE) from the Polytechnic of the South Bank in 1983. From 1965 he taught at the

Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School for Boys Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet is a boys' grammar school in Barnet, northern Greater London, which was founded in 1573 by Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, and others, in the name of Queen Elizabeth I. It is consistently ranked as one o ...

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) *Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; anc ...

, leaving in 1968 to take up the position of lecturer in chemistry and later in computing at Hackney College, where he remained until his election to

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

24 years later. He was elected as a councillor in the

London Borough of Waltham Forest The London Borough of Waltham Forest () is an Outer London, outer London boroughs, London borough formed in 1965 from the merger of the municipal boroughs of Municipal Borough of Leyton, Leyton, Municipal Borough of Walthamstow, Walthamstow an ...

in 1973; he was the leader of the Labour group from 1983, and the leader of the Council from 1986 until he left the council in 1990.

Parliamentary career

He was selected to contest the Chingford constituency at the 1979 general election but was defeated by the sitting

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 ...

Norman Tebbit Norman Beresford Tebbit, Baron Tebbit, (born 29 March 1931) is a British retired politician. A member of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1981 to 1987 as Secretary of State for Employment (1981–1 ...

by 12,383 votes. He was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

at the 1992 general election for Walthamstow, when he unseated the one-term Tory Hugo Summerson by 3,022 votes. He received 45.7% of the vote, compared to his Conservative opponent who received 37.2% of the vote. 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 12 May 1992. In Parliament he served on the environment select committee from 1995 until he was made a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the

Financial Secretary to the Treasury The Financial Secretary to the Treasury is a mid-level ministerial post in HM Treasury. It is nominally the fifth most significant ministerial role within the Treasury after the first lord of the Treasury, the chancellor of the Exchequer, the ch ...

Dawn Primarolo Dawn Primarolo, Baroness Primarolo, (born 2 May 1954) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Bristol South from 1987 until 2015, when she stood down. She was Minister of State for Children, Young People a ...

following the 1997 General Election. He resigned as Primarolo's PPS just a few months later in 1997 over lone-parent benefits cuts introduced by the

Secretary of State for Social Security The Department of Social Security (DSS) was a governmental agency in the United Kingdom from 1988 to 2001. History After the Fowler report, the Department of Health and Social Security separated during 1988 to form two departments, one of whi ...

Harriet Harman Harriet Ruth Harman, Baroness Harman, (born 30 July 1950), is a British politician and solicitor who served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Chair of the Labour Party (UK), Chair of the Labour Pa ...

. He served on several select committees and was a member of the administration committee since the 2005 general election. He was the chairman of the all-party groups on AIDS and on refugees. He is a left-winger within the Labour Party, and was 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 formerly a member of

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nucl ...

's national council. In the 1990s he was a director of the

Theatre Royal, Stratford East Stratford East (formerly known as Theatre Royal Stratford East) is a 460 seat Victorian producing theatre in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham. Since 1953, it has been the home of the Theatre Workshop company, famously associated with di ...

. Gerrard announced on 23 February 2007 that he would be standing down as an MP at the next general election.''Waltham Forest Guardian''
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Personal life

Gerrard married Marian Fitzgerald in 1968; the couple had two sons, but they divorced in 1983. He has lived in

for the past 50 years, and used to own a racing greyhound with fellow MP

Harry Cohen Harry Michael Cohen (born 10 December 1949) is a British people, British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Leyton (UK Parliament constituency), Leyton f ...

which, although now retired, raced at the Walthamstow Dog Track.

References

External links

Neil Gerrard
official website *

* ttps://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/neil_gerrard/walthamstow TheyWorkForYou.com — Neil Gerrard MP
The Public Whip — Neil Gerrard MP
voting record
BBC News — Neil Gerrard
profile 16 March 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerrard, Neil 1942 births Living people Alumni of King's College London Alumni of London South Bank University Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Councillors in the London Borough of Waltham Forest European democratic socialists Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People educated at Manchester Grammar School People from Farnworth UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010