Peter Crampton (10 June 1932 – 12 July 2011) was a British Labour Party politician who was the

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) from 1989 to 1999 representing the Humberside constituency. He was also the father of ''Times'' journalist Robert Crampton.

Biography

He was born in

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

in 1932 and educated at

Blackpool Grammar School Blackpool Aspire Academy is a secondary school located in the Layton area of Blackpool, Lancashire, England. The school was formed in 2014 by merging Collegiate High School with Bispham High School Arts College. It was temporarily located o ...

and

Nottingham University The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

. He was a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

and

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

of geography. He married a geography teacher from London in 1955. They had two sons, born in 1962 and 1964. After a spell in

Solihull Solihull ( ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe in the Arden, Warwickshire, Forest of Arden ar ...

, in 1970 the family moved to

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

so he could take up a post at Hull College of Higher Education (now merged into the

University of Lincoln The University of Lincoln is a public university, public research university in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England, with origins dating back to 1861. It gained university status in 1992 and its present name in 2001. The main campus is in the hea ...

). In Hull he was active in Labour politics. He retired from teaching in 1988 and was briefly a parliamentary researcher for MP

Joan Ruddock Dame Joan Mary Ruddock, (née Anthony; born 28 December 1943) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewisham Deptford from 1987 to 2015. Ruddock was Minister of State for Energy at the Departmen ...

. He was MEP for the Humberside constituency from

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

until he stood down at the 1999 election. In 1995 he was one of 32 MEPs who placed an advertisement in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' opposing the plans of then Labour leader

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 ...

to re-write Clause 4 of the Labour constitution. He played an active part the

Stop the War Coalition The Stop the War Coalition (StWC), informally known simply as Stop the War, is a British group that campaigns against the United Kingdom's involvement in military conflicts. It was established on 21 September 2001 to campaign against the impe ...

. He was also involved in a campaign against the

Trident A trident (), () is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. As compared to an ordinary spear, the three tines increase the chance that a fish will be struck and decrease the chance that a fish will b ...

nuclear deterrent.

Personal life

He lived in Hull with his wife. He had two sons, David Crampton (born 1962), and Robert Crampton (born 1964). His brother, E. P. T. Crampton, is an author on religious subjects.

References

External links

*
Peter Crampton obituary
' by Alan Franks, ''

,'' 27 September 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Crampton, Peter 1932 births 2011 deaths People educated at Blackpool Grammar School Alumni of the University of Nottingham British anti-war activists Labour Party (UK) MEPs MEPs for England 1989–1994 MEPs for England 1994–1999