Philip Andrew Sawford (born 26 June 1950) is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for

Kettering Kettering is a market town, market and industrial town, industrial town in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, west of Cambridge, England, Cambridge, southwest of Peterborough, southeast of Leicester and north- ...

from 1997 to 2005. A member of the Labour Party, he was Leader of

Kettering Borough Council Kettering is a market and industrial town in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, west of Cambridge, southwest of Peterborough, southeast of Leicester and north-east of Northampton. It is west of the River Is ...

from 1991 to 1997.

Early life and career

Sawford was born in Loddington, a small

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

village west of

, on 26 June 1950. He was educated at Loddington Church of England Primary School and Kettering Grammar School. Sawford became an apprentice carpenter, and worked as a steelworker from 1977 until the closures and mass redundancies at Corby Steelworks in 1980. He gained a Diploma at Ruskin College, Oxford in 1982, and later gained a BA degree from the

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

in 1985. Sawford forged a career in training and personnel development, working for a training partnership in Wellingborough from 1985 to 1997.

Local government career

Sawford was first elected to public office as a Member of Desborough Town Council in 1977 and became Chair in 1984. He went on to represent Loatland ward on

from 1980. Sawford was elected leader of the borough council following the 1991 local elections, when Labour became the largest party. He continued to serve in the role when they won an overall majority in 1995, but stood down from the Borough and Town councils after his election to Parliament in 1997. Sawford returned to elected office as a Member of Desborough Town Council in 2018, and became Chair once again in 2021.

Parliamentary career

Sawford stood as the Labour candidate for

Wellingborough Wellingborough ( ) is a market town in the North Northamptonshire, Unitary Authority area, England, from London and from Northampton, north of the River Nene. Originally named "Wendelingburgh" (the stronghold of Wændel's people), the Anglo ...

at the 1992 general election, but lost to the

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 ...

incumbent Peter Fry despite a swing towards Labour. He unexpectedly won the

constituency at the 1997 general election, defeating Conservative Cabinet minister Roger Freeman. Sawford won with a majority of 189 after three recounts, which meant the election result was one of the last to declare. He narrowly increased his majority to 665 at the 2001 general election. He was a member of the Environmental Audit Committee from 2000 to 2001 and the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee from 2001 to 2003. Sawford is considered to be on the left of 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 ...

whilst an MP. He was a sworn republican, an outspoken campaigner for the abolition of hunting, and an opponent of the

invasion of Iraq An invasion is a military offensive of combatants of one geopolitical entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory controlled by another similar entity, often involving acts of aggression. Generally, invasions have objectives ...

in 2003. He frequently rebelled against the

New Labour New Labour is the political philosophy that dominated the history of the British Labour Party from the mid-late 1990s to 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The term originated in a conference slogan first used by the ...

government. Sawford was defeated by Conservative Philip Hollobone at the 2005 election, in line with the national swing against Labour. In 2007, he was re-selected to contest Kettering for Labour at the next general election. Constituency boundary changes implemented at the 2010 general election gave the seat a notional Labour majority, but Sawford was again defeated by Hollobone with an increased majority of almost 20 percentage points.

Personal life

He married Rosemary Stokes on 1 May 1971, with whom he had sons Andy and Lee. Andy served as Labour MP for

Corby Corby is a town and civil parish in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, northeast of Northampton. In 2021 it had a population of 68,164. From 1974 to 2021, it was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...

, a neighbouring constituency to Kettering, from a by-election in 2012 until

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sawford, Phil 1950 births Living people Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 Alumni of the University of Leicester People from Kettering European democratic socialists British republicans