Richard Graham Corbett CBE (born 6 January 1955) is a former British politician who served as the final
Leader
Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations.
"Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...
of the European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP), from 2017 to 2020.
He was for decades one of the leading political and academic participants in the debates over British membership of the EU and of reforming the EU. His contributions to reforming the EU and the European Parliament were such that a book on prominent British MEPs suggested that "No single MEP did more to significantly increase the (European Parliament's) powers, standing and efficiency. It would scarcely be an exaggeration to suggest that statues of Richard Corbett should be erected in town squares all over Europe".
He was a
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) for Merseyside West from 1996 to 1999 (under the system that predated the
proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...
regional system) and then for
Yorkshire and the Humber
Yorkshire and the Humber is one of the nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It is one of the three regions covering Northern England, alongside the North West England and North East England regio ...
from 1999 to 2009, when he lost his seat, and again from 2014 to 2020. As Labour Leader in the European Parliament, he attended Shadow Cabinet meetings and was a member of the Labour Party's National Executive Committee, where he played a key role in Labour's decision to back a second referendum on Brexit once the actual terms of the Brexit deal were known.
Between January 2010 and February 2014, Corbett was an advisor to the first full-time and long-term
President of the European Council
The president of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council on the world stage. This Institutions of the European Union, institution comprises the college of heads of state or governme ...
, Herman Van Rompuy. In this capacity, and as a frequent writer and commentator on European affairs, he was voted by a panel of retired diplomats, journalists, academics and think-tankers on 14 November 2012 as the fourth most influential Briton on EU policy, ahead of the Prime Minister.
In 2003, Corbett became the first MEP to write a regular personal blog, and in 2015 he became the first British politician to develop and release a phone app.
Education
Corbett was born in
Southport
Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...
,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
, to parents of working-class background from Wales and London. He attended primary school at Farnborough Road School in Southport. When his father was offered a post as a statistician at the
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...
, the family moved to
Geneva
Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
International Baccalaureate
The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), more commonly known as the International Baccalaureate (IB), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the I ...
. He was captain of the football team and also played for the junior team of a Swiss second division club.
He won a place at
Trinity College, Oxford
Trinity College (full name: The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope (Knight)) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in E ...
, the first generation of his family to be able to go to university, and obtained a degree in
Philosophy, Politics and Economics
Philosophy, politics and economics, or politics, philosophy and economics (PPE), is an interdisciplinary undergraduate or postgraduate academic degree, degree which combines study from three disciplines. The first institution to offer degrees in P ...
. He was the Secretary of the Labour Club and chairman of the Oxford Committee for Europe. He co-ordinated the Oxford student 'Yes' campaign in the 1975 referendum on membership of the
European Community
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...
. He also skied for Oxford against Cambridge.
Corbett later completed a doctorate in political science at the
University of Hull
The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...
.
Political career
Before the European Parliament
Richard Corbett's activities in the European Students at Oxford led on to him being elected first to the youth board of the
European Movement
The European Movement International is a lobbying association that coordinates the efforts of associations and national councils with the goal of promoting European integration, and disseminating information about it.
History
Initially the Euro ...
in Britain and then to the international presidency of the youth wing of the European Movement and of the
Union of European Federalists
The Union of European Federalists (UEF) is an international non-profit association originally founded in 1946 and refounded in 1973, promoting the advent of a European federal State based on the idea of unity in diversity.
In 1946, it brought ...
, the Young European Federalists (JEF), a post he held from 1979 to 1981, drafting their manifesto, which was the first to coin the phrase "
democratic deficit
A democratic deficit (or democracy deficit) occurs when ostensibly- democratic organizations or institutions (particularly governments) fall short of fulfilling the principles of democracy in their practices or operation. Representative and linked ...
" in relation to the European Parliament's then lack of power over European legislation.
Corbett was secretary-general of the European Co-ordination Bureau of International Non-Governmental Youth Organisations from 1977 to 1981, representing youth organisations in the
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...
an youth organisations in negotiations with
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...
an organisations pursuant to the Helsinki Treaty (as well as at the
World Festival of Youth and Students
The World Festival of Youth and Students is an international event organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) and the International Union of Students after 1947. History
The festival has been held occasionally since 1947, mainl ...
in
Havana
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Charles Clarke and
Peter Mandelson
Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson, (born 21 October 1953) is a British politician, lobbyist and diplomat who has served as British Ambassador to the United States since February 2025.
A member of the Labour Party, Mandelson serve ...
). He worked with
Altiero Spinelli
Altiero Spinelli (31 August 1907 – 23 May 1986) was an Italian politician, political theorist and European federalist, referred to as one of the founding fathers of the European Union. A communist and militant anti-fascist in his youth, Spi ...
MEP on the latter's proposal for a draft treaty establishing a European Union, adopted by the European Parliament in 1984.
Before being elected to the European Parliament, Corbett worked in the
voluntary sector
In relation to public services, the voluntary sector is the realm of social activity undertaken by non-governmental, not for profit organizations. This sector is also called the third sector (in contrast to the public sector and the private sec ...
and as a civil servant, later becoming a policy advisor to and then Deputy Secretary General of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament. He worked on drafting the parts of the treaties of
Maastricht
Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...
and
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
that increased the powers of the Parliament, notably helping to draft the "
codecision procedure
The European Union adopts legislation through a variety of procedures. The procedure used for a given legislative proposal depends on the policy area in question. Most legislation needs to be proposed by the European Commission and approved by ...
" which now applies for adopting European legislation through successive readings of the Parliament and the
Council
A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...
.
In 1992, Corbett was made Ambassador of Goodwill of the US State of
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
, by its then Governor
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
.
First Period as a Member of the European Parliament
Corbett was a member of the Parliament's Constitutional Affairs committee and from 1999 to 2009 was the spokesman for the Labour Party, as well as the whole of the wider Group of the Party of European Socialists, on European constitutional affairs. In 2006, he was elected Deputy Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party, which he remained until the end of his first period as an MEP, declining (to some surprise) to challenge for the leadership when Gary Titley stood down in 2008.
In 2003, his proposals to re-write the European Parliament' Rules of Procedure were largely accepted. In 2004–2005, he was the co-rapporteur (with Iñigo Méndez de Vigo) for Parliament on the
Treaty establishing a constitution for Europe
The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an Ratification, unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for ...
. This report formed the basis of Parliament's official position on the treaty, which he was then invited to present to several national parliaments.
In 2005, he was appointed as Parliament's negotiator (along with Joseph Daul MEP) to broker a new system of parliamentary scrutiny over Commission implementing measures (under the previously much-criticised " comitology" procedure), which led to an agreement among the Council of ministers, the
Commission
In-Commission or commissioning may refer to:
Business and contracting
* Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered
** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of anot ...
and the Parliament in 2006 giving Parliament the right to
veto
A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president (government title), president or monarch vetoes a bill (law), bill to stop it from becoming statutory law, law. In many countries, veto powe ...
quasi-legislative implementing measures. This represented a major increase in Parliament's powers over the Commission.
In 2007–08, he was again co-rapporteur with Iñigo Méndez de Vigo for Parliament on the
Treaty of Lisbon
The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is a European agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by all EU member states o ...
, (which replaced the constitutional treaty after two member states had declined to ratify it) and was again rapporteur for a new overhaul of Parliament's procedures in 2009 and, after his five years out of the Parliament (see below), in 2016 and 2018.
Corbett was a strong advocate of EU reform, with a particular interest in improving democratic accountability by continuing to increase the European Parliament's power within the EU institutional system. Professor Juliet Lodge of Leeds University has named Corbett as one of five "movers and shakers" in the European Parliament who "have brought the European Parliament from being a mere talking shop to a legislature with genuine power".
Corbett's voting record and other parliamentary activities can be found on the VoteWatch website.
Five years out of the European Parliament
Corbett lost his seat in the 2009 European Parliament elections, which saw a big fall in the Labour share of the vote in the wake of the Westminster expenses scandal. The BNP took the seat. The BBC website carried the following comment from their European editor, Mark Mardell:
"The saddest moment of the night: Labour MEP Richard Corbett lost his seat. Irrespective of party politics, there are some people who are good for politics as a whole. Mr Corbett, a decent, thoughtful politician, is also one of the few people who understand how the European Parliament actually works and explained it well. He'll be missed on all sides of the chamber".
Mark Mardell had previously referred to Richard Corbett as:
"an example of a conscientious and hard working politician if ever there was one".
After his defeat, Corbett spent two months in Ireland from August to October 2009 helping (behind the scenes) the "Yes" campaign in the second Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, in which 67% of the 59% turnout voted in favour.
In December 2009, Corbett was invited to join the private office ('' cabinet'') of the first full-time President of the
European Council
The European Council (informally EUCO) is a collegiate body (directorial system) and a symbolic collective head of state, that defines the overall political direction and general priorities of the European Union (EU). It is composed of the he ...
European Economic and Social Committee
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is a consultative body of the European Union (EU) established in 1958. It is an advisory assembly composed of representatives from employers' organization, employers' associations, workers' unio ...
as well as helping on relations with some governments, including the UK.
Return to the European Parliament
Corbett left the Van Rompuy ''cabinet'' in March 2014, in order to stand for election in the 2014 European Parliament elections as the Labour party's second candidate in Yorkshire & Humber. In Labour's internal ballot of party members to choose their candidates, Corbett came first (with the highest proportion of first preference votes of all new candidates in the country) securing him second spot on the list of Labour candidates, behind the sitting MEP Linda McAvan. Labour won two seats in the election in Yorkshire, and so Corbett was returned to the Parliament.
In Parliament, Corbett returned to the Constitutional Committee and served also on the Fisheries Committee (as a full member) and the Economic Committee (as a substitute). He was elected again as Deputy Leader of the Labour MEPs in September 2014. He was again rapporteur for a new overhaul of Parliament's procedures in 2016 and 2018–19. On 25 October 2017 he was elected Leader of the Labour MEPs (EPLP) following the retirement of Glenis Willmott, defeating Siôn Simon and Clare Moody in the vote.
As Leader of the EPLP, Corbett was a member of the Labour Party NEC and attended Shadow Cabinet. In these roles, he was heavily engaged in the internal party discussions that eventually led to Labour calling for a new referendum on Brexit. He spoke at some of the large marches in London and elsewhere calling for a peoples' vote on the final Brexit deal, aon the ground that Brexit was turning out to be very different from what the Leave campaign had promised.
In advance of the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, Corbett launched an app called ''Doorstep EU'' for
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...
and Android in order to debunk myths about the EU, deliver authoritative briefings on key issues and detailed statistics of the EU's impact on the United Kingdom.
He supported
Yvette Cooper
Yvette Cooper (born 20 March 1969) is a British politician who has served as Home Secretary since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, Cooper has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member of parliament (MP) for Po ...
Owen Smith
Owen Smith (born 2 May 1970) is a British lobbyist and former Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician. Smith was Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Pontypridd (UK Parliament constituency), Pontypridd from 2 ...
Keir Starmer
Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and lawyer who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously ...
In 2021-22, the European Parliament asked Corbett to represent it in the Common Secretariat running the Conference on the Future of Europe, while simultaneously being ''Deputy chef de cabinet'' to the Secretary General of the European Parliament.
In 2023, the S&D Group in the European Parliament asked him to be one of three experts to carry out an independent inquiry into the Qatargate scandal. As the Belgian judicial investigation was still on-going, the inquiry could not trespass on its work, so it instead focussed on weaknesses in the rules and practices of the EU, the European Parliament and the S&D Group that might have made inappropriate interference in the work of the Parliament more easy. Their report made a number of recommendations and those that required changes to the Parliament's Rules of Procedure and the Code of Conduct for Members were subsequently taken up and largely adopted by the Parliament in the autumn of 2023.
Now retired, Corbett has continued to speak and write about European affairs. He authored the primer booklet "The Progressive Potential of the EU" that is being used for training of candidates and activists of the
Party of European Socialists
The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a Social democracy, social democratic European political party.
The PES comprises national-level political parties from all the European Economic Area, European economic area states (EEA) plus the Unit ...
in the 2024 European elections.
Other activities
Richard Corbett versus the UK Independence Party
Richard Corbett was an early critic of the
United Kingdom Independence Party
The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...
(UKIP).
In June 2004, he drew attention, in ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' newspaper, to UKIP links with the far-right
British National Party
The British National Party (BNP) is a Far-right politics, far-right, British fascism, fascist list of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and is led by Adam ...
in that year's local elections: "In Yorkshire, where both the BNP and UKIP put up candidates, they appear to have come to an arrangement not to stand against one another".
Richard Corbett's pamphlet ''25 Things You Didn't Know When You Voted For UKIP''.
Following Ashley Mote's imprisonment in September 2007 for fraud, Corbett called on the government to change the law which allowed the former UKIP MEP to be paid in full during his spell in jail. The Minister responsible for payment of MEPs (and MPs),
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 ...
, promised to look into the matter.
Corbett continued to campaign vigorously against the UK Independence Party in the run-up to the 2014 European elections. After they secured the biggest share of the vote in these elections, he subsequently wrote "I think it is a mistake to focus exclusively on UKIP's racism. That unsavoury side of UKIP has been adequately exposed by others ..We need to expose them on their policies".
Sports policy
In 2006, Corbett served on the Independent European Sport Review, set up by several national governments and
UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...
and chaired by the former Portuguese Deputy Prime Minister Jose Luis Arnaut. The review was in fact about the governance of football, and Corbett chaired the sub-group on political aspects. The review paved the way for a number of changes introduced by UEFA, among them the UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations. Corbett has maintained an interest in the governance of football ever since, taking up a number of issues with UEFA.
Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Corbett is the Honorary President of the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, a brass band based in Grimethorpe, South Yorkshire. The band achieved worldwide fame after appearing in the film '' Brassed Off'', as well as becoming (along with Black Dyke Mills Band), the first brass band to perform at the Proms.
Labour Party positions
Corbett has held a number of offices in the UK Labour Party. As well as being Deputy Leader and, from October 2017 until Brexit, Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP), he served on the Regional Board for
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
and the party's National Policy Forum, a position to which he was re-elected by fellow Labour MEPs in May 2014. He was national chair of the Labour Movement for Europe from 2009 to 2011, and subsequently served as one of its Labour MEP representatives.
As Leader of the EPLP, Corbett was a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Labour Party and attended shadow cabinet meetings.
Other organisations
Corbett is Honorary Vice President of the UK
European Movement
The European Movement International is a lobbying association that coordinates the efforts of associations and national councils with the goal of promoting European integration, and disseminating information about it.
History
Initially the Euro ...
, having served as Chair following the resignation of
Laura Sandys
Laura Jane Sandys (; born 5 June 1964) is a former chair of the European Movement UK, and a British Conservative Party politician, who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Thanet between 2010 and 2015.
Early life
The daughter ...
in the wake of the 2016 referendum result. He did not want to continue as Chair, citing time constraints, and handed over to
Stephen Dorrell
Stephen James Dorrell (born 25 March 1952) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He served as the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Loughborough between 1979 and 1997 and then for Charnwood from 1997 to 2015.
Dorrell most recen ...
in December 2016.
Academic
Corbett was a visiting professor at the
College of Europe
The College of Europe (; ; ) is a post-graduate institute of European studies with three campuses in Bruges, Belgium; Warsaw, Poland; and Tirana, Albania.
The College of Europe in Bruges was founded in 1949 as a result of the 1948 Congress of ...
in Bruges and on the board of the Salzburg Centre for European Union Studies (SCEUS) of the
University of Salzburg
The University of Salzburg (, ), also known as the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (''Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg'', PLUS), is an Austrian public university in Salzburg, Salzburg municipality, Salzburg (federal state), Salzburg State, ...
.
He has written numerous academic articles and books (see '
Publications
To publish is to make Content (media), content available to the general public.Berne Conv ...
' below)
Publications and communications activities
Corbett is the co-author of the ten editions of an eponymous academic textbook on the European Parliament (now the standard reference book on it across Europe) and several other academic publications, most notably the Oxford University Press textbook "The European Union: how does it work?" (see below).
Corbett was an early user of new media. In 2003, he was the first MEP from any country to launch a
blog
A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
, which he resumed in 2014 as part of his election campaign. In 2004 his website was cited as one of the most comprehensive of any British politician's by ''New Statesman'' magazine, which nominated him for a New Media award. In 2015, he became the first MEP to launch a mobile app, Doorstep EU, aimed at activists, journalists and other politicians. In the same year, he also took part in an AMA on
Reddit
Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...
.
Corbett starred in the docudrama film ''Do it like a European?'', which won a prize at the international Winton Film Contest.
Bradford
Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...
; he formerly lived in the nearby village of
Saltaire
Saltaire is a Victorian model village near Shipley, West Yorkshire, England, situated between the River Aire, the railway, and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Salts Mill and the houses were built by Titus Salt between 1851 and 1871 to allo ...
, for whose World Heritage Status he helped to campaign. As an MEP, he had his constituency office in
Leeds
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
, where he shared premises with
Hilary Benn
Hilary James Wedgwood Benn (born 26 November 1953) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland since 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds South, formerly ...
MP.
Corbett is married to Lorraine Kirkwood. He was previously married to Inge Van Gaal and Anne De Malsche. He has three children and five grandchildren.
Publications
* ‘The European Union: How Does it Work?' Latest (6th) edition with Profs Daniel Kenealy and John Peterson (2022, Oxford University Press)
* . Apart from Darren Neville replacing Michael Shackleton, the same three co-authors have written every edition since the first in 1990.
* 'The Evolving Roles of the European Parliament and of National Parliaments' in ' EU Law after Lisbon' by Professors Piet Eeckhout, Andrea Biondi and Stephanie Ripley (2012, Oxford University Press)
* 'Parameters of a Crisis' in 'The future of Economic Governance in the EU' (Policy Network, London, 2012)
* ‘President of the European Council, new kid on the block: asset or complication?'. In T. Christiansen, M. Shackelton and S. Vanhoonacker (eds), The European Union after the Lisbon Treaty. Maastricht: Maastricht Centre for European Governance, Maastricht Monnet Lecture Series Vol. 3 (2011).
* 'The Treaty of Maastricht: from conception to ratification' Longman - Cartermill Publishing (1993)
* 'The European Parliament's Role in Closer European Integration', London, Macmillan (1998) and New York, St Martin's Press (1998) . Reprinted in paperback by Palgrave, London (2001)
* Electing Europe's First Parliament Fabian tract, with Rod Northawl, Fabian Society, London (1977) ref no. 0307-7535.
* 'A Socialist Policy for Europe', pamphlet with Geoff Harris, introduction by the Rt Hon Denis Howell MP. London, Labour Movement for Europe (1985)
* 'Progress and Prospects' (of the draft treaty on European Union) in Juliet Lodge (ed), Foreword by Altiero Spinelli; 'European Union: The European Community in Search of a Future' London, Macmillan (1986)
* 'The 1985 Intergovernmental Conference and the Single European Act' in Roy Pryce (ed); The Dynamics of European Union', London, Croom Helm (1987)
* 'The European Parliament's new "Single Act" Powers, in 'Nieuw Europa' Magazine, year 15, nr 1 (1989), The Hague
* 'Representing the People', in A.Duff, J. Pinder and R. Pryce (eds); Maastricht and Beyond, London, Routledge (1994)
* 'The European Parliament and the Idea of European Representative Government' in John Pinder (ed), Foreword by Princess Margariet of the Netherlands; 'Foundations of Democracy in the European Union' London, Macmillan (1999) and New York, St Martin's Press (1999)
* 'A Very Special Parliament: The European Parliament in the Twenty-First Century' in 'The Journal of Legislative Studies, Vol 8' (2002). Frank Cass. 1357-2334
* 'Combatting Mythology and Changing Reality: the Debate on the Future of Europe', London, Labour Movement for Europe (2003)
* 'The EU - Who makes the decisions? A guide to the process and the UK's role'. London, European Movement (2006)
* 'The European Parliament 2004-2009' in Juliet Lodge (ed), 'The 2009 elections to the European Parliament'. Palgrave macmillan 2010
* 'The Progressive Potential of the EU'. Foundation for European Progressive Studies FEPS (2022)
* 'The European Parliament and the Spitzenkandidaten Process' in Matilde Ceron, Thomas Christiansen, Dionyssis G. Dimitrakopoulos (eds) 'The Politicisation of the European Commission’s Presidency: Spitzenkandidaten and Beyond' (print) and (eBook)
* Numerous newspaper articles and articles in academic journals