Ronald Campbell (14 August 1943 – 23 February 2024) was a British Labour politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for

Blyth Valley Blyth Valley was a local government district with borough status in south-east Northumberland, England, bordering the North Sea and Tyne and Wear. The two principal towns were Blyth and Cramlington. Other population centres include Seaton De ...

from

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

until

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Early life

Ronald Campbell was born in

Tynemouth Tynemouth () is a coastal town in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the north side of the mouth of the River Tyne, England, River Tyne, hence its name. It is east-northeast of Newcastle up ...

, and grew up with seven siblings. He attended Blyth Ridley County High School, a

secondary modern A secondary modern school () is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Secondary modern schools accommodated the majority (70–75%) of pupils ...

, and left school at 14 to become a coal miner. Before entering parliament he was a councillor for Croft Ward, Blyth Borough,

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

from 1969 and a lay official of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). He was a miner from 1958 to 1986. Campbell led picket lines in the 1984–85 miners' strike and was arrested twice.

Parliamentary career

Campbell was first elected as an MP for

at the 1987 general election with a majority of 853 votes. He often voted against the Blair government on issues such as the

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 was an outspoken

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

. When the government

nationalised Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with ...

Northern Rock Northern Rock, formerly the Northern Rock Building Society, was a British bank. Based at Regent Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, Northern Rock was originally a building society. It demutualised and became Northern Rock bank in ...

in 2008, Campbell declared it "the People's Bank" and opened an account. In May 2009, during the high-profile MPs expenses scandal, Campbell agreed to return over £6,000 of the £87,729 he had claimed for furnishings in his

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

home. Campbell voted for

Andy Burnham Andrew Murray Burnham (born 7 January 1970) is a British politician who has served as Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017 Greater Manchester mayoral election, 2017. He served in Gordon Brown's Brown ministry, Cabinet as Chief Secretary to th ...

in the 2010 Labour Party leadership election following the resignation of

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

. He was critical of

Ed Miliband Edward Samuel Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since July 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for D ...

's leadership of the Labour Party, referring to him as a "right winger". In 2013, he was one of 22 Labour MPs to vote against

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

, out of 255. Upon re-election in May 2015, Campbell announced that he would stand down at the next general election, although this did not materialise. Campbell was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...

as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015 and one of a handful of Labour MPs to publicly support leaving the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. Campbell continued to support Brexit, and to vote against attempts to delay it, in subsequent parliamentary votes. He justified this by noting that "I am a leaver, and I always have been. MPs are elected, unlike the EU bureaucrats, and if people don't like how MPs vote then they can get rid of us and that's how it should work." Campbell was one of 13 MPs to vote against triggering the 2017 general election. Having previously said he would stand down at the next election, he changed his mind, stating: "It was my intention to stand down at the next general election, however due to circumstances following the announcement of the snap election I have decided to stand again for Blyth Valley." In June 2019, Campbell confirmed that he would stand down as an MP in the following election, which was later confirmed for December 2019. He subsequently said he would back the Conservative government's deal to leave the European Union. Campbell 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 ...

, a socialist, left-wing group of Labour MPs.

Personal life

Campbell married Deirdre McHale in 1967, who serves on

Northumberland County Council Northumberland County Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Northumberland in North East England. Since 2009 it has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority, having also ...

. They had five sons, including a set of twins, and one daughter. While he served as an MP, Campbell had a reunion with his half-brother, Eric McGraw, whom he had not known due to the latter's adoption. In September 2016, Campbell underwent

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

after being diagnosed with

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a malignant tumor of the stomach. It is a cancer that develops in the Gastric mucosa, lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a numb ...

. He returned to Parliament on 30 November 2016 and was welcomed back during

Prime Minister's Questions Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs, officially known as Questions to the Prime Minister, while colloquially known as Prime Minister's Question Time) is a constitutional convention (political custom), constitutional convention in the United Kingd ...

. His interests included

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

. Campbell died on 23 February 2024, at the age of 80.

References

External links

*
Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Ronnie Campbell MP

Meeting his unknown brother in 2006

BBC Politics
*

News items

Northumberland County Council with £11m in Lehman Brothers in October 2008

Hairdresser in Cumbria with the same name gets his emails in November 2003

His son in the Royal Marines in March 2003

Cleared of assault in May 2002

Shoplifter given £10,000 trial over 92p tin of spaghetti bolognese in May 2002

Suspended from the Commons in March 1998
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Ronnie 1943 births 2024 deaths British socialists Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies National Union of Mineworkers-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 People from Blyth, Northumberland British Eurosceptics People from Tynemouth Politicians from Tyne and Wear British republicans Place of death missing