Stephen Hepburn (born 6 December 1959) is a British politician, who was the Member of Parliament for

Jarrow Jarrow ( or ) is a town in South Tyneside in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. Historically in County Durham, it is on the south bank of the River Tyne, about from the east coast. The 2011 census area classed Hebburn and the Boldons as ...

from

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

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 ...

. Hepburn was a member of the Labour Party until 7 October 2019, when he was suspended from the party following an accusation of sexual harassment. He then sat as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

and was barred by the party from standing as a Labour candidate.

Early life

Stephen Hepburn was born on 6 December 1959 to Peter and Margaret Hepburn in

South Tyneside South Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is bordered by all four other boroughs in Tyne and Wear: Gateshead to the west, Sunderland in the south, North Tyneside to the north and Newcastl ...

. He was educated at Springfield School, Jarrow (now Jarrow School) and the

University of Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick un ...

where he studied politics. He worked as a personal assistant to Donald Dixon (MP for Jarrow).

Early career

He was elected as a councillor to

Borough Council in 1985, becoming the deputy leader for seven years in 1990, and he remained a councillor whilst serving as an MP. Hepburn served as the chairman of

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The county is ...

Pensions for eight years from 1989. In the 1990s, he was fined £75 for an assault on fellow councillor Iain Malcolm.

Parliamentary career

He was elected to the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...

for

following Dixon's retirement at the 1997 general election. Hepburn won the seat with a majority of 21,933. 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 21 May 1997, in which he mentioned

Ellen Wilkinson Ellen Cicely Wilkinson (8 October 1891 – 6 February 1947) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who served as Secretary of State for Education, Minister of Education from July 1945 until her death. Earlier in her care ...

and the 1936 Jarrow March. He served on both the administration and the

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

select committees for four years from 1997. He was on the Accommodation and Works Committee from 2003 until the 2005 general election, following which he served on the

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

select committee. He also served as the chairman of the all party group on shipbuilding and ship repair, and was secretary of the all party group on football. On 7 October 2019, Hepburn was suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation into alleged sexual harassment of a female party member in 2005. He denied the allegation.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hepburn, Stephen 1959 births Living people People from Jarrow Politicians from Tyne and Wear Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies English politicians convicted of crimes English people convicted of assault Alumni of Newcastle University UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom