Alan Campbell (politician)


Sir Alan Campbell is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Tynemouth since 1997. He served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office from 2008 until 2010, and is currently the Deputy Chief Whip of the Labour Party.

Early life

Campbell was born in Consett and went to Blackfyne Grammar School in the town before attending Lancaster University where he was awarded a BA in Politics. He then gained a PGCE at the University of Leeds, before finishing his education at Newcastle Polytechnic with an MA in History. He began his career as a history teacher at Whitley Bay High School in 1981; after eight years there became Head of the Sixth Form at Hirst High School, Ashington, then head of department, where he remained until he was elected to the House of Commons.

Parliamentary career

He contested the Conservative-held marginal constituency of Tynemouth at the 1997 general election where he defeated Martin Callanan by 11,273 votes. He made his maiden speech on 2 June 1997.. Following his election, Alan Campbell was a member of the Public Accounts Select committee for the duration of his first parliament. After the 2001 General Election he became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of State at the Cabinet Office Gus Macdonald, and in 2003 became the PPS to Adam Ingram at the Ministry of Defence. He entered the government of Tony Blair after the 2005 General Election as an assistant Whip, being promoted to a full whip in 2006. On 5 October 2008, Campbell was promoted to the Home Office as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State.
At the 2010 General Election Alan Campbell was one of the very few Labour MPs re-elected by an increased majority. After Ed Miliband was appointed party leader, he was appointed Deputy Chief Whip of the Labour Party, serving under Rosie Winterton as Chief Whip.

Voting Record

In Parliament, Campbell has not broken the Labour Party whip and voted in favour of committing UK troops to the Iraq war.
As a member of the government, he supported proposals for foundation hospitals, top-up fees for students, Identity cards, and renewing Trident missiles. With regard to issues on which there was no whip, Campbell supported equal gay rights, legal restrictions on hunting foxes with hounds, and a partially elected House of Lords.
More recently, he opposed raising the tuition fee cap to £9,000 and the government's education proposals on Academies and Free Schools.

Expenses

Campbell was not found to have misappropriated any funds by the Legg inquiry in 2010.

Personal life

He married Jayne Lamont in August 1991 in Newcastle upon Tyne and they have a son, James, a daughter, Emily. In May 2000, he had an operation at Newcastle General Hospital to remove a benign tumour from the top of his spine.