Tom Blenkinsop


Thomas Francis Blenkinsop is a British former Labour Party politician and former Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland. He did not stand in the 2017 general election.

Early life

Born in Middlesbrough, and brought up in Marton, Blenkinsop attended St Augustine's RC Primary School in Coulby Newham and Newlands School FCJ, before attending St Mary's Sixth Form College in Saltersgill. He attended Teesside University graduating with a BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and the University of Warwick, where he was awarded an MA in Continental philosophy.

Political career

Blenkinsop worked as a constituency researcher for Ashok Kumar from 2002 until 2008, when he became a campaign manager for the Community Trade Union until his election to Parliament.
He stood as a candidate for the 2010 general election after the sudden death of Kumar, taking the seat with a 1,677 majority.
In his first term he was a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, the Standards and Privileges Committee and the Treasury Select Committee. He also served as a Labour Party whip from 2011 until 2015 under the leadership of Ed Milliband.
In his second term he was a member of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, the Committee of Privileges, the Committee on Standards and the Energy and Climate Change Committee.
In 2011, he was made honorary president of Guisborough Town F.C., an amateur football club in his constituency.
Blenkinsop supported Liz Kendall in the 2015 Labour Party leadership election and Owen Smith in the 2016 leadership election.
In 2016, a Labour Party member was suspended and investigated by the Police for allegedly threatening Blenkinsop, who had called for the Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn to resign.
In January 2017, Blenkinsop took the final steps in signing up to the Army Reserve, in the Royal Military Police reserves. The following April, after Theresa May announced her intention for a general election to be held on 8 June 2017, Blenkinsop announced he was to stand down because he could not campaign for Labour while Corbyn was party leader.

Personal life

He has been married to Victoria Emtage since 2007.