Peter Bottomley
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport | |
---|---|
In office 23 January 1986 – 24 July 1989 | |
Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
Preceded by | Michael Spicer |
Succeeded by | Patrick McLoughlin |
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment | |
In office 11 September 1984 – 23 January 1986 | |
Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
Preceded by | John Gummer |
Succeeded by | David Trippier |
Member of Parliament for Worthing West | |
Assumed office 1 May 1997 | |
Preceded by | Constituency created |
Majority | 14,823 (27.1%) |
Member of Parliament for Eltham (1983–1997) Woolwich West (1975–1983) | |
In office 26 June 1975 – 8 April 1997 | |
Preceded by | William Hamling |
Succeeded by | Clive Efford |
Personal details | |
Born | Newport, Shropshire, England | 30 July 1944
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse | |
Children | 3 |
Parents |
|
Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
Website | www |
Sir Peter James Bottomley (born 30 July 1944) is a British
Following the 2019 general election, Bottomley was the longest-serving MP and therefore Father of the House.
Early life and career
Peter Bottomley was born in
Before university, he worked around Australia, including three weeks teaching at
Member of Parliament
On the backbenches
Bottomley contested the
In 1978 he became the President of the
At the 1979 general election, Bottomley was re-elected as MP for Woolwich West with a decreased vote share of 47.3% and an increased majority of 2,609.[9]
He has been chairman of the
In 1982, he became the
Member of the Thatcher Government
Bottomley became a member of Margaret Thatcher's
At the 1987 general election, Bottomley was re-elected as MP for Eltham with a decreased vote share of 47.5% and a decreased majority of 6,460.[12]
Return to the backbenches
Since 1990, Bottomley has been a backbencher, described as a maverick, "supporting a range of seemingly perverse causes".[13][14]
At the 1992 general election, Bottomley was again re-elected with a decreased vote share of 46% and a decreased majority of 1,666.[15] Bottomley decided not to re-contest Eltham after major boundary changes, but sought nomination elsewhere. At the 1997 general election, Bottomley contested the newly formed constituency of Worthing West, where he was elected with 46.1% of the vote and a majority of 7,713.[16]
Bottomley was re-elected as MP for Worthing West at the 2001 general election with an increased vote share of 47.5% and an increased majority of 9,037.[17] He was again re-elected at the 2005 general election with an increased vote share of 47.6% and an increased majority of 9,379.[18][19]
In 2009, Bottomley was the vice-chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Flag Group.[20] In 2011, he was in more Parliamentary groups than any other MP.[21] He is vice-chairman of All-Party United Nations Group and vice-chairman of All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Transport Safety.[22]
At the 2010 general election, Bottomley was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 51.7% and an increased majority of 11,729.[23][24]He was again re-elected at the 2015 general election with a decreased vote share of 51.5% and an increased majority of 16,855.[25][26]
Before the 2016 referendum, Bottomley was in favour of the United Kingdom remaining in the European Union.[27]
Bottomley has been a supporter of British pensioners living overseas, mainly in Commonwealth countries (47 out of 54) who have had their British state pensions frozen at the rates at which they were first paid or as at the dates of migration. British pensioners living in the remaining seven Commonwealth countries and those living in a number of non-Commonwealth countries have their British state pensions uprated each year, just as if they were living in the UK.[28]
Bottomley was again re-elected at the snap 2017 general election, with an increased vote share of 55.4% and a decreased majority of 12,090.[29][30]
An advocate for reducing the voting age to 16, Bottomley is a co-founder and Vice Chair of the APPG on Votes at 16 and a supporter of the Votes at 16 campaign.[31][32][33][34]
Bottomley is co-chair to the APPG on Haemophilia and Contaminated Blood[35] and campaigns to get justice for those affected by the tainted blood scandal.[36] During a debate in Parliament on 24 November 2016, he urged Prime Minister Theresa May to look at the issue.[37][38] Bottomley was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, with an increased vote share of 55.8% and an increased majority of 14,823,[39] becoming the longest continuous-serving MP and thus Father of the House. The last two remaining MPs who had served continuously since the 1970 general election left Parliament in 2019: Kenneth Clarke, the previous Father, retired and Dennis Skinner lost re-election.
Personal life
In 1967, Bottomley married
as Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone.His brother was a Labour Lambeth councillor; his brother-in-law was Conservative Mayor of Cambridge. His niece is
In 1989, Bottomley successfully sued The Mail on Sunday, the Daily Express and News of the World for allegations connected with his support of the union membership of a social worker in his constituency accused of misbehaviour in a children's home. In 1995, he was awarded £40,000 against the Sunday Express for an article which accused him of betraying the paratrooper Private Lee Clegg, who was in jail for the murder of a joyrider in Northern Ireland, by appearing at a meeting with Martin McGuinness.[40][41]
In 2002–2003, Bottomley was Master of the Worshipful Company of Drapers.
In November 2003, Bottomley was banned from driving for six months following several speeding offences. A newspaper organised an electric bike for him.[42]
Bottomley was knighted in the 2011 New Year Honours for public service.[43][44]
References
- ^ "Peter Bottomley". Front Row. 25 April 2013. BBC Radio 4. Archived from the original on 7 June 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
- ^ "Devoted pair buried side by side. Village link went back for 70 years". Shropshire Star. 12 July 2013. p. 43.Report of burial of parents' ashes.
- ^ Brown, Colin (15 June 1993). "Maverick Tory goes his own way: Former minister retains active role in transport workers' union". The Independent. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
- ^ a b c d Roth, Andrew. "Peter (James) Bottomley" (PDF). internetserver.bishopsgate.org.uk. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 September 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
- ^ a b "Labor Party Loses By‐Election, Ending Commons Majority". The New York Times. 27 June 1975. Archived from the original on 13 September 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
- ^ admin_rt15 (19 May 2015). "With British Parliamentarians 1978". www.romerotrust.org.uk. Archived from the original on 7 November 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b "Tory Bottomley awarded knighthood". BBC News. 31 December 2010. Archived from the original on 1 November 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
- ^ "Sir Peter Bottomley MP". Facebook. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
- ISBN 0102374805.
- ^ "About WATCH - Women and the Church". womenandthechurch.org. Archived from the original on 2 June 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
- ^ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "The maverick with 'five ideas: four good, one mad'". The Independent. 11 July 1993. Archived from the original on 13 May 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
- ^ Martin Bright (15 February 2011). "Islamophobia group keeps anti-Zionist link". Jewish Chronicle. Archived from the original on 11 August 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
- ^ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Worthing Borough Council - Elections 2005 - Parliamentary & County Council". Archived from the original on 3 February 2011.
- ^ "All-Party Parliamentary Flag Group". UK Parliament. Archived from the original on 25 June 2009.
- ^ Ball, James (24 February 2011). "Coalition urged to act over lobbyists who use party groups 'to buy influence'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
- ^ "Register of All-Party Parliamentary Groups, 31 January 2018" (PDF). UK Parliament. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 February 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
- ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ^ "Worthing West". BBC News Online. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
- ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ^ "Worthing West parliamentary constituency - Election 2017" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 2 May 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
- ^ "ifamiddlesex.com". Retrieved 14 January 2017.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ^ "Worthing West parliamentary constituency - Election 2017" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ "Votes at 16". Sir Peter Bottomley. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
- ^ "Points of Order". Hansard. 19 July 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
Vicky Foxcroft, on behalf of Jim McMahon, supported by Jeremy Corbyn, Tom Watson, Peter Kyle, Diana Johnson, Lucy Powell, Sir Peter Bottomley, Stephen Gethins, Jo Swinson, Jonathan Edwards and Caroline Lucas, presented a Bill to reduce the voting age to 16 in parliamentary and other elections
- ^ "Supportive Politicians". Votes at 16. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
- ^ Bottomley, Peter (19 July 2018). "Britain's democratic story is unfinished – let's write the next chapter". Electoral Reform Society. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
- ^ "All Party Parliamentary Group". Archived from the original on 7 January 2017. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
- ^ "Debate - Contaminated Blood - Sir Peter Bottomley MP - 12th April 2016". CampaignTB. 15 April 2016. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2017 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Sir Peter Bottomley". Archived from the original on 7 January 2017. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
- ^ "Contaminated Blood and Blood Products - Hansard Online". Archived from the original on 7 January 2017. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
- ^ "Worthing West Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
- ^ "Bottomley wins case". The Independent. 20 December 1995. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
- ^ 'Reputations Under Fire', David Hooper, Little Brown 2000
- ^ "Speeding MP banned from driving". The Argus. Brighton. 25 November 2003. Archived from the original on 30 August 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
- ^ "No. 59647". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2010. p. 1.
- ^ Tory veteran Peter Bottomley awarded knighthood Archived 1 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine 31 December 2010, BBC News
Bibliography
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
- Who's Who 2008, A&C Black
External links
- Official website
- West Worthing Conservatives webpage
- Profile at the Conservative Party
- Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
- Appearances on C-SPAN