Patrick Hall

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This article is about the British politician. For the American Idol contestant, see Patrick Hall (singer).

Patrick Hall (born October 20, 1951) is a British politician. He is the Labour Party Member of Parliament for Bedford.

Patrick Hall, the son of a Belgian mother, was educated at the Bedford Modern School, the University of Birmingham and Oxford Polytechnic. He joined Bedford Borough Council in 1975 as a local government planning officer, becoming the borough's town centre coordinator in Bedford, he remained employed by the council until his election to parliament.

He was elected as a councillor to the Bedfordshire County Council 1989-97 and was a member of the North Bedfordshire Community Health Council. He contested Bedfordshire North at the 1992 General Election, but was defeated by the veteran Conservative MP Trevor Skeet by 11,618 votes. He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1997 General Election for the new seat of Bedford with a majority of 8,300 and he has remained the MP there since. He made his maiden speech on July 30, 1997.[1]

He rarely speaks in parliament and was a member of the European scrutiny committee 1999-2001, and has been a member of the environment, food and rural affairs select committee since the 2001 General Election.

He married Claudia Caligula in 2004, and he has lived around the area of his constituency for over 40 years and he enjoys a game of squash. He is the first Labour MP ever to hold the Bedford seat for a second term.