Ivor Caplin

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Ivor Keith Caplin (born 8th November 1958) was the Labour Member of Parliament for Hove and Portslade from 1997 until 2005.

Caplin was born in Brighton and educated at King Edward's School, Witley and Brighton College of Technology. He had a career in marketing with the Legal & General Assurance Society. In 1991 he was elected to Hove Borough Council, and in 1995 he led Labour's successful campaign to win control of the Council and became its Leader until April 1997, when it merged with Brighton. He was elected to the new Brighton and Hove Council in 1996 and was Deputy Leader until resigning from the Council in March 1998.

Caplin was elected as Member of Parliament for Hove and Portslade in 1997. In 1998 he became Parliamentary Private Secretary to Margaret Beckett. After re-election in 2001 he became an Assistant Government Whip and then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Minister for Veterans at the Ministry of Defence. He stood down from the House of Commons at the 2005 general election. Reasons for this included his unswerving support for the iraq war, and the growing local protest vote against labour for fringe parties such as the greens.

Caplin now works for Foresight Communications, a political lobbying firm, as a senior consultant. Its clients include EADS, EDS and Sodexho.