John Battle (politician)

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John Dominic Battle (born April 26, 1951) British politician, and is the Labour Party Member of Parliament for Leeds West.

John Battle was born in Bradford and educated at St. Paulinus' School, Dewsbury; the University of Leeds and St. Joseph's College, Upholland, Lancashire (a former seminary for the training of priests in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool).

John Battle trained for the priesthood for three years from 1969, but it was the road of politics which was to be his calling, although he has remained guided by his religion. In 1979 he went to work as a research assistant to Derek Enright, a fellow Catholic and Member of the European Parliament. Battle won a seat on the City of Leeds Council in 1980.

He was chosen to contest the Conservative seat of Leeds North West at the 1983 General Election. Donald Kaberry, the Conservative MP since the constituency's creation in 1955, was retiring. John Battle did not win the seat, losing to a sitting MP in Keith Hampson, whose own seat of Ripon had been abolished.

After the election, Battle became the national coordinator for Church Action on Poverty. John Battle was selected to fight the seat of Leeds West, which had seen a shock result at the 1983 general election. Joseph Dean had been comfortably re-elected as the Labour MP for Leeds West at the 1979 General Election, with a majority of over 10,000 votes. However, in 1983 he was ousted by the Liberal Michael Meadowcroft to national surprise, for Leeds West had been Labour since the war. At the 1987 general election many eyes were looking at Leeds West as Battle and Meadowcroft fought to win the votes. Against the national swing, Battle won fairly easily and regained the seat for Labour. Meadowcroft only served one term at Westminster.

Within a year of entering the Commons Battle was given a job in the Opposition Whip's Office by Neil Kinnock in 1988, but resigned in protest at Labour's support for the Major government over the 1991 Gulf War. After the 1992 General Election, he joined the frontbench of the new Labour Party leader, John Smith as a spokesman on the Environment. Following Smith's death and the election of Tony Blair as Leader of the Opposition in 1994, Battle was moved to become the spokesman on Science and Technology. A year later in 1995 he became a spokesman on Energy.

After the 1997 General Election, Battle was given a job in government. He became Minister of State at the Department of Trade and Industry with responsibility for Energy, and he announced the decommissioning of the nuclear power station at Dounreay in 1998. In 1999 he moved sideways to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, but was dropped from government after the 2001 General Election. Since then he has served on the International Development Select Committee. He became a Member of the Privy Council in 2002. He is currently the Prime Minister's envoy to all the faith communities.

As a devout Roman Catholic, he is staunchly anti-abortion, is pro-Nationalist regarding Northern Ireland and a long standing champion of East Timor. He is married to Mary Meehan, who is of Irish Catholic extraction, and they have a son and two daughters. His brother Jim Battle is the Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council.

[edit] External links

• John Battle MP official site
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: John Battle MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - John Battle MP

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Michael Meadowcroft	Member of Parliament for Leeds West 1987 – present	Incumbent