Kerry Pollard

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Kerry Pollard
Kerry Pollard
In office
2 May 1997 – 5 May 2005
Preceded by Peter Lilley
Succeeded by Anne Main
Constituency St Albans
Born 27 April 1944 (1944-04-27) (age 64)
Political party Labour
Spouse Marilyn Pollard

Kerry Patrick Pollard (born 27 April 1944) is a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was elected at the 1997 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for St Albans, and held the seat until his defeat at the 2005 general election.

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[edit] Early life

He was brought up in Rochdale. He attended the catholic Thornleigh Grammar School (became comprehensive in 1979, and now called Thornleigh Salesian College) in Astley Bridge, Bolton. He has an Open University BA in Industrial Relations and Urban Regeneration.

[edit] Before Parliament

Kerry Pollard was a Housing Association director, interested in social justice and social inclusion. Pollard came in third place at his first attempt in the 1992 general election.[1].

[edit] Non-political career

  • Chemical Engineer, British Gas 1962-92.
  • Chief Executive, Cherry Tree Housing Association 1992-97.
  • Magistrate, since 1984.

[edit] Political career

  • Councillor, St Albans District Council 1982-97.
  • Councillor, Hertfordshire County Council 1989-97.

[edit] Parliamentary career

Kerry Pollard raised an early day motion in the House of Commons on Monday 19 April 1999 in support of Bradford & Bingley Building Society's fight to stay mutual. He urged Bradford & Bingley members to vote against moves to force Britain's second-largest building society to convert to a bank, "the early day motion will express the fear that were Bradford & Bingley Building Society to become a bank, the entire building society movement will be damaged directly," he said.

In the UK Parliament, Pollard opposed the US lead wars in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, but his most consistent aberrations from the party instructions were over benefits - he voted on several occasions against cuts in state benefits. Pollard chaired the all-party small business group.

A Christian socialist, Kerry Pollard took a conservative line on questions of personal morality, a member of the all-party pro-life group and one of a handful of Labour MPs to oppose the equalisation of the age of consent.

[edit] After Parliament

Kerry Pollard joined the management board of Ridgehill Housing Association, rising to become, upon merging with William Sutton Housing Association, the chair of William Sutton Homes.

Following the merger of the William Sutton Group and Affinity Homes Group on 1 October 2006, Mr Pollard was removed as Chair of William Sutton Homes on 25 April 2007 because the board of Affinity Sutton Group unanimously considered that he was unsuitable for the role.

Their decision was unequivocally supported by an independent review, which concluded that "the reason for their decision is that Kerry Pollard has demonstrated by his actions that he is unfit to act as Chair of the William Sutton Homes board."

[edit] Personal life

He married Maralyn Murphy in 1966, and they have five boys and two girls. They have lived in St Albans since 1969.

[edit] External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Peter Lilley		 Member of Parliament for St Albans
1997–2005		 Succeeded by
Anne Main

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kerry Pollard. BBC News (16 October, 2002). Retrieved on 2007-08-03.

[edit] External links