Peter Soulsby

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Peter Soulsby MP
Peter Soulsby
Member of Parliament
for Leicester South
Incumbent
Assumed office 
5 May 2005
Preceded by Parmjit Singh Gill
Born 27 December 1948 (1948-12-27) (age 59)
Bishop Auckland
Nationality British
Political party Labour

Sir Peter Alfred Soulsby (b. December 27, 1948, Bishop Auckland) is a British Labour Party politician. He served as leader of Leicester City Council from 1981 to 1999. He has been Member of Parliament for Leicester South since 2005.

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[edit] Early life

He went to the Minchenden School (a grammar school, which merged with Arnos School in 1984 to become Broomfield School although the former building is now used by Southgate College) on High Street in Southgate, and the City of Leicester College of Education in Scraptoft (part of Scraptoft Hall, which became the Scraptoft Campus of De Montfort University until 2003) where he gained a BEd. He worked as a teacher in Special Needs schools.

Since July 1998, he has been on the board of British Waterways, becoming Vice-Chairman in 2000. He is a Unitarian, and was knighted in 1999 for his services to local government. He has also served as a member of the Audit Commission.

He was first elected to Leicester City Council in 1974 and remained a Labour councillor until he was defeated in Spinney Hills ward in May 2003. Despite his own opposition to the Iraq war and his participation in rallies and marches, his defeat (and that of other sitting Labour councillors) reflected the widespread local opposition to the war.

In 1984 he stood for election to the European Parliament for the Leicester European Parliamentary constituency but lost to the Conservative incumbent Fred Tuckman.

[edit] Parliamentary career

He contested the Harborough seat in 1979. In 2004 he was the Labour Party's candidate in the Leicester South by-election - he had previously been the election agent for the previous MP, Jim Marshall, and like Marshall was not always in agreement with the party's policies. Despite his anti-war stance, Soulsby lost by 5.6% to Parmjit Singh Gill of the Liberal Democrats in a by-election which was dominated by the Iraq war and the newly-formed left-wing party Respect, which took 12.7% of vote. In the 2005 general election, less than a year later, he won the seat back for Labour from Gill.

On 31 October 2006, Soulsby was one of 12 Labour MPs to back Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party's call for an inquiry into the Iraq War.[1] He also rebelled against the government on its proposals to permit the detention of terrorist suspects for 90 days without trial.[2]

[edit] Personal life

He is married to Alison and they have three daughters. He has traversed much of the UK canal network in his own narrowboat.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Labour MPs who rebelled on Iraq. BBC News (31 October, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-10-31.
  2. ^ Terrorism Bill Clause 23 - Extension of Period of Detention to 90 days. Public Whip (9 November, 2005). Retrieved on 2006-11-04.

[edit] External links

[edit] News items

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Parmjit Singh Gill		 Member of Parliament for Leicester South
2005 – present		 Incumbent


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