Dave Nellist | |
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Coventry City Council St Michaels Ward |
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Incumbent | |
Assumed office 7 May 1998 Serving with
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Majority | 307 (9.08%) |
Member of Parliament for Coventry South East |
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In office 9 June 1983 – 9 April 1992 |
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Preceded by | William Wilson |
Succeeded by | Jim Cunningham |
Majority | 6,653 (17.57%) |
Personal details | |
Born | 16 July 1952 Cleveland, England |
Nationality | British |
Political party | Socialist Party (1997-present) Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (2009-present) |
Other political affiliations |
Labour (until 1991) |
Spouse(s) | Jane Warner (Wife) |
Children | 1 son- Dave Nellist Jr, 3 daughters- Charlotte Nellist, Clara Nellist |
David John Nellist (born 16 July 1952) is a British Trotskyist activist and former Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for the now abolished constituency of Coventry South East. He is a member of the Socialist Party of England and Wales and a sitting councillor in Coventry as well as formerly being an active member of the Amicus trade union and is now active in Unite the Union since Amicus merged with the Transport and General Workers' Union.
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From 1982-86, Nellist was a Labour councillor for Coventry on West Midlands County Council.
A long-standing supporter of the Militant tendency, Nellist was the MP for Coventry South East from 1983 to 1992. He was known for his standing as a "workers' MP on a worker's wage", taking only the wage of a skilled factory worker, which amounted to 40% of what he could have earned and what other MPs took for themselves. The rest he donated back to the Labour movement and to charities.
When Tony Blair was first elected to Parliament in 1983, it was intended that he would share an office with Nellist at the Palace of Westminster. The duo's differing political views were considered not to make for the most harmonious working environment, so Blair was quickly allocated office space with another newly-elected Labour MP – Gordon Brown,[1] a friendship which would lead to the creation of New Labour and the party's ideological shift away from the labour movement towards the so-called 'third way'.
As one of three MPs associated with Militant, Nellist became a target for the majority element around Neil Kinnock within the Labour Party. After a National Executive Committee meeting in December 1991, he was expelled from the Labour Party and deselected as a candidate for the 1992 general election. Shortly before his expulsion, he had still been awarded the "Backbencher of the Year" prize by the conservative Spectator magazine.[2]
Nellist fought to keep his position, and obtained the support of his Constituency party (which was subsequently suspended by the National Executive Committee) and a number of local trade unions.[3] Standing as an Independent Labour candidate in the elections, he narrowly lost his old seat to the new Labour Party candidate Jim Cunningham. Cunningham received 11,902 votes, Conservative Party candidate Martine Hyams 10,591, and Dave Nellist 10,551, or 28.9% of the vote.[4][5]
Nellist followed the majority of Militant in founding what became the Socialist Party (not to be confused with the Socialist Party of Great Britain). Due to registration requirements, the party uses the name "Socialist Alternative" on ballot papers. Instead of running candidates independently, however, the party has played a leading role in several political coalitions, most notably the Socialist Alliance in the 1990s.
Nellist was a prominent figure in organising the Socialist Alliance, locally and across the UK, as a loose formation of individuals and groups from the Socialist tradition working together electorally. He became the Chair of the Socialist Alliance, but resigned in 2001, in protest of what the Socialist Party saw as manouverings of the Socialist Workers Party to take control of the Alliance. He is one of the leading figures in the Campaign for a New Workers' Party in Britain, which is a Socialist Party sponsored campaign to create a new party to represent the working class in the UK.
Nellist has run for Member of Parliament in every general election since his deselection by the Labour Party and subsequent narrow defeat in the 1992 elections. In 1997, he ran in the Coventry South constituency, and received 3,262 votes (6.5%). In 2001 and 2005, he ran in the Coventry North East constituency. In 2001, he received 2,638 votes (7.1%). In 2005, he received 1,874 votes (5.0%).
In 1998, Nellist was elected as a City Councillor in the Coventry City Council for St Michael's ward, where he was reelected in 2004 and again in 2008, with an increased majority, when he received 48.6% of the vote.[6][7] By 2006, when Rob Windsor was elected, the Socialist Party had won all three of St. Michael's seats.[8] However, Nellist's Socialist colleagues were defeated in the local elections of 2007 and 2010, respectively,[9][10] and now Nellist is again the only Socialist Councillor representing St Michael's ward.
Nellist stood as a No2EU - Yes to Democracy candidate in the 2009 European election in the West Midlands Region of England gaining 13,415 votes (0.9%).[11] No2EU takes a socialist, trade union and alter-globalisation Eurosceptic stance from a workers' perspective.
After the 2009 European elections, Nellist played a leading role in the formation of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), of which he is interim leader. The coalition is composed of his own Socialist Party of England and Wales, Socialist Resistance, the Socialist Workers Party and Solidarity, and is endorsed by Bob Crow, General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, Brian Caton, General Secretary of the Prison Officers' Association and Chris Baugh, Assistant General Secretary of Public and Commercial Services Union. Considering the overlap in constituent parties, TUSC is seen as a successor to the Socialist Alliance and the No to EU – Yes to Democracy alliance.
Nellist stood as a candidate for TUSC in the 2010 general elections in the constituency Coventry North East, although he stood under the label Socialist Alternative.[12] Running against the incumbent MP, the Labour government's Secretary of State for Defence Bob Ainsworth, he received 1,592 votes (3.7%) losing his deposit for the first time in a Westminster constituency.
In August 1984, Nellist married Jane Warner in North Yorkshire. They have one son (born May 1989) and three daughters (including two born November 1985 and May 1987). From 1992-7, he worked in Welfare Rights for Robert Zara Ltd solicitors in Coventry. Since 1997, he has worked as a Case Worker for the Citizens Advice Bureau.
UK Parliament elections
Date of election | Constituency | Party | Votes | % | Results |
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1983 | Coventry South East | Labour | 15,307 | 41.09 | Elected |
1987 | Coventry South East | Labour | 17,969 | 47.46 | Elected |
1992 | Coventry South East | Ind. Labour | 10,551 | 28.88 | Not elected |
1997 | Coventry South | SA | 3,262 | 6.5 | Not elected |
2001 | Coventry North East | SA | 2,638 | 7.1 | Not elected |
2005 | Coventry North East | SA | 1,874 | 5.04 | Not elected |
2010 | Coventry North East | TUSC | 1,592 | 3.7 | Not elected |
European elections
Date of election | Constituency | Party | Votes | % | Results | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1999 | West Midlands | SA | 7,203 | 0.8 | Not elected | Multi member constituencies; party list |
2009 | West Midlands | NO2EU | 13,415 | 1.0 | Not elected | Multi member constituencies; party list |
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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Preceded by Bill Wilson |
Member of Parliament for Coventry South East 1983–1992 |
Succeeded by Jim Cunningham |