| John Hemming MP | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for Birmingham Yardley |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 5 May 2005 |
|
| Preceded by | Estelle Morris |
| Majority | 3,002 (7.3%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 16 March 1960 |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Liberal Democrat |
| Alma mater | Magdalen College, Oxford |
John Alexander Melvin Hemming (born 16 March 1960) is a British politician, the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Yardley and Group Chair of the Liberal Democrats on the city council of Birmingham, England.
Hemming was until 1 May 2008 an elected councillor for the South Yardley Ward. In 2005, he was elected as Member of Parliament for Birmingham Yardley. He is the first Liberal or Liberal Democrat to win a parliamentary seat in Birmingham since Wallace Lawler won in Birmingham Ladywood in 1969. In 2004, Hemming became deputy leader of Birmingham City Council in a deal where the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats shared control of the City Council. He stood down from this position on his election to parliament in 2005.
In 2007 he became Liberal Democrat Spokesman for the West Midlands and returned to lead the West Midlands Liberal Democrat team of spokespeople with Lorely Burt MP as the Deputy Leader.
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Hemming was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham, where he won the Rickard Prize for Arithmetic and was a Scholar specialising in Theoretical, Atomic and Nuclear Physics at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he showed an early interest in politics, standing as the Liberal Party candidate for Secretary of the Oxford University Student Union. He was beaten into fourth place by the 'Silly Party' candidate – the pet dog of the master of St Catherine's College, Oxford.[1]
Hemming is a director of JHC plc, a provider of software applications and related services for the securities industry. Their products include trading, asset management and settlement systems for brokers and investment managers. In 2009 Hemming was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for his work with the company.[2]
In 1997, Hemming also set up his own record company, Music Mercia International.[3]
Hemming was first elected to Birmingham City Council in 1990, in Acocks Green ward. He moved to the South Yardley ward following boundary changes in 2004. He ceased to be a member of Birmingham City Council following the elections on the 1 May 2008 when he did not run for re-election.
He has fought a number of general elections: in 1983 (Hall Green), 1987 (Small Heath) and 1992, 1997 and 2001 (Yardley) before winning in 2005. He was re-elected in 2010, with a slightly increased majority.[4]
Hemming is a member of the Beveridge Group.[5] He won the "Reform" maths prize.[6]
Following Charles Kennedy's announcement that he would resign as leader of the Liberal Democrats, Hemming announced on his weblog that he was taking soundings as to whether to stand. When Kennedy subsequently resigned, Hemming said that he would stand to ensure there was a contest. Hemming was a rank outsider in the contest (some betting odds were in excess of 400–1). The Times reported that he was "an eccentric who left colleagues aghast by threatening to stand".[7] On 13 January 2006, Hemming withdrew his candidature, saying that Lib Dem members did not believe he should stand.[8] He was a nominator for Mark Oaten, but said he would be willing to do the same for any serious candidate. He subsequently declared for the eventual winner, Sir Menzies Campbell.
On 6 December 2010 Hemming's constituency office was temporarily closed by the police after it was occupied by protesters opposing the Coalition government's plan to increase university tuition fees.[9]
Hemming chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil and Gas (APPGOPO), a parliamentary group looking at the issues of fossil fuel depletion.[10]
As Chairman of Justice for Families Campaign Group, Hemming has been coordinating the activities of a number of campaigners and has raised a substantial number of Early Day Motions in trying to reduce the number of injustices where families are damaged by false allegations.
He is an opponent of super- and hyper-injunctions,[11] and in March 2011, used parliamentary privilege to reveal the existence of a super-injunction granted to former Royal Bank of Scotland chief Sir Fred Goodwin during a sitting of the House of Commons.[12][13] Following an incident in May 2011 in which the names of celebrities who had allegedly taken out superinjunctions were revealed on Twitter, he commented: “There is a lot to learn from the USA where freedom of speech is enshrined in their constitution. Where the courts are trying to keep state secrets and Twitter is on the other end, Twitter will win."[14] On 23 May 2011 during a Commons debate he mentioned Ryan Giggs as the footballer involved in one privacy injunction.[15][16] In the final meeting of the Commons before the session closed for summer recess, he mentioned details of an injunction and alleged cover-up involving a doctor employed by a Welsh NHS trust. The said doctor is accused by a fellow doctor and surgical assistants of performing surgeries on cancer patients beyond his expertise, against guidelines and in so doing, endangering the lives of patients.[17][18]
Hemming took out a mortgage of £200,000 on a flat in London under the Second Home Allowance It was claimed by the Daily Mail that the loan was used to pay off another loan on one of his business premises.[19][20]
Shortly after his election in 2005, he made headlines when it was revealed that he was the father of a child with his personal assistant and (then) fellow councillor Emily Cox, though he would stay with his wife and the couple's three children. His wife Christine commented that she forgave him and is standing by him, as he has always been honest about his extramarital affairs, of which she said this was "about number 26".[21][22] Following the publication of details of the affairs, Hemming voted for himself for the News of the World's 'Love Rat of the Year' competition,[23] dismissing his rivals for the award as "various drab people".[24] In 2010, his wife appeared in court charged with stealing a cat that belonged to Hemming's mistress.[19] Pleading "not guilty" on 7 February 2011, she was bailed and sent for trial in June.[25] After a three-day trial at Birmingham Crown Court, she was found guilty on 30 September 2011 and was sentenced to 9 months (suspended) for burglary.[26] A month after the trial the cat was found safe and well, having found itself under the care of another family.[27] However, this turned out to be a different cat.[28]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Estelle Morris |
Member of Parliament for Birmingham Yardley 2005–present |
Incumbent |