Joe Benton

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Joe Benton
MP
Joe Benton, 2012
Member of Parliament
for Bootle
Incumbent
Assumed office
8 November 1990
Preceded by Michael Carr
Majority 21,181 (51.3%)
Personal details
Born (1933-09-28) 28 September 1933
Bootle, Lancashire, England
Nationality British
Political party Labour
Spouse(s) Doris Wynne
Religion Roman Catholic

Joseph Edward Benton (born 28 September 1933) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bootle since 1990.

Early life

Benton was born in Bootle, Merseyside and was educated at the St Monica's Roman Catholic Primary School on Aintree Road and Secondary School in Bootle and the Bootle Municipal Technical College (called the Hugh Baird College of Further Education since 1974 when after merging with the Art College in 1968). On leaving school in 1949 he received an apprenticeship as a fitter and turner. He entered National Service in 1955 with the RAF. In 1958 he joined the Pacific Steam Navigation Company as a personnel officer, remaining in this position until 1981. In 1982 he became a personnel manager with Girobank.

He has been a Justice of the Peace on the Bootle Bench since 1969. He was elected to serve as a councillor on Bootle County Borough council in 1970, moving to Sefton Borough Council after local government reform in 1973 and serving until his election to Parliament in 1990. Benton was Leader of the Council from 1985. He was member for the Derby ward from 1970 to 1991 being replaced by Peter Dowd.

Parliamentary career

Bootle saw the death of two young Labour MPs in 1990. Allan Roberts died on March 21 after a long battle with cancer; Benton was on the shortlist to follow him but lost out to Mike Carr who won the by-election on 24 May. Carr died on 20 July as a result of a heart attack just 57 days after his election. Benton won the selection to fight the second by-election in Bootle. He was elected comfortably on 8 November, obtaining 78% of the vote and nearly ten times that of his nearest rival, the Conservative James Clappison. Following the 2001 General Election, he held the safest Labour seat in the country.

Benton was appointed as an opposition whip by John Smith in 1994, but was given a government post by Tony Blair after the 1997 General Election.

Benton has voted to restrict the availability of abortion, and opposes embryo research and euthanasia. He was also one of fifteen Labour MPs to oppose the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill which equalised the age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual sex. In February 2012, Benton signed a petition sponsored by the Coalition for Marriage which states "I support the legal definition of marriage which is the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others. I oppose any attempt to redefine it." [1]

Personal life

He married Doris Wynne in 1959 in Bootle and they have four daughters. The tip of Benton's index finger was bitten off by a dog while out campaigning on 6 May 2010 in his Bootle constituency. He was hospitalized and could not vote in the General Election as a result.[2]

References

  1. ↑ http://c4m.org.uk/signatures/
  2. ↑ Williams, Liza (7 May 2010). "Bootle MP Joe Benton awaits operation to save finger bitten off by dog". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 18 October 2011. 

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Mike Carr		 Member of Parliament for Bootle
1990–present 		Incumbent
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