John Grogan (British politician)

John Grogan
Member of Parliament for Selby
In office 1 May 1997 – 6 May 2010
Preceded by	Michael Alison
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	(1961-02-24) 24 February 1961 Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour

John Timothy Grogan (born 24 February 1961) is a British Labour Party politician, who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Selby between 1997 and 2010.

In November 2013 Grogan was selected as the Labour Party's Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Keighley for the upcoming 2015 UK General Election. He is currently chair of the Mongolian–British Chamber of Commerce (MBCC).^[1]

Early life

Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, Grogan was educated at St Michael's RC College, a Jesuit school in Leeds and St John's College, Oxford. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Modern History and Economics in 1982, and also served as the President of the Oxford University Student Union.

He worked as a communications coordinator with the Leeds City Council from 1987 to 1994 before setting up his own conference business from 1996-7. He worked for the Labour Party in various capacities in both Leeds and Wolverhampton. He also acted as the Labour Party press officer in the European Parliament at Brussels in 1995.

Parliamentary career

Grogan unsuccessfully contested the North Yorkshire seat of Selby at the 1987 general election against the Conservative MP Michael Alison, losing by 13,779 votes. He again contested the seat for the second time at the 1992 General Election but was again defeated by Alison by 9,508 votes.

Between the 1987 and 1992 elections, he also stood unsuccessfully to become a Member of the European Parliament for York in 1989.

Grogan was then elected to the House of Commons at the 1997 general election for Selby. As the incumbent Alison had retired at the election, Grogan defeated the former Conservative MP for West Lancashire, Kenneth Hind, who had lost his seat in 1992, with a majority of 3,836. He made his maiden speech on 7 July 1997.^[2]

He led the campaign to save the Selby Coalfield in 2002.^[3] In 1999, he called for a memorial to the heroism of women during World War II to be remembered on the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square, with the campaign gaining the backing of the then Speaker of the House of Commons, Betty Boothroyd, and the Princess Royal.^[4] Although the campaign was unsuccessful a monument has since been erected in Whitehall.

At the 2005 general election, he retained his seat with a reduced majority of 467 votes, making the seat the 15th most marginal Labour-held seat in the UK.

During his time as in parliament, Grogan served as a member of the Northern Ireland Select Committee from 1997 until 2001, and then again from 2005 until 2010.

In 2009 John Grogan gained national coverage for his campaign against the proposed options for the privatisation of Royal Mail.^[5] detention of suspects for 42 days,^[6] gambling deregulation,^[7] He has also campaigned against the proposed expansion of Heathrow Airport,^[8] the top-up tuition fee reforms in 2004^[9] and voted against the UK's involvement in the Iraq War in 2003.^[10] While serving as an MP, he also campaigned for reform of the licensing laws,^[11] the smoking ban,^[12] bus regulation^[13] and public service broadcasting.^[14] Grogan also campaigned for the protection of the rights of agency workers,^[15] the regulation of lobbyists^[16] and access for all to sporting listed events on free-to-air TV.^[17] He was also the chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on the BBC, Beer and Mongolia.

While serving as the MP for Selby, Grogan also supported the building of a new by-pass for Selby,^[18] as well as a new hospital^[19] and the expansion of its flood defences.^[20]

In 2006, Grogan confirmed he would not contest the next general election after it was announced his seat of Selby was to be split into two separate constituencies at the 2010 election.^[21]

During and after the 2009 expenses scandal, Grogan was criticised by The Daily Telegraph for claiming £150.00 on parliamentary expenses for English language tuition for a Malaysian intern. It was reported by the newspaper to have been in order for the intern to be able to "understand his [Mr Grogan's] constituents’ Yorkshire accents".^[22]

In 2013, Grogan was selected as the Labour candidate for Keighley for the 2015 election.^[23]

Personal life

Grogan lives in Burley in Wharfedale, West Yorkshire. He is a supporter of Yorkshire County Cricket Club and Bradford City A.F.C..

He is the honorary president of the University of York Labour Club. He is a member of the Fabian Society and the Institute for Public Policy Research.

References

External links

• Guardian - MPs Uncovered
• Guardian Unlimited Politics — Ask Aristotle: John Grogan MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com — John Grogan MP
• BBC Politics page
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Grogan

News items

• His week in politics in March 2001