Lawrie Quinn

Lawrie Quinn
Member of Parliament
for Scarborough and Whitby
In office
1 May 1997  5 May 2005
Preceded by Constituency Established
Succeeded by Robert Goodwill
Personal details
Born (1956-12-25) 25 December 1956
Carlisle, Cumbria
Nationality British
Political party Labour
Spouse(s) Anne Christine Eames
Alma mater University of Hertfordshire

Lawrence William Quinn (born 25 December 1956) is a British Labour Party politician, railway engineer and from 1997 to 2005 he was the Member of Parliament for Scarborough and Whitby.

Early life and education

Quinn was born in Harraby, a suburb of Carlisle, Cumbria. He attended Pennine Way Primary School and North Cumbria Technology College (then known as Harraby Comprehensive School) Harraby Comprehensive School. In 1979, at Hatfield Polytechnic, he gained a BSc in civil engineering.[1]

Prior to his election to Parliament, he was a civil engineer with British Rail (1979–94) and Railtrack London North-East (1994-7), and a member of North Yorkshire County Council from 1989-93.

Parliamentary career

From 1989 to 1993, Quinn was a Councillor on North Yorkshire County Council, serving on the Highways Committee, the Policy and Resources Committee and the Planning Committee.[1]

He was Member of Parliament for Scarborough and Whitby for two terms until being ousted by Conservative candidate Robert Goodwill in the United Kingdom general election of 2005. Lawrie lost the seat by 1,245 votes. It has been suggested that votes for the local Liberal Democrat candidate, the Iraq war, and negative feeling towards Tony Blair (who visited Scarborough the day before polling day to consolidate support) resulted in the marginal loss.

He was unexpectedly elected to Parliament in the 1997 General Election, as part of the Labour landslide election victory while he was not really expecting to win a normally Conservative seat which he retained in the 2001 General Election, and is a member of the Fabian Society.

Since losing his seat he has returned to engineering, working as Tube Lines New Works Delivery Manager on secondment from Bechtel (2005 until 2007) then as the Rail Projects Delivery Manager for Bechtel based in London.

Personal life

He married Anne Christine Eames in 1982.

References

  1. 1 2 "A biography of Lawrie Quinn". Lawrie Quinn. Retrieved 21 July 2015.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency Member of Parliament for Scarborough and Whitby
19972005
Succeeded by
Robert Goodwill
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