John Woodcock (politician)

John Woodcock
MP

Official Parliamentary Portrait, 2017
Shadow Minister for Transport
In office
9 October 2010 – 6 September 2015
Leader Ed Miliband
Preceded by Willie Bain
Succeeded by Daniel Zeichner
Member of Parliament
for Barrow and Furness
Assumed office
7 May 2010
Preceded by John Hutton
Majority 209 (0.5%)
Personal details
Born (1978-10-14) 14 October 1978
Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England[1]
Nationality British
Political party Labour Co-operative
Spouse(s) Mandy Telford (div. 2015)
Children Two daughters
Alma mater University of Edinburgh
Website www.johnwoodcock.org

John Zak Woodcock[2] (born 14 October 1978)[3] is a British Labour Co-operative politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Barrow and Furness since 2010.

Early life and career

Woodcock was born in Sheffield, attended the University of Edinburgh and worked as an aide to John Hutton from 2005 to 2008 and later as Special Adviser to Prime Minister Gordon Brown.[4][5]

Parliamentary career

Woodcock was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Barrow and Furness in the 2010 general election with a majority of 5,208.[6] He succeeded John Hutton, Labour MP for the constituency since 1992.

On 10 October 2010, only five months after being elected to Parliament, he was named a Shadow Minister for Transport. He stepped down from this post in January 2013. From July 2011 to January 2013 Woodcock was Chair of Labour Friends of Israel.[7]

He was also a member of the Public Bill Committee for the Defence Reform Act 2014[8]

Until 2015, Woodcock was the chair of Progress, a ginger group within the Labour Party, promoting Blairite policies within the party.[9]

In March 2015, Woodcock was reported to the UK Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards to determine whether his office had breached parliamentary rules. The investigation concerned his office's use of public funds for postage-paid envelopes and whether this contravened a rule which prohibits public funds being used to support the return of a person to public office. The postage-paid envelopes had been used in relation to a local Save Our Hospital campaign, an issue the local Conservative candidate claimed was prominent on Woodcock's 2015 General Election campaign leaflets.[10] During the Commission's investigation Woodcock admitted that he should not have used public funds for such a purpose and the Commissioner upheld the complaint, finding that Woodcock contravened parliamentary rules. Woodcock returned the £1881.22, which his office had spent on the envelopes, to the House of Commons.[11]

In December 2013, Woodcock publicly announced he was suffering from depression and is now having treatment for the condition.[12]

Since Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour Party in a landslide, Woodcock has been a strong critic, claiming Labour was "fucked".[13] In March 2016, Woodcock penned an article critical of Corbyn, which resulted in backlash against him.[14][15][16] Shortly after the announcement of the 2017 general election, Woodcock said he "will not countenance" voting to place Corbyn into Downing Street because of the Labour leader's opposition to the "Trident renewal programme" and would seek his constituency party's re-nomination.[17][18]

Woodcock was re-elected in the 2017 general election, with a reduced majority of 209 votes.[19]

Personal life

Woodcock was married to Mandy Telford, former President of the National Union of Students.[20] They have two daughters. The couple separated in late 2014, and Telford returned to live in Scotland with the children.[21] They divorced in 2015.[20]

Woodcock is currently believed to be personally involved with journalist Isabel Hardman of the Spectator magazine.[22][23]

References

  1. ↑ "Who's Who". Who's Who?. Retrieved on 1 July 2016.
  2. ↑ "No. 59418". The London Gazette. 13 May 2010. p. 8740.
  3. ↑ "John Woodcock MP". BBC Democracy Live. BBC. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  4. ↑ "Meet Labour's man set to replace John Hutton". North-West Evening Mail. 19 June 2009. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  5. ↑ Jess Freeman (9 July 2010). "NUS presidents: where are they now?". Total Politics. Retrieved 13 July 2010.
  6. ↑ "Barrow & Furness". BBC News. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  7. ↑ Dysch, Marcus (5 July 2011). "Labour Friends of Israel name new chair". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  8. ↑ "House of Commons Public Bill Committee on the Defence Reform Bill 2013–14". Parliament.uk. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  9. ↑ "Alison McGovern elected chair of Progress". Progress Online. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  10. ↑ "Barrow MP reported to watchdog over envelopes for raffle". North-West Evening Mail 5 March 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  11. ↑ "Complaint about Mr John Woodcock MP" (PDF). Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  12. ↑ I am depressed and I have decided to get help The Independent, 5 December 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  13. ↑ "Wrecker Woodcock refuses to apologise for FBU slur". Morning Star. Retrieved on 1 July 2016.
  14. ↑ Woodcock, John (24 March 2016). "Labour MP urges colleagues to rally against Jeremy Corbyn". The Mirror. Retrieved on 1 July 2016.
  15. ↑ PoliticsHome.com, (26 March 2016). "John Woodcock told to accept 'democratic decision' to elect Jeremy Corbyn". Politics Home. Retrieved on 1 July 2016.
  16. ↑ PoliticsHome.com, (26 March 2016). "Jeremy Corbyn urged to act over Momentum mental health jibe". Politics Home. Retrieved on 1 July 2016.
  17. ↑ Schofield, Kevin (18 April 2017). "Labour MP John Woodcock: I can't vote for Jeremy Corbyn to be Prime Minister". Politics Home. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  18. ↑ Mason, Rowena; Elgot, Jessica (18 April 2017). "Corbyn's decision to back election causes serious concerns among his MPs". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  19. ↑ Barrow and Furness parliamentary constituency - Election 2017 BBC News. Retrieved on 12 June 2017
  20. 1 2 Prince, Rosa (7 August 2015). "Liz Kendall hits out at unfounded sex smears". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  21. ↑ "Anna Smith". The Westmorland Gazette. 27 November 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  22. ↑ "PressReader.com - Connecting People Through News". www.pressreader.com. Retrieved 2017-06-09.
  23. ↑ "Isabel Hardman Archives - Guido Fawkes". Guido Fawkes. Retrieved 2017-06-09.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
John Hutton		 Member of Parliament for Barrow and Furness
2010–present 		Incumbent
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