Members 1979-2010 RESEARCH PAPER 10/33 28 April 2010 This Research Paper provides a complete list of all Members who have served in the House of Commons since the general election of 1979 to the dissolution of Parliament on 12 April 2010. The Paper also provides basic biographical and parliamentary data. The Library and House of Commons Information Office are frequently asked for such information and this Paper is based on the data we collate from published sources to assist us in responding. This Paper replaces an earlier version, Research Paper 09/31. Oonagh Gay Richard Cracknell Jeremy Hardacre Jean Fessey Recent Research Papers 10/22 Crime and Security Bill: Committee Stage Report 03.03.10 10/23 Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Bill [HL] [Bill 79 of 2009-10] 08.03.10 10/24 Local Authorities (Overview and Scrutiny) Bill: Committee Stage Report 08.03.10 10/25 Northern Ireland Assembly Members Bill [HL] [Bill 75 of 2009-10] 09.03.10 10/26 Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Bill: Committee Stage Report 11.03.10 10/27 Unemployment by Constituency, February 2010 17.03.10 10/28 Transport Policy in 2010: a rough guide 19.03.10 10/29 Direct taxes: rates and allowances 2010/11 26.03.10 10/30 Digital Economy Bill [HL] [Bill 89 of 2009-10] 29.03.10 10/31 Economic Indicators, April 2010 06.04.10 10/32 Claimant Count Unemployment in the new (2010) Parliamentary 12.04.10 Constituencies Research Paper 10/33 Contributing Authors: Oonagh Gay, Parliament and Constitution Centre Richard Cracknell, Social and General Statistics Section Jeremy Hardacre, Statistics Resources Unit Jean Fessey, House of Commons Information Office This information is provided to Members of Parliament in support of their parliamentary duties and is not intended to address the specific circumstances of any particular individual. It should not be relied upon as being up to date; the law or policies may have changed since it was last updated; and it should not be relied upon as legal or professional advice or as a substitute for it. A suitably qualified professional should be consulted if specific advice or information is required. This information is provided subject to our general terms and conditions which are available online or may be provided on request in hard copy. Authors are available to discuss the content of this briefing with Members and their staff, but not with the general public. We welcome comments on our papers; these should be e-mailed to [email protected]. ISSN 1368-8456 Contents Summary 1 1 Introduction 2 1.1 Scope of the data in Part 2 2 Other relevant material 3 1.2 MPs since 1979 – statistical summary 3 Age 3 Gender 4 Occupation 4 Ethnicity 5 Education 6 Parliamentary Experience 6 1.3 Data in Part 3 7 2 A-Z of Members since 1979 8 3 Stenton and Lees Addenda 191 3.1 Volume III (those who ceased to be Members in July 1945 or before, whose death had not occurred or been traced in 1979) 191 3.2 Volume IV (those who ceased to be Members July 1945-1979) 195 Tables Table 1. Ages of Members of Parliament elected at General Elections 3 Table 2. Ages of MPs elected at 2005 General Election by party 4 Table 3. Male and Female MPs 1979 to 2005 4 Table 4. Women MPs by Party 1979 to 2005 4 Table 5. MPs Occupations 1979 to 2005 5 Table 6. Occupation of MPs elected at the 2005 General Election 5 Table 7. Ethnicity of MPs elected at General Elections 1987 to 2005 6 Table 8. Education of MPs elected in General Elections 1979 to 2005 (3 main parties) 6 Table 9. MPs elected at 2005 General Election by date first elected and party 7 Table 10. MPs first elected at General Elections 1979 to 2005 7 Table 11. Stenton and Lees Addenda Volume III 191 Table 12. Stenton and Lees Addenda Volume IV 195 RESEARCH PAPER 10/33 Summary This Research Paper provides a complete list of all Members who have served in the House of Commons since the general election of 1979 until the dissolution of the 2005 Parliament on 12 April 2010. It provides basic biographical and parliamentary information for each Member. The Library and the House of Commons are frequently asked for such information and this paper is based on the data we collate from published sources to assist us in responding. An earlier edition of this Paper was produced on 20 April 2009 as Research Paper 09/31. This Paper updates, corrects and replaces the earlier version. It also gives new information on the date of the maiden speech for each Member and details of Commons committees chaired since 2005. A statistical summary draws together some salient characteristics of Members in the Parliament from 1979 to 2010. This Paper attempts to provide accurate data, but the Library would be very grateful to receive comments and corrections so that these can be corrected on the online version and in any future edition. These should be sent to [email protected] or Ms Oonagh Gay, 1 Derby Gate, London SW1A 2DG. Information about MPs who entered the Commons before 1979 is available in four volumes from Michael Stenton and Stephen Lee’s Who’s Who of British Members of Parliament (1981), which was compiled from the biographical records of Members given in successive issues of Dod’s Parliamentary Companion. These volumes covered the years 1832 to 1979. The Library and Stephen Lees have systematically updated the entries for these volumes, so that the dates at which pre-1979 Members died are recorded. These updates form the second part of this Research Paper. The work has also enabled us to produce a list of all living former Members as of January 2010, available as a Parliamentary Information List. 1 RESEARCH PAPER 10/33 1 Introduction This Paper provides a complete list of all Members who have served in the House of Commons since the general election of 1979 until 12 April 2010, the date of the dissolution of the 2005 Parliament. It updates and corrects Research Paper 09/31 published on 20 April 2009, which presented similar data for the period up to 31 March 2009. 1.1 Scope of the data in Part 2 Members with any service since 1979 are included, with a cut-off date of 12 April 2010.The information published covers the following categories: • Personal details (full name, gender, date of birth and death, honours awarded, peerage) • Constituency representation (names of constituencies represented and dates) • Other UK Parliament electoral history (elections contested but lost) • Representation in other legislatures (UK devolved legislatures and European Parliament) • Party allegiance (only covering the time in the UK Parliament or other legislatures) • Ministerial posts (including whips, but not Parliamentary Private Secretaries) • All Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet posts held, and, from 2005, all LD and Con opposition posts held • Selected other posts (including Parliamentary and devolved legislature offices and party leadership) • Chairs of Commons select committees and nominated House committees held since the General Election 2005 • Dates of maiden speeches The details given are taken from official records, such as the swearing-in lists in the House of Commons Journal, and from records compiled by the Library. Generally the details are not sourced from the information supplied (by Members themselves) to Dods and reproduced in Who’s Who of British MPs, although such sources were used to check for errors. External sources used to cross check information include: Dod’s Parliamentary Companion, Who’s Who, the Keele University General Elections since 1832 website 1 and the Britain Votes series (Colin Rallings & Michael Thrasher (previously FWS Craig)). Ministerial posts were checked with Nuffield College’s Whitehall Programme database.2 We are also grateful to Professor Michael Rush of the University of Exeter who provided access to his database of backgrounds and career patterns of Members since 1832. The following categories of information are not included: • Select committee membership. The addition of this data is an on-going project. Information about select committee membership for individual Members is available from the House of Commons Information Office. • Personal information, such as marriages and offspring. This can be obtained from a variety of sources, including Who’s Who/Who Was Who, Dod’s Parliamentary Companion, and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 1 http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/edates.htm 2 The Whitehall Programme was an ESRC programme of research into ministers and the senior civil service. See: http://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/Politics/Whitehall/ 2 RESEARCH PAPER 10/33 Other relevant material The dates of maiden speeches are available in two Parliamentary Information Lists that can be accessed via the internet: • Maiden Speeches 1979 onward • Maiden Speeches 1945-1979 In addition, a Parliamentary Information List Living Former Members lists living former Members as at 21 January 2010. 1.2 MPs since 1979 – statistical summary In the 7 General Elections and 128 by-elections since 1979 to April 2010, 1,608 individuals have been elected as Members of Parliament. 655 were first elected as Conservative MPs, 724 Labour and 125 Liberal Democrat3; 1,402 MPs since 1979 were men and 206 (13%) were women. Of the 206 women MPs, 139 were first elected as Labour MPs, 37 Conservative and 19 Liberal Democrat4. Of the 1,608 MPs since 1979, 211 first entered Parliament as by-election winners and 1,397 were at general elections. Age The average age of MPs has been remarkably consistent since 1979, at around 50 years.