John (Francis) SPELLAR Labour WARLEY '97- Majority: 15,451 (39.7

John (Francis) SPELLAR Labour WARLEY '97-

Majority: 15,451 (39.7%) over Conservative 4- way Description: Warley East renamed: on Birmingham's fringe, from which neighbour Andrew Faulds retired in '97; it is sharply divided between its strongly pro-Labour northern and eastern sections - the St Paul's, Smethwick and Soho-Victoria wards - which are 50% non- white, and its more lilywhite pro-Tory southern part around Old Warley and Warley Abbey; it is now a quarter non-white, 17% Asian, 5% black; Position: Defence's Minister of State '99- Under Secretary '97- 99; ex: Assistant Spokesman, for Defence '95-97, for Northern Ireland '94-95; Whip '92-94; on Select Committee on Energy '82- 83; Secretary, Labour MPs' Defence Committee '93-95; Bromley Borough Councillor '70-74; Secretary, Mainstream (Rightwing union pressure group) '85-97; Outlook: The most Rightwing Minister at Defence, "a job he does with adequate competence", "and can be relied on to say the right things about nuclear disarmament" (Quentin Letts, DAILY TELEGRAPH); "scourge of the Left" (David Walker, GUARDIAN); a very Rightwing loyalist operator-manipulator - Eric Hammond's and Frank Chapple's former speech-writer from the old EETPU; the former leader of `Mainstream', the Rightwing trade unionists' pressure group; has "unashamed and aggressive Rightwing opinions" and "hates the Left with a consuming passion" (Michael Toner, SUNDAY EXPRESS); "he is obsessed with Mr Benn; he doesn't like him and he won't stop saying so" (Joe Haines, DAILY MIRROR); "very much to the Right of [Senator] McCarthy" (Terry O'Neil, Bakers' Union leader); he "makes his colleagues seem like caring-sharing touchy-feely pantisocratic hippies" (Sion Simon, DAILY TELEGRAPH); "the leading member of the Labour Party's Book- Burning Tendency" ("Labour Insider", DAILY TELEGRAPH); "passionate on secrecy at the Ministry of Defence" during Cabinet committee meetings on Freedom of Information (David Hencke, GUARDIAN); the trade union Rightist so very much at home as a junior Minister in the Defence Department that "he wants to give the MoD back its old name, the War Office" (MAIL ON SUNDAY); is as bitter an opponent of the Liberal Democrats - particularly at the local level - as of Leftwing Labour types; edited LIBERAL WATCH which "records their dirty tricks [and] their failures"; pro: one-member, one-vote; anti: Militant, Tony Benn, CND, the hard Left, PR, private wheel-clamping, women-only short-lists, gays in the armed services; was the first-ever MP to use the word "cunt" in Parliament, when he inserted an extra `n' into cuts in Defence spending ("the most interesting thing he will ever say in his life" - Matthew Parris, TIMES); History: He joined the Labour Party '66; was Chairman of the Oxford University Labour Club '67; was elected a Bromley Borough Councillor May '70; contested hopeless Bromley, as Labour's youngest candidate June '70; was co-founder and Treasurer of the Social Democratic Alliance and Editor of its DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST BULLETIN from '80; sought Bermondsey selection with 16 nominations but was not short-listed by hard-Left local party, which preferred Peter Tatchell '81; was elected to London Labour Executive '81; won Northfield selection, defeating Birmingham's Lord Mayor, Councillor Ken Barton Aug '81; attacked Militant's "debilitating and parasitical" efforts to penetrate Labour Party, urging them to go to the electorate as a separate Trotskyist party Sep '82; ostentatiously rejected Tony Benn's help in by- election, even before it was offered Oct '82; after an abrasive and initially sectarian Rightwing campaign - according to his agent - very narrowly won Northfield by- election caused by the suicide of the sitting Tory MP Jocelyn Cadbury, defeating Roger Gale

1 Copyright © Parliamentary Profile Services Ltd. John (Francis) SPELLAR Labour WARLEY '97- by 289 votes; he lost 8.8% of Labour's '79 vote but the Tory lost 9.8%, with the Liberal gaining 18%, Oct '82; in Maiden emphasised the catastrophic decline of industrial employment, including the halving of workers in local Longbridge plant Nov '82; introduced Bill to regulate pensioners' standing charges for public utilities Dec '82; urged Government to get tough with multinationals for importing foreign cars under domestic brand names Mar'83; after proclaiming he would not support unilateralism, lost Northfield to Tory, Roger King, by 2,760 votes June '83; urged individual ballot of party members to choose European candidates July '83; was on Trade Union Advisory Panel of Labour Friends of Israel Oct '83; claimed that Rightwingers were loyal to Labour leadership, while hard-Left stabbed them in the back Jan '85; was re-selected from a short- list of six to contest Northfield, narrowly defeating a Leftwing challenge Mar '85; was unveiled as the chief galvaniser of `Mainstream', a new Rightwing trade union group to counter the Leftwing trade union organisation, BLOC (Broad Left Organising Committee) Apr '85; was endorsed by NEC Sep '85; urged supporters of ethnic minorities to back one-member one-vote because the minorities dominated some constituencies Sep '85; contested trade union section of NEC, winning 1,437,000 votes Sep '85; at annual conference agreed to remit motion on one-member one-vote Sep '85; admitted trying to help Robert Kilroy-Silk by sending in 15 extra EETPU delegates, "operating within party rules", to his Militant- threatened Knowsley North constituency party Sep '85; derided support of David Steel and David Owen for Michael Forsyth's Bill to enable people to become self-employed Feb '86; was part of campaign to purge Left from Labour's NEC, with his role being the replacement for NUM's Eric Clarke Aug '86; at annual conference again urged the introduction of one-member one-vote into the re- selection process; sharply contrasted the activity of hard-Left on key committees in local parties with non-Leftist activity in canvassing Oct '86; urged Government to place a new Midland coal- fired power station at the top of its priority list Mar '87; again lost Northfield to Roger King, by 3,135 votes June '87; at annual conference claimed that opposition to one-member one-vote was either a sign of intellectual arrogance or "Leninist vanguardism" Sep '87; his `Mainstream' group of Rightwing trade unionists was accused by TGWU leader Ron Todd of trying to "destabilise" his union's elections by backing an alternative slate of candidates in the executive elections Sep '88; complained at annual conference about Walworth Road's ineffectiveness; said EETPU had not decided whether it would be willing to pay increased fees to national headquarters but would continue to affiliate to regional parties, allowing it to increase the number of delegates sent to constituency management committees Oct '88; wrote that Bob Gillespie's disastrous selection at Govan had been a result of "pressure put on the NEC and the Leader's Office to include him" on the short-list Nov '88; was short-listed with Oonagh McDonald and Geoff Edge for Warley West, before Peter Archer's impending retirement Apr '89; won selection May '89; at annual conference urged open canvassing for selection Oct '89; denied claims that Liberal Democrats were winning 18% in local council elections, since statistics were based only on three-cornered contests, namely those seats LibDems preferred to fight because they were more favourable June '90; at annual conference said Labour had been taken over by extremists in the '70s and '80s because its structure was tailor-made for Leftwing plotters; it was necessary to broaden its base Oct '90; questions were asked about his role in packing the selection for Warley West and for Small Heath, where Roger Godsiff had been selected Jan '91; complained that PR fanatics were trying to confuse Labour's support for electoral reform - probably the alternative vote system - with proportional representation Apr '91; asked: "if the Liberals believe they will do so well under the alternative vote, why are they so opposed to it?" July '91; was accused of trying to hold Clare Short as a "hostage" by infiltrating EETPU delegates into her constituency committee Feb '92; in letter to TRIBUNE again wrote against PR, asking rhetorically: "whether any other party in political history has ever proposed a system that it knew in advance would work to its disadantage" Feb '92; indicated doubts about backing equal numbers of women in public

2 Copyright © Parliamentary Profile Services Ltd. John (Francis) SPELLAR Labour WARLEY '97- elections Mar '92; retained seat by a virtually identical majority of 5,472 Apr '92; visited Washington as guest of its Centre for Strategic and International Studies June '92; opposed abandonment of National Economic Development Council, whose electronic components committee he had attended before becoming an MP June '92; made his Maiden against private wheel-clamping July '92; voted for John Smith for Leader, Margaret Beckett for Deputy July '92; received second lowest number of votes for NEC Oct '92; attacked private wheel- clamping Oct '92; as "a Member sponsored by and political officer of the EETPU section of Amalgamated Enginering Electrical Union" backed industrial training levies Feb '93; visited Japan as guest of its Foreign Ministry Mar '93; visited Paris as guest of Washington's Centre for Strategic and International Studies Mar '93; introduced Bill to regulate funding of political parties June '93; he led the opposition to special quotas for women politicians, saying it would lower the quality of MPs; Alice Mahon said he would be more at home in Jurassic Park June '93; visited Israel as guest of its government Aug '93; at annual conference, again bitterly attacked women-only short-lists Sep '93; received second lowest number of votes for NEC Oct '93; voted to keep Sunday special Nov '93; was elected Secretary of the Labour MPs' Defence Committee Nov '93; led a debate attacking fiercely the "massive injustice" being inflicted by the Child Support Agency Dec '93; on the death of John Smith, backed Blair as his successor June '94; voted for Blair for Leader, John Prescott for Deputy Leader July '94; came second lowest, with 5,261 votes for the constituency section of the NEC Oct '94; was named Assistant Spokesman on Northern Ireland under Mo Mowlam Oct '94; demanded an inquiry into a proposed £60m grant to a Taiwan company led by fraudsters Dec '94; voted against easing Sunday drinking hours Feb '95; for the third time, introduced a Bill urging disclosure of the sources of donations to political parties, the prohibition of overseas donations and the publication of accounts Feb '95; he attacked the LibDems for their "dirty tricks" and their "pompous, self-righteous posturing" Apr '95; contested the Fabians' Executive Council on the grounds it was becoming too enthusiastic about the market; his boss as Northern Ireland chief spokesman, Mo Mowlam, entered the contest as a `stop-Spellar' candidate Aug '95; was named an Assistant Spokesman on Defence in Shadow Cabinet reshuffle Oct '95; voted with `awkward squad' against reform of Parliamentary procedure Nov '95; urged a further simplification of Labour Party organisation and functions Dec '95; he had the 2nd Reading of his Regulation of Funding of Political Parties Bill, which met with Tory hostility Apr '96; said Liberal Democrats were "as venomous and virulent" as ever on the local level Apr '96; he opposed lifting the ban on gays in the services May '96; he attacked proposals for closer links with the LibDems May '96; again campaigned against the "licensed robbery" of private wheel- clamping May '96; criticised the sale of servicemen's housing June '96; voted for a 3% limit on MPs' salary increase, against a curb on MPs' mileage allowances July '96; was confirmed as an Assistant Spokesman for Defence in Tony Blair's `final' pre- election Shadow Cabinet July '96; in imitation of Clem Attlee's warning to Harold Laski, urged silence on Leftwingers until the election Jan '97; attacked the Tories for having accused Labour of planning to cut Defence spending by 27%. then cutting it by 31% themselves Feb '97; in the redrawn seat of Warley, received a 15,451 majority, a 10.5% notional swing to Labour May '97; was named Under Secretary for Defence, as one of the Rightwing "three Johns" - Reid, Gilbert and Spellar - underpinning Defence Secretary George Robertson: "a collection of small Celtic pugilists and Cockney bruisers, the sort who like to headbutt much larger chaps outside pubs at closing time" (David Aaronovitch, INDEPENDENT) May '97; said the MoD was seeking compensation for late delivery of Hercules heavylift aircraft from US June '97; he reasserted the new Government's commitment to the European Fighter Aircraft July '97; he attacked former Tory Defence Secretary Michael Portillo for having sold the MoD's housing estate to a Japanese-led consortium, after an NAO report disclosing he had wasted £139m of taxpayers' money Aug '97; foreign defence contractors paid handsomely to share his table at the Metropole Hotel during Labour's annual conference Oct '97; announced

3 Copyright © Parliamentary Profile Services Ltd. John (Francis) SPELLAR Labour WARLEY '97- that foxes could no longer be dug up out of MoD land, but fox-hunting was a ways by which "fox numbers on the Defence estate are reduced" Nov '97; belatedly conceded that safety regulations had been breached, resulting in dockyard workers suffering cancer from radiation exposure while servicing nuclear submarines at Chatham Naval Dockyard Jan '98; said the cost of clearing fields of dumped chemical weapons near a Porton Down outpost would be "prohibitive" and "not a task for which my department, or any other, is funded" June '98; insisted that the end of the `cold war' the TA had lost many of its roles, such as defending key installations in case of an invasion Sep '98; spoke against PR for Westminster at the Imperial Hotel on the conference fringe Sep '98; insisted that Belgrade TV had been bombed as "an instrument of repression" Apr '99; said "We have made a submission in support of anonymity" at the `Bloody Sunday' inquiry "and we are also funding the soldiers' lawyers" May '99; he paid tribute to the Parachute Regiment June '99; he was cited as having been "passionate on secrecy at the Ministry of Defence" in meetings of the Cabinet committee on Freedom of Information June '99; insisted that the Strategic Defence Review had increased regular soldiers by 3,000 in certain key categories June '99; was promoted Minister of State, as Armed Forces Minister, replacing Doug Henderson July '99; insisted Porton Down had opened up, but not fully Aug '99; insisted "the MoD places a very high priority on wildlife conservation" Aug '99; said there was no plan to end the ban on gays in the armed forces before 2001, Sep '99; was overheard to say, "I've waited 10 years for a decent war, now I've got three" Oct '99; he refused to tell LibDem spokesman Menzies Campbell the total number of tanks fit for military service Nov '99; he welcomed plans by the Prison Service to give young offenders the chance of a service career after completing their sentences Nov '99; when Tory spokesman Iain Duncan-Smith attacked "overstretch", Spellar shouted, "Which of our commitments would the Opposition not undertake?" Nov '99; announced the awarding of a £2.2b contract for the management of the Aldermaston nuclear weapons facility to the AWE Management Ltd consortium including BNFL Dec '99; joked that his commitment to Freedom of Information was such that he wanted the London A-Z banned lest it fall into the hands of an invading Russian force Dec '99; denied that the Government had cut £1.5 from defence medical spending Jan '00; admitted that faulty Defence radios would have to be replaced Jan '00; was the first MP to mention the word "cunt" when he inserted an `n' into `cut' in referring to spending cuts on Defence Medical Services which "have gone too far" Jan '00; he introduced the 2nd Reading of the Armed Forces Discipline Bill to bring discipline into compliance with the Human Rights Act Feb '00; he refused to agree to allow the collection of campaign medals earned by the `Salerno mutineers', endorsing General Montgomery's judgement: "to grant a pardon... would be a disservice to other 8th Army veterans who obeyed orders, whether they liked them or not, and fought on" Mar '00; he was criticised by the International Development Select Committee for having tried to overcharge Clare Short's department, when she had asked for helicopters for use in the Mozambique floods Apr '00; he represented the UK Government at the new Gallipoli memorial to the Anzac dead May '00; a £2,000 laptop computer was stolen from his Bromley home June '00; he deplored FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL's "unbalanced" disclosure of poor targeting by NATO during the Kosovo conflict Aug '00; ignoring the scathing criticisms of inefficiencies in the Kosovo war by the authoritative Defence Select Committee, he insisted that "the departure of Milosevic's troops from Kosovo, the return of Kosovan Albanians, and now the rejection of Milosevic's dictatorship by the people of Serbia has shown that NATO's approach was right" Oct '00; admitted that the MoD had failed to warn Gulf War servicemen of the risks of spent-nuclear shells Nov '00; Born: 5 August 1947 , Bromley Family: Son, William Spellar, war-disabled pensioner; m '81 Anne (Wilmot), dentist daughter of former curate of Northfield's St Laurence's Church; 1d Judith Megan;

Education: Bromley Parish Primary; Dulwich College (Wodehouse's Alma Mater); St Edmund Hall, Oxford (PPE); Occupation: Ex: Parliamentary Adviser, to PQ Parliamentay Information Service (fee donated to his local party) '92-97; formerly Sponsored '92-95, '82-83 by AEEU/EEPTU as a former National Officer as Head of Research and former speech-writer to Eric Hammond and Frank (later Lord) Chapple '76-92; the EEPTU has been amalgamated into the AEEU; Traits: Short; slight; curly ginger beard; specs; punchy; "he does talk in the most irascible way...even his most pedestrian answers are spat out like the outbursts of a man provoked beyond endurance" (Matthew Parris, TIMES); "he burbles his answers", but "treats...the Dispatch Box...with proper respect; he has a habit of touching its sides with slightly wary hands, like a galley orderly testing a hot plate" (Quentin Letts, DAILY TELEGRAPH); "abrasive" with "more than his fair share of insouciance" (Cllr Dick Knowles, his '82 agent); "brash and pugnacious" (GUARDIAN); "none is more strident" (Simon Hoggart, OBSERVER); "famous for his prodigious thirst" (PRIVATE EYE); Address: House of Commons, Westminster, London SW1A 0AA; 115 London Lane, Bromley Kent; Telephone: 020 7219 5800 (H of C); 020 8470 0187 (home);