BRIEFING PAPER Number CBP 8256, 13 March 2018 Members of the House of By Chris Watson Commons since 1979 Mark Fawcett Contents: 1. Background 2. All Members of the House of Commons since the 1979 General Election www.parliament.uk/commons-library | intranet.parliament.uk/commons-library | [email protected] | @commonslibrary ii Members of the House of Commons since 1979 Contents Summary iii Glossary iv 1. Background vii 1.1 Gender vii 1.2 Age viii 1.3 Ethnicity ix 1.4 Occupation x 2. All Members of the House of Commons since the 1979 General Election xi A 1 B 8 C 33 D 53 E 65 F 70 G 80 H 93 I 115 J 116 K 124 L 130 M 142 N 171 O 174 P 178 Q 189 R 189 S 201 T 222 U 231 V 232 W 233 Y 250 Z 251 Contributing Authors: Oliver Hawkins, Richard Cracknell, Lucinda Maer, Richard Kelly, Mark Sandford, Neil Johnston, Hazel Armstrong, Sarah Priddy, Paul Little Cover page image copyright : Attributed to: Theresa May's first PMQs as Prime Minister by UK Parliament. Licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 / image cropped. iii Commons Library Briefing, 13 March 2018 Summary Since the 1979 General Election, there have been 2,128 people elected to the House of Commons. Of these, 403 have been women and 1,725 have been men. This publication lists all Members of the House of Commons starting from the 1979 General Election which took place on the 3 May. It is a new edition of our 2010 publication. The data has been extracted from the UK Parliament’s database of Members known as the Members’ Names Information Service (MNIS). We endeavour to ensure the data is up to date and as complete as possible. Errors are sometimes made and appointments are occasionally missed. The method of entering data has altered over time so there may be slight inconsistencies in different periods. The newer the information, the more confident we can be of its accuracy. We have not published fields on Committee membership data in this edition. This publication aims to not only display the members of the House of Commons in this period but allows us to check the data that we hold. If you do spot any errors or missing data, please contact us on [email protected]. We only hold data on certain roles, honours or posts. The data for this publication was extracted from MNIS on the 31st January 2018. The data shown in this publication can be downloaded in JSON format in the attached file: members-since-1979.json. Due to the complexities with the data, some manual changes have been made to the PDF output. Consequently, the json file below will not match exactly with the published document. You can access live data on members elected to Parliament since the 1979 General Election in XML format through the Members Names Information Service (MNIS) with this link. To request this data in JSON format add "application/json" in either the accept or content- type request header of your http request. For further information on downloading machine-readable data on MPs from MNIS please see the documentation. iv Members of the House of Commons since 1979 Glossary Fields The possible fields for each MP are as follows, along with a brief explanation or their criteria: Name: This is the MP’s ‘preferred name’ as recorded by the Journal Office on 31st January 2018 or on their last day of service in the House of Commons. If they have left the House and have subsequently changed their name or been awarded a title, they may now be known as a different name or title. We have included all titles except for Mr/Miss/Mrs/Ms. We have done this to avoid confusion should names have changed since leaving the House of Commons but also in order to avoid offence by leaving out titles awarded by honours or qualifications. Member for: This is the MP’s constituency/election history. This field shows the constituencies they have represented and illustrates any breaks of service. Party: This field lists their party allegiance history, it continues in to the Lords if they have left the Commons and changed allegiance there. First elected: This is date in which an MP was first elected to the House of Commons. If ‘(by)’ is present, their entry was at a by- election. If not, they were first elected at a general election. Maiden speech: This field lists their House of Commons maiden speech date and the corresponding Hansard reference. Also contested: This field displays any occasions where the Member has stood unsuccessfully for election to the House of Commons. Posts: As with party allegiance, a record of posts held by each member continues into the House of Lords if on the database. This is as complete a record as possible but there may be some omissions. Duplicate roles maybe indicate a change in the department that role falls under, joint posts may be indicated separately. o Ministerial posts: This field shows government posts held. Please note, not all instances will have been recorded. We hold data on secretaries of state and ministers. We do not hold information on parliamentary private secretaries. The method of entering data has altered over time so there may be slight inconsistencies in the way these are described (e.g. Minister or Minister of State). o Opposition posts: As for ministerial posts but with any recorded posts in opposition. This includes posts in parties who were not part of the official opposition if recorded on the database. o Other posts: This field displays any recorded parliamentary/party posts that do not come under the category of government or opposition posts. v Commons Library Briefing, 13 March 2018 Entered House of Lords: This is for House of Commons Members since 1979 who have subsequently qualified to sit in the House of Lords. The field lists the “date of announcement”. If the date is starred*, the “date of announcement” is not available and we have consequently used the “date of introduction”. Honours/awards: This field lists any honours or awards received, including appointments to the Privy Council or if a Member has been called to the bar as a QC. Below is a key explaining what all the abbreviations mean. If honours have been awarded before or after being a Member of the House of Commons, they may not have been captured on the database. Date of birth: This field will appear if the data is available and recorded on the database. In some cases, if a specific day is unknown, the data may show the 1st or the middle date of the month/year. Date of Death: If applicable, this field will show if the data is recorded on the database. In some cases, if a specific day is unknown, the data may show the 1st or the middle date of the month/year. Gender: Male or Female vi Members of the House of Commons since 1979 Honours Below an explanation of honour/award acronyms: Abbreviation Meaning AE Air Efficiency Award AO Order of Australia BEM British Empire Medal Bt Baronet CBE Commander, Order of the British Empire CH Order of the Companions of Honour CMG Order of Saint Michael and Saint George DBE Dame Commander, Order of the British Empire DL Deputy Lieutenant DSO Distinguished Service Order ERD Emergency Reserve Decoration FBA Fellow of the British Academy FCA Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants FCCA Fellow Member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants FRS Fellow of the Royal Society FRSE Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh FRSL Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature GBE Knight Grand Cross, Order British Empire GCMG Grand Cross, St Michael and St George GCVO Grand Cross, Royal Victorian Order JP Justice of the Peace KBE Knight Bachelor, Order British Empire KCB Knight Commander, Order of the Bath KCMG Knight Commander, Order of St Michael and St George KCSG Knight Commander, Order of St. Gregory the Great KCVO Knight, Royal Victorian Order KG Knight of the Garter KGCB Knight Grand Cross, Order of the Bath KT Knight of the Thistle Kt Knight Bachelor LG Lady of the Garter LLB Bachelor of Laws degree MBE Member, Order of the British Empire MC Military Cross OBE Officer, Order of the British Empire OM Order of Merit PC Privy Councillor PC (NI) Privy Councillor in the Privy Council of Northern Ireland QC Queen’s Counsel QC (NI) Queen’s Counsel (Northern Ireland) QC (Scot) Queen’s Counsel (Scotland) QSO Queen's Service Order RD Decoration for Officers of the Royal Naval Reserve TD Territorial Decoration VRD Decoration for Officers of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve vii Commons Library Briefing, 13 March 2018 1. Background 1.1 Gender There were 208 female MPs elected at the 2017 General Election (32% of all MPs) – the highest ever number and proportion. There were 19 female MPs in 1979, 3% of the total. The number of female MPs rose slowly over the next three parliaments to 60 in 1992. With the 1997 Labour landslide, the number of women MPs doubled to 120. That number fell back to 118 after the 2001 election but rose again in at subsequent general elections. Table 1: Men and women MPs 1979 to 2017 Election Men Women Total % women More information on the subjects 1979 616 19 635 3% covered in this 1983 627 23 650 4% background can be 1987 609 41 650 6% found in our Social 1992 591 60 651 9% 1997 539 120 659 18% Background of MPs 2001 541 118 659 18% 1979-2017 briefing 2005 518 128 646 20% paper.