Dennis Skinner

Dennis Edward Skinner MP
Member of Parliament for Bolsover
Incumbent
Assumed office 18 June 1970
Preceded by	Harold Neal
Majority	18,437
Personal details
Born	(1932-02-11) 11 February 1932 Clay Cross, Derbyshire
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour

Dennis Edward Skinner (born February 11, 1932, Clay Cross, Derbyshire) is a British politician, and Labour Member of Parliament for Bolsover since 1970.

He was chairman of the Labour Party between 1988 and 1989, and has sat on the National Executive Committee in most years since 1978. He identifies with the left of his party, is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group, and was once described by The Economist as a "hard-left oddball".

Early Life

Skinner's politics have been influenced by his background. The Bolsover area was formerly dominated by coal mining, and Skinner began his working life as a miner, although he won a place at Tupton Grammar School (now called Tupton Hall School) when he was 11. He was a miner from 1949-70 at Parkhouse Colliery in Clay Cross until 1962 when it closed, and Glapwell Colliery near Chesterfield. He joined the Labour Party in 1956. He later attended Ruskin College in Oxford in 1967 after doing a preparatory course run by the NUM at the University of Sheffield. He was a councillor on Derbyshire County Council from 1964-70, and a Clay Cross councillor from 1960-70.

He became leader of the Derbyshire area of the National Union of Mineworkers between 1966 and 1970. He often tells the (possibly apocryphal) anecdote of turning up for work at his colliery after he had been elected as an MP, refusing to see this as his new occupation. This is why Skinner refuses to miss any sitting in the House of Commons, saying that "if you missed a shift at the pit, you would get the sack". He also refuses to adopt the Pairing system in which he can pair with a Conservative MP and if one misses a vote, the other one can, saying he won't cover for them whilst they "Go swanning off to Ascot or to their boardrooms". As well as this, Skinner holds the distinguished position of being an MP who claims the least expenses from the government, being in third of the 'bottom five' claimers. In The 2004 - 05 sitting of the House, claiming the least expenses for an MP who served the full year. [1] He has never been a member of an All-Party Parliamentary Group; does not eat alongside parliamentary colleagues in the Commons dining room; does not take trips or vacations 'paid for' by others; never drinks in the Commons bar; and stays in the House of Commons during the Queen's Speech at the State Opening of Parliament.

Member of Parliament

Avowedly, he is one of the few members whose politics remain strongly "class" based. During the years when Margaret Thatcher was British Prime Minister he persistently argued that the Labour Party should fight for the working-class as strongly as he thought the Conservatives were fighting for the middle-class. He was a strong supporter of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and its then leader, Arthur Scargill, in the year-long miners' strike of 1984-85. Later, he broke with Scargill when the Socialist Labour Party was formed. In November 1990 when Thatcher made her final Prime Minister's Question Time appearance, veteran Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (MP) Alan Beith (then Treasury Spokesperson for the Lib Dems) asked a question about the European Central Bank, and Skinner quipped "No, she's going to be the Governor". Thatcher herself has called Skinner a "Marvellous Parliamentarian".

He frequently takes a liberal or 'left wing' stance regarding social issues. Having voted for gay rights on every single bill in the House, Skinner has established himself as a leading Member advocating equality for homosexuals [2]. Furthermore, throughout his career he has maintained a strongly pro-choice stance on abortion. On several occasions he has enabled the defeat of moves to reduce the number of weeks the operation can be legally performed in Britain, by talking out the measure (filibustering) and other tactics. One such example was on January 20, 1989, when he held up proceedings by trying to move a writ for a by-election in the constituency of Richmond (Yorks), which was incidentally won by later Conservative leader William Hague.[3] He has explained his views by noting that his mother was often pregnant; Skinner has many siblings.

Skinner has demonstrated that he is willing to vote against government policy produced by his own party, choosing to remain classically left wing, rebelling against notable issues. In 2003 he joined the sizable number of Labour MPs who voted against the Iraq War, further, he later went on to rebel against the party line when he chose to vote against government policy that intended to allow terror suspects to be detained without trial for 90 days. Skinner has also rebelled against his party on other issues, in March 2007 he joined the 88 other Labour MPs who voted against government policy to renew the Trident Nuclear Missile System. Skinner seemingly remains loyal to the old Labour policies which he originally was elected into office with, and which can be reflected by his membership of the Socialist Campaign Group.

He is known for his republican (i.e., anti-monarchist) sentiments, although unlike other Labour left-wingers such as Tony Benn, Kevin McNamara, Ken Livingstone and Clare Short, he has never publicly expressed support for Irish republicanism.

Skinner has often made sarcastic comments upon the arrival of Black Rod (the equivalent of the Sergeant-at-Arms in the House of Lords and symbol of Royal authority) in the Chamber of the House of Commons. He advocates outright abolition of the House of Lords. Black Rod comes each year into the Commons chamber to summon the House to hear the Queen's speech in the House of Lords. In 2000, he shouted out "Tell her to read the Guardian!" - the Guardian newspaper running a series at the time trying to get support for repealing various laws relating to the monarchy. Earlier, in May 1992, he told the Queen to "Pay your taxes" at the State opening of Parliament. At the time this was a big issue.

In 2003, he suggested that the Speaker "bar the doors" after Black Rod had arrived, a practice that is normally used to block late-arriving MPs from casting their votes after the division bells have been sounded. The tongue-in-cheek suggestion by Skinner was scoffed off by the generally good-humoured Speaker, Michael Martin. In the 2005 State Opening of Parliament, the MP shouted out, after Black Rod asked the Commons to be at the Lords to hear the Queen, "has she brought Camilla [the second wife of Charles, Prince of Wales] with her?" to much laughter from many in the House. In the 2006 State Opening of Parliament, Skinner replied to Black Rod's invitation with "Is Helen Mirren on standby?". The quip brought laughter from the House of Commons, being in reference to the portrayal by Helen Mirren of Elizabeth II in the 2006 film, The Queen. The BBC political commentator Huw Edwards called the quip "cheap, but funny". In 2007, he asked "Who shot the harriers?" referring to a recent event in Sandringham, where two protected harriers had been shot near a royal property. Prince Harry and a friend had been questioned by police over the incident.

Throughout his career Skinner's popularity has been consistent and he currently sits in the 13th safest seat of all 646 House of Commons constituency seats in the country. In the 2005 general election Skinner was elected to Parliament with a majority of 18,437 votes.

Parliamentarian

Usually sitting on the first seat of the front bench below the gangway in the Commons (known as the "Awkward Squad Bench" due to the fact that it is where rebel Labour Party MPs have traditionally sat) in a distinctive sports jacket (whilst most other MPs wear suits), Skinner is one of the best known MPs, and has been a particularly assiduous member of the House of Commons. He gained his sobriquet "the Beast of Bolsover" for falling foul of the procedures of Parliament, many of which are in his view archaic and contemptible.

Skinner has been suspended from Parliament on at least ten occasions, usually for unparliamentary language when attacking opponents. Infractions have included:

• In 1992, referring to the Minister of Agriculture John Gummer as "slimy" and a "wart".
• In 1995, accusing the government of a "crooked deal" to sell off Britain's coal mines.
• On December 8 2005, when referring to the economic record of the Conservatives in the 1980s, making the remark, "The only thing that was growing then were the lines of coke in front of boy George and the rest of the Tories", a reference to allegations published in the News of the World of cocaine use by the Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne. [4]
• On April 20 2006, accusing Deputy Speaker Sir Alan Haselhurst of leniency towards remarks made by opposition frontbencher Theresa May "because she's a Tory". [5] [6]

Personal life

He is the third son (of nine children) of Edward Skinner and Lucy Dudley. He married Mary Parker in 1960. They had one son (born 1962 and also called Dennis) and two daughters (Dawn born 1960 and Mandy born 1966). He separated from her in 1989, and has lived with his American girlfriend, Lois Blasenheim, since 1993, who was his researcher. He underwent a double heart bypass operation in March 2003 at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London and has had cancer. He lives in South Normanton.

Quotes

"Tell the House of Lords to go to hell."

- During the 2004 fox hunting debate in the House of Commons. [7]

"I thought you were taking Marquand with you."

- Heckling Roy Jenkins in 1976 when, during his farewell speech to the Parliamentary Labour Party before leaving to become President of the European Commission, he said: "I leave this party without rancour". Jenkins, who famously pronounced his Rs like Ws, left the commons at the same time as David Marquand, the MP for Ashfield and a close ally of Jenkins.

"When I called the right hon. Member for Plymouth, Devonport (Dr. Owen) a pompous sod, Mr. Speaker said to me, 'You had better withdraw that'. I said I would withdraw 'pompous', but said, Mr. Speaker 'That's not the word I'm looking for.' There was laughter in the House and everyone thought that I had hit the nail on the head. I thought that that was a real parliamentary triumph, but Mr. Speaker thought differently. He said, 'Off you go,' and I did not get a chance to reply." [8]

"She's going to be the governor"

- responding to a question directed at Mrs Thatcher during her very last Prime Minister's Question Time which called upon her to condemn the European Central Bank

"Have you got Helen Mirren on stand by?"

- To Black Rod, during that state opening of Parliament (A reference to Helen Mirren's Oscar winning performance in The Queen.

"Who shot the Harriers?"

- "To Black Rod, during that 2007 state opening of Parliament (A reference to the illegal shooting of two protected Harrier birds on the Queen's Sandringham estate."

External links

• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Dennis Skinner MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Dennis Skinner MP
• Biography
• The Public Whip - Dennis Skinner MP voting record
• Dennis at at family get-together of his girlfriend's (second row on the left)
• Contact details
• BBC News - Dennis Skinner BBC profile

News items

• Giving George Osborne a line of wit in December 2005
• Junction 29A in December 2004
• Heart bypass in March 2003