Clive Betts | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2019 | |
| Chair of theLevelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee[a] | |
| In office 10 June 2010 – 30 May 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Phyllis Starkey |
| Succeeded by | Florence Eshalomi |
| Lord Commissioner of the Treasury | |
| In office 28 July 1998 – 7 June 2001 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Graham Allen |
| Succeeded by | John Heppell |
| Member of Parliament forSheffield South East Sheffield Attercliffe (1992–2010) | |
| Assumed office 9 April 1992 | |
| Preceded by | Patrick Duffy |
| Majority | 12,451 (35.8%) |
| Leader ofSheffield City Council | |
| In office 1987–1992 | |
| Preceded by | David Blunkett |
| Succeeded by | Mike Bower |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Clive James Charles Betts (1950-01-13)13 January 1950 (age 75) |
| Political party | Labour |
| Domestic partner | James Thomas |
| Residence(s) | Derbyshire, England |
| Alma mater | Pembroke College, Cambridge |
| Website | clivebetts.com parliament..clive-betts |
Clive James Charles Betts (born 13 January 1950) is a BritishLabour Partypolitician and former economist who has served as theMember of Parliament (MP) forSheffield South East, previouslySheffield Attercliffe since1992.[1]
Clive Betts was born on 13 January 1950 in a council prefab in Dore,Sheffield. He was state educated at the Longley School in Sheffield,King Edward VII School, Sheffield, before studying atPembroke College, Cambridge, where he received aBA inEconomics andPolitics.
He joined the Labour Party in 1969 and joined theTrades Union Congress in 1971 as aneconomist. In 1973, he was appointed as an economist withDerbyshire County Council, and moved to theSouth Yorkshire County Council in 1974 where he was an economist until 1986.[2] In 1986, he was appointed as an economist withRotherham Borough Council.
At theOctober 1974 general election, Betts stood as theLabour candidate inSheffield Hallam, coming second with 29% of the vote behind the incumbentConservative MPJohn Osborn.[3]
Betts stood inLouth at the1979 general election, coming third with 21.5% of the vote behind the incumbent Conservative MPMichael Brotherton and theLiberal candidate.[4]
Betts stood unsuccessfully as the Labour Party candidate in Sheffield'sBurngreave ward in the1975 city council election. He was subsequently elected in theFirth Park ward in the1976 city council election and re-elected in1980,1984 and1988.[5]
As a Sheffield City councillor, he was chair of the Housing Committee for six years, deputy leader and chair of the Finance Committee for one year and the chief whip of the Labour Group for three years. He was also formerly the group secretary.[2]
Betts became deputy leader ofSheffield City Council underDavid Blunkett in 1986. He succeeded Blunkett as leader in 1987 following the latter's election as MP for Sheffield Brightside. As leader of the council, Betts presided over the council's controversial decision to fund the1991 World Student Games.[6]
Betts was elected to Parliament at the1992 general election as MP forSheffield Attercliffe with 57.5% of the vote and a majority of 15,480.[7]
At the1997 general election, Betts was re-elected as MP for Sheffield Attercliffe with an increased vote share of 65.3% and an increased majority of 21,818.[8]
He was again re-elected at the2001 general election, with an increased vote share of 67.8% and a decreased majority of 18,844.[9]
Betts was again re-elected at the2005 general election, with a decreased vote share of 60.1% and a decreased majority of 15,967.[10] In 2007 he served as the chair of the All Party Urban Development Group, anAll-party parliamentary group.[11]
Prior to the2010 general election, Betts' constituency of Sheffield Attercliffe was abolished, and replaced withSheffield South East. At the election, Betts was elected to Parliament as MP for Sheffield South East with 48.7% of the vote and a majority of 10,505.[12][13][14]
Since 10 June 2010, he has been chairman of theCommunities and Local Government Committee and, on 19 June 2015, was returned unopposed as its chairman.[15]
At the2015 general election, Betts was re-elected as MP for Sheffield South East with an increased vote share of 51.4% and an increased majority of 12,311.[16][17]
Betts backed remain in the2016 Brexit referendum.[18]
He supportedOwen Smith in the2016 Labour leadership election.[19]
At the snap2017 general election, Betts was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 58.5% and a decreased majority of 11,798.[20]
He was again re-elected at the2019 general election, with a decreased vote share of 46.1% and a decreased majority of 4,289.[21]
Betts was one of 125 Labour MPs that defied the party whip to support a ceasefire in Gaza.[22]
Betts was again re-elected at the2024 general election, with an increased vote share of 52.3% and an increased majority of 12,458.[23][24] Despite being identified as a 'thorn in many Ministers' sides' during his time as chairman of the parliamentary select housing committee, in October 2024 Betts was replaced byFlorence Eshalomi.[25]
Betts serves as Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Football; the Netherlands; Somaliland; Local Authority Pension Funds; and Pension Clawback, and is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Serbia; Electric Vehicles; and Hydrogen.[26]
In November 2024, Betts voted in favour of theTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which proposes to legaliseassisted suicide.[27]
In February 2025 Betts was appointed to chair a 'new taskforce to support the growth of the build-to-rent sector', working alongside build-to-rent developers, operators, investors, theBritish Property Federation and the Association for Rental Living.[28]
In 2003, Betts was suspended from the House of Commons for seven days for irregularities involving the employment and visa of Jose Gasparo, aBrazilian student with previous experience as amale escort.[29]The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on 10 July 2010 that Betts' partner and parliamentary assistant, James Thomas, had tried to edit this fact from Betts'English Wikipedia page in an attempt to cover it up.[30] Betts was found guilty of breaching the MPs' code of conduct, with theStandards and Privileges Committee stating that he had acted "extremely foolishly" and had risked damaging public confidence in the integrity of Parliament. Particular concerns involved his failure to disclose Gasparo's background to parliamentary authorities and the fact that Betts had knowingly photocopied an altered document on Gasparo's behalf.[31] Betts gave an "unreserved apology" in a personal statement to MPs when the report was published.[32]
Also in 2003, Betts was subject to criticism for his accommodation expenses after he had previously campaigned for an increase in MPs' entitlements on the ground of "hardship". It was reported byThe Times that Betts had "flipped" his designated second home to Yorkshire before buying a "country estate" there, before "flipping it" back to London and taking out a larger mortgage on his flat there.[33] Betts denied wrongdoing, arguing the Yorkshire property had been "two dilapidated listed buildings" and that when he became a whip he had to declare his main residence as his London flat.[34]
In 2004, he was criticised by the British Medical Association for going to Portugal with 15 fellow MPs on an all-expenses trip paid for by the fast food chain McDonald's. Betts responded that if MPs had a "puritanical" attitude about food then people would ignore what they said.[35] He faced further criticism in 2010 after it was reported that he was one of eight MPs who were renting out a "second home" in London while claiming for the cost of renting a '"third home" in the city at taxpayers' expense. Although legal, critics argued the "loophole" was allowing MPs to increase their income after the rules on parliamentary expenses were tightened.[36]
In 2024, Clive Bett's employee was accused of creating a 'racist' petition while standing for election in the South East constituency, relating to locating atraveller site in the Beighton ward.[37] The petition drew offence for suggesting that it is inappropriate to locate a traveller site 'in the middle of a settled community', rather than 'on the city boundaries.' Betts was also later said to be 'leading his own campaign against the plan' to house travellers.[38] He was represented by Chris Young KC in hearings against the site's location, and said that it was 'totally inappropriate', and commented that accusations of racism were 'just a knee-jerk, silly reaction to what we’re saying.'[39]
Betts lives in a farmhouse on theDerbyshire border with his partner James Thomas, who is also employed as hisparliamentary assistant.[40] He playscricket, supportsSheffield Wednesday F.C. and, in the past, has played squash and football and used to be a regular Sheffield Marathon runner.[2] In March 2021, Betts became a trustee of the green space charityFields in Trust.[41]
Betts came out in 2003 and said it was 'one of the best decisions I’ve ever made’, noting that when he was growing up ‘people weren’t out’, there was barely any gay scene and it was ‘hardly talked about’, but that times had changed.[42] In 2007 he was identified as one of the 50 'most powerful LGBT people in British politics', coming 35th, with his work to support the Gay and Lesbian Football Association World Championship 2008 cited byPinkNews when adding him to the list.[43]
Betts employs his partner as his Senior Parliamentary Assistant on a salary up to £45,000.[44] He was listed in articles inThe Daily Telegraph andThe Guardian which criticised the practice of MPs employing family members, on the lines that it promotesnepotism.[45] Although MPs who were first elected in2017 have been banned from employing family members, the restriction is not retrospective – meaning that Betts' employment of his partner is lawful.[46]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Leader ofSheffield City Council 1987–1992 | Succeeded by Mike Bower |
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forSheffield Attercliffe 1992–2010 | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forSheffield South East 2010–present | Incumbent |
