Colin Burgon | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament forElmet | |
| In office 1 May 1997 – 12 April 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Spencer Batiste |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1948-04-22)22 April 1948 (age 77) Leeds, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Alma mater | Huddersfield Polytechnic Carnegie College, Leeds |
Colin Burgon (born 22 April 1948) is a BritishLabour Partypolitician who was theMember of Parliament (MP) forElmet from1997 to2010.[1]
Colin Burgon was born inLeeds toCatholic, Labour-supporting parents. His mother, Winnie, was a school secretary; his father, Tommy, was a tailor; and his brother Terence also became a teacher.[2] He was educated at St Charles R.C. Junior School and passed theeleven-plus exam, enabling him to attend St Michael's Catholic College inWoodhouse. In later life, Burgon said that alighting the bus wearing a grammar school uniform inGipton made him aware of the class system and made him "deplore structures that inherently deny opportunity to people".
On leaving school, Burgon trained as a teacher atCarnegie College, Leeds, then studied atHuddersfield Polytechnic. Burgon worked as ahistory teacher atFoxwood High School (which later became East Leeds Family Learning Centre and was demolished in 2009), a deprived secondary school in theSeacroft area of East Leeds, where he was an active member of theNUT union. Burgon left teaching and the NUT in 1987 to work forWakefield District Council as a local government policy and research officer. He was also a research officer with theGMB Union. Burgon was made an honorary member of theNational Union of Mineworkers (NUM) for his support for NUM actions in the1984–85 miners' strike. Before he became an MP, Burgon worked with Elmet miners and their families during and after the strike.[2]
Burgon was the election agent for the Labour Party inElmet in1983 before being selected himself as the Labour candidate for Elmet. Burgon unsuccessfully contested Elmet in1987 and1992, both times coming second to the incumbentConservative,Spencer Batiste.
In1997, Burgon contested Elmet for the third time, finally defeating Batiste with an 8,779-vote majority. He was re-elected in2001 and2005. In the House of Commons, he was elected to sit on theNorthern IrelandSelect committee in 2000, and theHome Affairs Select Committee in 2005. Burgon has also taken interest insocialism in South America, particularly inVenezuela. In May 2007, he wrote inThe Guardian in support ofVenezuelan PresidentHugo Chávez and his government's controversial refusal to renew the broadcasting licence of a television station that had been openly supportive of the coup against Chávez's elected government.[3] Burgon was the chairman of Labour Friends of Venezuela. He is on the left of the Labour Party and has vociferously criticised what he calls the "neo-liberal" policies the party pursued during theNew Labour leaderships ofPrime MinistersTony Blair andGordon Brown.[4] Burgon stood down from Parliament in2010.[1]
Burgon is divorced and has one daughter. He has taken a keen interest inopencast mining, an important issue inElmet. His nephewRichard Burgon has been a Labour MP since2015.[5]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forElmet 1997 –2010 | Succeeded by |
