Paul Farrelly | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2017 | |
| Member of Parliament forNewcastle-under-Lyme | |
| In office 7 June 2001 – 6 November 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Llin Golding |
| Succeeded by | Aaron Bell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Christopher Paul Farrelly (1962-03-02)2 March 1962 (age 63) Newcastle-under-Lyme,Staffordshire, England |
| Nationality | British, Irish |
| Political party | Labour |
| Alma mater | St Edmund Hall, Oxford |
| Website | www.paulfarrelly.com |
Christopher Paul Farrelly (born 2 March 1962) is a BritishLabour Party politician, banker and journalist, who was theMember of Parliament (MP) forNewcastle-under-Lyme from2001 to2019.
Farrelly was born inNewcastle-under-Lyme,Staffordshire. Farrelly was educated atWolstanton Grammar School (which later became Marshlands Comprehensive High School) on Milehouse Lane inNewcastle-under-Lyme. He studied atSt Edmund Hall, Oxford on a scholarship where he graduated with aBA inPhilosophy, Politics and Economics in 1984. After his education, he worked at managerial level in thecorporate finance department withBarclays de Zoete Wedd, and, in 1990 joinedReuters as a correspondent andnewseditor. He was appointed as the deputy business editor with theIndependent on Sunday in 1995 before joiningThe Observer in 1997 as the City Editor, where he remained until his election toWestminster.[citation needed]
Before his election, Farrelly held elected office within theHornsey and Wood GreenConstituency Labour Party as well as in Newcastle-under-Lyme. He unsuccessfully contestedChesham and Amersham at the1997 general election, finishing in third place.
Farrelly was selected to contest his hometown seat ofNewcastle-under-Lyme following the retirement of the Labour MPLlin Golding at the2001 general election, and he held the seat comfortably with a majority of 9,986. He made his maiden speech on 12 July 2001. In theHouse of Commons, he served on severalselect committees: theJoint Committee on Consolidation Bills from 2001 to 2015, theScience and Technology Select Committee from 2003 to 2005, the Joint Committee on Privacy and Injunctions from 2011 to 2012, and theCulture, Media and Sport Select Committee from 2017 to 2019.[1]
A written Parliamentary question by Farrelly, answered on 19 October 2009, became the subject of debate, asThe Guardian newspaper was prevented from reporting on it by a super-injunction.[2][3][4]
At the2010 general election, Farrelly was returned to parliament with a majority of 1,552. On 4 November 2010, he was involved in a physical altercation with a man during an event at the Houses of Parliament Sports and Social club, which Farrelly later said he was acting in self-defence.[5]
Farrelly was re-elected in2015 with a majority of 650. He supportedOwen Smith in the failed attempt to replaceJeremy Corbyn in the2016 Labour Party leadership election.[6]
Farrelly was one of 47 Labour MPs who defied theparty whip to vote against theEuropean Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017. The Act allowedthe government to invoke Article 50, triggering the beginning of the process ofBritish withdrawal from the European Union.[7] Farrelly was one of 13 MPs to vote against triggering the2017 general election.[8] In the ensuing election, he retained his seat by just 30 votes. There was confusion in the constituency on polling day, where thousands of students were initially rejected due to errors with the electoral register.[9]
In November 2017, theMail on Sunday reported that Farrelly “launched a foul-mouthed tirade” at fellow Labour MPJames Frith. Labour said it would be launching an investigation after it received "a number of complaints".[10] Farrelly denied the claims.[11]
In March 2018, Farrelly was accused of bullying by the former clerk of theDigital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee along with two other clerks regarding his conduct to them.[12] An internal report into his conduct found his behaviour amounted to “an abuse of power or position, unfair treatment and undermining a competent worker by constant criticism”.[13] A formal inquiry into the allegations was blocked by MPs and Farrelly called the accusations 'baseless'.[14][15][16]
In March 2018, theParliamentary Commissioner for Standards found Farrelly broke the House of Commons code of conduct by using Commons stationery during his election campaign, sending out 1000 canvassing letters in the run up to the election as if they had been sent by the House. Farrelly issued an apology and paid back the cost of the stationery.[17]
Farrelly stood down from Parliament at the2019 United Kingdom general election.[18]
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| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forNewcastle-under-Lyme 2001–2019 | Succeeded by |
