Frank Dobson | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Dobson in 2014 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Secretary of State for Health | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 2 May 1997 – 11 October 1999 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Stephen Dorrell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Alan Milburn | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Member of Parliament | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 3 May 1979 – 30 March 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Lena Jeger | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Keir Starmer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Constituency | Holborn and St Pancras South (1979–1983) Holborn and St Pancras (1983–2015) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Frank Gordon Dobson (1940-03-15)15 March 1940 York, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 11 November 2019(2019-11-11) (aged 79) London, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Labour | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | London School of Economics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Frank Gordon Dobson (15 March 1940 – 11 November 2019) was a British politician who served asMember of Parliament (MP) forHolborn and St. Pancras from1979 to2015. A member of theLabour Party he served in theFirst Blair ministry asSecretary of State for Health from 1997 to 1999, and was the Labour Party nominee forMayor of London in 2000, finishing third inthe election behindConservativeSteven Norris and the winner, Labour-turned-IndependentKen Livingstone. Dobson stood down from his Parliament seat at the 2015 general election.[1]
Dobson was born in 1940 inDunnington,York, the son of Irene (née Shortland) and John William Dobson.[2][3] His father, a railwayman, died when Dobson was sixteen years old.[4] Dobson attended Dunnington County Church of England Primary School and the Archbishop Holgate Grammar School (nowArchbishop Holgate's School), where he was supported after the death of his father by a grant from the county council.[2] He then studied economics at theLondon School of Economics, gaining a BSc in 1962. He worked at the headquarters of theCentral Electricity Generating Board from 1962 to 1970 and for theElectricity Council from 1970 to 1975.[2]
After contesting a seat onCamden London Borough Council in 1964, he was elected in 1971 and chosen virtually unopposed as Labour Group Leader, and therefore as leader of the council after the resignation ofMillie Miller in 1973.[4] Having a young family, Dobson stood down as leader and resigned from the council in 1975 in favour of a non-partisan job as assistant secretary of the office of theLocal Government Ombudsman, which he held until 1979.[5]
At the1979 general election, Dobson was elected as MP forHolborn and St Pancras South (laterHolborn and St. Pancras). He voted forTony Benn for Labour Deputy Leaderin 1981, but thereafter became disillusioned and chose to align with what he called the "sane left".[4]
Dobson's naturally pugnacious style earned him rapid promotion to the front bench, where he served in several important posts from 1982. His liking for dirty jokes and conviviality won him many friends. He once remarked ofHazel Blears, who is 4'10" in height, "The good thing about global warming is that Hazel Blears will be the first to go when the water rises." After privatisation of theRover Group in 1988 he quipped, "The price charged for Rover was so low that there is some suspicion thatLord Young thought it was a dog."[4] As Spokesman on Environment and London from 1994, he led the national Labour response to a series of scandals overCity of Westminster council and its former leaderShirley Porter.
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Following Labour's landslide victory at the 1997 general election, Dobson was appointed asSecretary of State for Health.[6] This was a high-profile post, but Dobson found it hard to build an impact. He faced interference from civil servants, who would claim that prime ministerTony Blair raised the issue of further private sector involvement in meetings with Dobson, which Dobson said to them "just wasn't true".[4] He also had his hands tied by the decision to stick within spending limits set by the previous Conservative government. Dobson wrote a memo to Blair saying, "If you want a first-class service, you have to pay a first-class fare – and we're not doing it." When money was finally diverted to the NHS, Blair credited Dobson for kickstarting it.[4] Dobson's abolition of the internal market in theNHS was reversed by his successor,Alan Milburn, who Dobson said was "carried away with the idea that the private sector could make a big contribution".[4] Dobson was also instrumental, working withTessa Jowell, in establishingSure Start, which aimed to improve childcare, early education and health care for families with children.[2]
Dobson beatKen Livingstone in the Labour Party's internal selection process for the office ofMayor of London, helped by itselectoral college system and the absence of any requirement foraffiliated trade unions to ballot their members. In May 2000, Livingstone won the mayoral election as anindependent candidate. Dobson finished in third place behind theConservative candidateSteven Norris,[6] and just ahead of theLiberal Democrat candidateSusan Kramer. Dobson was subsequently re-elected as an MP at the2001 and2005 general elections, albeit with reduced majorities.
In 2000, Dobson was named "Beard 2000" by theBeard Liberation Front, amid controversy over his claim that Labour spin doctors had told him to shave off his prize-winning beard for the upcoming elections forMayor of London. Dobson said he had told them to "Stick it up their wicket".[7]
He was the subject of controversy for living in a council flat while receiving a six-figure minister's salary.[8] He continued to live there, despite owning a large property in Yorkshire. In an interview in July 2014, he responded to this criticism, saying: "I first lived there when we were subtenants of a subtenant of a private landlord. We were then sold to Camden council. What should I have done? Exercised the right to buy, which I voted against?"[4]
In the Labour leadership controversy afterTony Blair's declaration he would step down within a year of September 2006, Dobson called for Blair to step down right away and end uncertainty.[9] He also attackedAlan Milburn for making a "terrible mess" of the NHS. Milburn had been mentioned byCharles Clarke as a potential future Labour leader several hours earlier.[10]
Dobson was criticised for hypocrisy after he spoke againstPost Office closures, then voted for such closures in Parliament.[11]
In the expenses scandal, he supported theSpeaker of the House in his attempts to block exposure of expenses, arguing he was merely being scapegoated (for example, onBBC Radio 4 on 16 May 2009). He also supported the Speaker in allowing a warrant-less search of the offices of Conservative MPDamian Green.[12]
A survey of his constituents revealed that in 2008, Dobson responded to 69 letters out of 269 sent throughWriteToThem.com, putting him in 605th place out of 638 MPs for which data was available.[13]
Dobson's brother Geoff, a schoolteacher, died ofliver cancer on the eve of Labour's landslide general election victory in 1997.[4] Dobson married Janet Mary Alker; they had three children.[14]
With his "portly frame, jovial expression and bright white beard", Dobson was sometimes compared jokingly toFather Christmas.[4] He supportedWest Ham United.[15]
Dobson died atHomerton University Hospital in London on 11 November 2019, at the age of 79.[6][16][17] His death drew tributes from former Labour prime ministers Tony Blair andGordon Brown, the then Labour leaderJeremy Corbyn, his constituency successorKeir Starmer, and Labour's current London mayor,Sadiq Khan.[6]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forHolborn and St Pancras South 1979–1983 | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forHolborn and St Pancras 1983–2015 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Shadow Leader of the House of Commons 1987–1989 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Energy 1989–1992 | Succeeded byasShadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry |
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Employment 1992–1993 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Transport 1993–1994 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment 1994–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Health 1997–1999 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
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