Sir Peter Bottomley | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2020 | |
| Father of the House of Commons | |
| In office 13 December 2019 – 30 May 2024 | |
| Speaker | Sir Lindsay Hoyle |
| Preceded by | Kenneth Clarke |
| Succeeded by | Sir Edward Leigh |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland | |
| In office 4 July 1989 – 28 July 1990 | |
| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Peter Viggers |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Skelmersdale |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport | |
| In office 23 January 1986 – 24 July 1989 | |
| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Michael Spicer |
| Succeeded by | Patrick McLoughlin |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment | |
| In office 11 September 1984 – 23 January 1986 | |
| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | John Gummer |
| Succeeded by | David Trippier |
| Member of Parliament forWorthing West | |
| In office 1 May 1997 – 30 May 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency created |
| Succeeded by | Beccy Cooper |
| Member of Parliament forEltham (1983–1997) Woolwich West (1975–1983) | |
| In office 26 June 1975 – 8 April 1997 | |
| Preceded by | William Hamling |
| Succeeded by | Clive Efford |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1944-07-30)30 July 1944 (age 80) Newport, Shropshire, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Parents |
|
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Website | www |
Sir Peter James Bottomley (born 30 July 1944) is a BritishConservative Partypolitician who served as aMember of Parliament (MP) from 1975 until 2024, last representingWorthing West.
First electedat a by-election for the former constituency ofWoolwich West, he served as its MP until its abolition at the1983 general election, and then forEltham its successor constituency, until 1997. He was then selected to contestWorthing West at the1997 general election, being returned seven times before losing toLabour'sBeccy Cooper at the2024 general election.
Following the2019 general election, Bottomley became the longest-serving MP beingstyledFather of the House for the duration of thatparliament. He then became the firstFather to beunseated rather than retire or die inpost.[2]
Born atNewport, Shropshire, the son ofSir James Bottomley, classical scholar and a wartime Army officer who later joined theForeign and Commonwealth Office, and Barbara,née Vardon, a social worker, he was baptised at St Swithun's Parish Church,Cheswardine,Shropshire, where his parents married.[3] After seven school changes before the age of 11, he attended junior high school inWashington, D.C., and was then educated atWestminster School before going up to read economics atTrinity College, Cambridge, following his father (Sir James), grandfather (Sir William Bottomley),father-in-law andfather-in-law's father in graduating from the college. His supervisor wasJames Mirrlees, who was later awarded theNobel Prize for Economics.
Beforeuniversity, Bottomley worked around Australia, including three weeks teaching atGeelong Grammar School deputising for the explorer and teacherJohn Béchervaise, and unloading trucks inMelbourne docks. In between, he spent a week walking inMount Field National Park withTenzing Norgay. After university, he became alorry driver and joined theTransport and General Workers Union, before moving on to industrial sales andindustrial relations.[4] In the early 1970s, he co-founded the Neighbourhood Council in South Lambeth, resulting in the creation of football pitches and other facilities atLarkhall Park. His last job before entering Parliament was putting lights outside theatres and cinemas in London'sWest End. Bottomley joined the Conservative Party in 1972, at the age of 28.[5]
Bottomley contested theVauxhall constituency at the1973 GLC election andWoolwich Westparliamentary seat at theFebruary andOctober general elections of 1974,[5] failing to defeat the sitting Labour MPWilliam Hamling. Hamling died on 20 March 1975, and in the space of 18 months, Bottomley faced the electors of Woolwich West for a third time at theby-election on26 June 1975.[6] At this by-election he was elected as MP for Woolwich West with 48.8% of the vote and a majority of 2,382.[6]
From 1978 Bottomley served as the President of theConservative Trade Unionists for two years,[5] Bottomley becoming a Trustee ofChristian Aid in 1978 until 1984. In 1978, as a member of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group,[7] he campaigned to prevent or to delay the anticipated assassination of ArchbishopÓscar Romero[8] and represented the British Council of Churches at the Saint’s funeral inEl Salvador in 1980 when 14 people died around him.[9] In 1979, days before the fall of the Labour Government, he made a visit toWashington, D.C., to indicate that Margaret Thatcher, were she to become Prime Minister, would not lift sanctions onSouthern Rhodesia nor recognise the government ofBishopAbel Muzorewa. He was for some years a member of theConservative Monday Club as well as a member of theBow Group andTory Reform Group.[5]
At the1979 general election, Bottomley was returned as MP for Woolwich West with a decreased vote share of 47.3% and an increased majority of 2,609.[10]
Chairman of theChurch of England'sChildren's Society, a Trustee ofMind and ofNacro and a policy committee member of One Parent Families, Bottomley served withDrJohn Sentamu on the successor committee to theArchbishop of Canterbury'scommission that produced the reportFaith in the City, and chaired the Churches' Review Group on the Churches' Main Committee. He was a member of the Ecclesiastical Committee and served as the Parliamentary Warden ofSt Margaret's Church, Westminster. He led the United Kingdom delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of theOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). He is an Honorary Vice-President of WATCH (Women and the Church), supporting full equal acceptance of females.[11]
In 1982, Bottomley was appointedParliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to theMinister of State in theForeign and Commonwealth Office,Cranley Onslow. At the1983 general election, Bottomley's constituency of Woolwich West was subject to boundary changes and renamedEltham; he won the new seat with 47.9% of the vote and a majority of 7,592.[12] Following the election, Peter Bottomley became PPS to theSecretary of State in theDepartment of Health and Social Security,Norman Fowler.
Bottomley joinedMargaret Thatcher's government being appointed as theParliamentary Under Secretary of State at theDepartment for Employment (for Industrial relations, Health and Safety, European issues) in 1984, moving sideways to theDepartment of Transport in 1986 to become the Minister of Roads and Traffic; he opened many news roads as Minister, including the Bulwick A43 Bypass in April 1986. In 1989 he moved sideways again to theNorthern Ireland Office (for Environment and Agriculture). He was dropped by Thatcher in 1990, when he briefly became PPS to theSecretary of State for Northern Ireland,Peter Brooke.
At the1987 general election, Bottomley was re-elected as MP for Eltham with a decreased vote share of 47.5% and a decreased majority of 6,460.[13]
Since 1990, Bottomley served as abackbencher, being described as a maverick, "supporting a range of seemingly perverse causes".[14][15]
At the1992 general election, Bottomley was again re-elected with a decreased vote share of 46% and a decreased majority of 1,666.[16] Bottomley decided not to re-contest Eltham after major boundary changes. He sought nomination elsewhere. At the1997 general election, Bottomley contested the newly formed constituency ofWorthing West, where he was elected with 46.1% of the vote and a majority of 7,713.[17]
Bottomley was re-elected as MP for Worthing West at the2001 general election with an increased vote share of 47.5% and an increased majority of 9,037.[18] He was again re-elected at the2005 general election with an increased vote share of 47.6% and an increased majority of 9,379.[19][20]
In 2009, Bottomley was elected Vice-Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Flag Group,[21] and by 2011, he served on moreparliamentary groups than any other MP.[22] He was Vice-Chairman of the All-Party United Nations Group as well as of theAll-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Transport Safety.[23]
At the2010 general election, Bottomley was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 51.7% and an increased majority of 11,729.[24][25] He was again re-elected at the2015 general election with a decreased vote share of 51.5% and an increased majority of 16,855.[26][27]
At the2016 referendum, Bottomley supported theUnited Kingdom remaining in the European Union.[28]
Bottomley was again re-elected at the snap2017 general election, with an increased vote share of 55.4% and a decreased majority of 12,090.[29][30]
An advocate for reducing thevoting age to 16, Bottomley was a co-founder and Vice-Chairman of the now defunctVotes at 16 APPG in support of theVotes at 16campaign.[31][32][33][34]
Bottomley co-chaired the APPG onHaemophilia andContaminated Blood,[35] campaigning to get justice for those affected by thetainted blood scandal.[36] During a parliamentary debate on 24 November 2016, he urgedPrime MinisterTheresa May to look at the issue.[37][38]
Bottomley was again re-elected to parliament at the2019 general election, with an increased vote share of 55.8% and an increased majority of 14,823.[39]
Introduced to the Commons in 1975, Bottomley succeededKenneth Clarke asFather of the House for the2019–2024 parliament:Clarke retired from theCommons, having served since1970 before being created aLife Peer in 2020, and the other previously long-servingMP,Dennis Skinner, was notreturned to parliament by hisconstituents at the2019 general election.
In 1967, Bottomley marriedVirginia Garnett who later became aCabinet Minister (Health Secretary), then created aLife Peeress in 2005[8] asBaroness Bottomley of Nettlestone.[40]
His brother,Henry, was a Labour Lambeth councillor; his brother-in-law was Conservative Mayor of Cambridge. His niece isKitty Ussher, the economist, formerly a Labour MP and Minister. His nephew is HHJ Silas James Reid, known for sentencing climate protestors.[41] His great-grandfatherSir Richard Robinson led the Municipal Reformers to victory in the 1907 London County Council election.
In 1989, Bottomley successfully suedThe Mail on Sunday, theDaily Express andNews of the World for allegations connected with his support of the union membership of a social worker in his constituency accused of misbehaviour in a children's home. In 1995, he was awarded £40,000 against theSunday Express for an article which accused him of betraying the paratrooper PrivateLee Clegg, who was in jail for the murder of a joyrider in Northern Ireland, by appearing at a meeting withMartin McGuinness.[42][43]
Bottomley served asMaster of theWorshipful Company of Drapers for 2002/03[44] and, in November 2003, he was banned from driving for six months following several speeding offences. The local newspaper organised an electric bike for him.[45]
Sir Peter wasknighted in the2011 New Year Honours for public service.[46][47]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)Vicky Foxcroft, on behalf of Jim McMahon, supported by Jeremy Corbyn, Tom Watson, Peter Kyle, Diana Johnson, Lucy Powell, Sir Peter Bottomley, Stephen Gethins, Jo Swinson, Jonathan Edwards and Caroline Lucas, presented a Bill to reduce the voting age to 16 in parliamentary and other elections
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forWoolwich West 1975–1983 | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forEltham 1983–1997 | Succeeded by |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forWorthing West 1997–2024 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Father of the House of Commons 2019–2024 | Succeeded by |
