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Rob Flello | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament forStoke-on-Trent South | |
| In office 5 May 2005 – 5 May 2017 | |
| Preceded by | George Stevenson |
| Succeeded by | Jack Brereton |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Robert Charles Douglas Flello (1966-01-14)14 January 1966 (age 59) Birmingham, England |
| Political party | Liberal Democrats (2019 – present) Labour (Until 2019) |
| Alma mater | University of Wales, Bangor |
Robert Charles Douglas Flello (born 14 January 1966) is a BritishLiberal Democrat politician who wasLabourMember of Parliament (MP) forStoke-on-Trent South from 2005 to 2017. He lost his seat at the2017 general election toConservative Party candidateJack Brereton.
Flello was born inBournville,Birmingham. He attendedBournville Junior and Infant schools before going toKing's Norton Boys' School. At age 18 he went toUniversity of Wales, Bangor to read Chemistry. He graduated in 1987 with a B.Sc (Hons).
After graduating, Flello worked for a short time atCadbury inBournville before joining theInland Revenue. In 1989 he left to joinPrice Waterhouse accountants as a personal tax advisor. In 1995 he moved toArthur Andersen. In 1999, he co-founded Platts Flello Limited, tax and financial advisors. In late 2003 he left to work as the CEO of Malachi Community Trust until December 2004.
Flello was elected as a councillor to theLongbridge ward ofBirmingham City Council in 2002, stepping down in 2004. He is a former chairman of theBirmingham NorthfieldConstituency Labour Party. He served as a governor at theNewman College inBartley Green, and was Chair of Governors for both Colmers Farm infants and junior schools. He was also a governor at The Meadows primary school. He served as a regional organiser for the Labour Party in 2004 until his election toWestminster.[citation needed]
Flello was elected to theHouse of Commons at the2005 general election forStoke-on-Trent South following the retirement ofGeorge Stevenson. Flello held the seat with a majority of 8,681 and made hismaiden speech on 19 May 2005.[1]
In parliament he was a member of theScience and Technology Select Committee. While Labour were in government he served asParliamentary Private Secretary first to theLord Chancellor,Charles Falconer, then to theSecretary of State for Communities and Local Government,Hazel Blears, and finally after 2009 to theSecretary of State for Defence,Bob Ainsworth.[citation needed]
In 2007, Flello was accused offilibustering a fellow Labour backbencher'sprivate members bill. The bill, introduced by neighbouring Staffordshire MPPaul Farrelly, aimed to give temporary and agency workers similar employment rights to permanent staff. It was backed by theUnite trade union. The incident provoked an angry response in theDaily Mirror.[2][better source needed]
In February 2013, Flello voted against the second reading of theMarriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013.[3] Subsequently, in May 2013 the MP voted against the bill's third and final reading,[4] opposing the legalisation of same-sex marriage within England and Wales.[5]
Flello is a convert to Catholicism and stated in 2014 "I could no more leave my faith at the door of the House of Commons than I could my name or my gender or my arms and legs". He was a member of the anti-abortion All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group.[6]
In June 2016, Labour Party activists in Stoke-on-Trent South proposed a motion of no confidence in Flello after he called on Labour leaderJeremy Corbyn to "do the decent thing and resign".[7] He had supportedOwen Smith in the failed attempt to replaceJeremy Corbyn in the2016 Labour leadership election.[8]
In 2017, Flello blamed "shocking congestion" in London on the loss of tarmac from building cycle lanes, which received a critical response from bike charity theLondon Cycling Campaign[9] and cycling website road.cc,[10] both pointing out that tarmac had been repurposed to another form of transport and that the increased number of journeys overall in Central London were what was causing congestion, not the segregated cycle tracks that are on less than 1%[11] of London roads.
In 2019 he defected to the Lib Dems and was selected as their parliamentary candidate for his old seat.[12] 36 hours after his selection, however, the Lib Dems deselected Flello, citing "how greatly his values diverge from ours".[13] It is believed that they objected to his socially conservative views on abortion and same-sex marriage.[14]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forStoke-on-Trent South 2005–2017 | Succeeded by |
