Dennis Edward Skinner (born 11 February 1932) is a British Labour politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolsover from 1970 to 2019. Skinner became the longest continuously serving Labour MP on 16 December 2017.[1] He was Chairman of the Labour Party for a year from 1988 to 1989 and served as a member of Labour's National Executive Committee, with brief breaks, for thirty years.[2]
He is known for his left-wing views[3] and an acerbic wit.[4] He is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs.
Early life and career
Born in Clay Cross, Derbyshire, Skinner is the third of nine children. His father Edward Skinner was a coal miner who was sacked after the 1926 general strike,[6] and his mother Lucy was a cleaner.[7] In 1942, at the age of 10, Skinner won a scholarship to attend Tupton Hall Grammar School after passing the eleven-plus a year early.[7] In 1949, he went on to work as a coal miner at Parkhouse colliery, working there until its closure in 1962.[8][9] He then worked at Glapwell colliery near Chesterfield.[7]
In 1964, at the age of 32, he became the youngest-ever president of the Derbyshire region of the National Union of Mineworkers. After working for 20 years as a miner,[10] he became a member of Derbyshire County Council[10] and a Clay Cross councillor in the 1960s.[9] In 1967, he attended Ruskin College, Oxford, after completing a course run by the National Union of Mineworkers at the University of Sheffield.[7][11]
Parliamentary career
In 1956, Skinner joined the Labour Party.[7] He was first elected as MP for the safe Labour seat of Bolsover at the 1970 general election and has retained it until 2019. He was a strong supporter of the National Union of Mineworkers and their leader Arthur Scargill in the 1984-85 miners' strike.[12] Skinner refused to accept a parliamentary salary in excess of miners' wages,[13] and during the miners' strike he donated his wages to the NUM.[14]
Skinner has voted for equalisation of the age of consent, civil partnerships, adoption rights for same-sex couples, to outlaw discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, and for same sex couples to marry,[15] and has a strongly pro-choice stance on abortion. On 20 January 1989, he talked out a move to reduce the number of weeks at which termination of a pregnancy can be legally performed in Britain by moving a writ for the Richmond by-election.[16] On 7 June 1985, he talked out a bill by Enoch Powell which would have banned stem cell research by moving a writ for a by-election in Brecon and Radnor.[17][18][19] Skinner later described this as his proudest political moment.[20]
In 2000, Skinner denounced former ally Ken Livingstone, then serving as a Labour MP. Livingstone had failed to win the party's nomination to be a candidate for Mayor of London, and had then decided to run as an independent candidate instead, urging his supporters to help Green Party candidates get elected. Skinner said that Livingstone had betrayed Labour Party activists in his Brent East constituency, whom he described as having fought for him "like tigers" when his majority had been small: "He tells them he's going to be the Labour candidate, then he lies to them. To me that's as low as you can get". He contrasted Livingstone with the official Labour candidate, Frank Dobson, saying that Dobson was "a bloke and a half... not a prima donna ... not someone with an ego as big as a house". Skinner said Livingstone would "hit the headlines, but you'll never be able to trust him because he's broken his pledge and his loyalty to his party. The personality cult of the ego does not work down a coal mine and it does not work in the Labour Party".[21]
Conversely, despite his left-wing views Skinner had a positive relationship with Prime Minister Tony Blair, a leading figure on the right of the party, stemming from advice that Skinner gave Blair regarding public speaking.[20] During a session of Prime Minister's Questions in February 2018, he described the Blair and Brown ministries as a "golden period" for the NHS.[22] However, after Blair advised pro-remain Labour supporters who felt that the party's line on Brexit was too ambiguous to vote for explicitly pro-remain parties in the 2019 European Parliament election, Skinner strongly criticised him in comments to the Morning Star in May 2019, describing Blair as a "destructive force" who was "try(ing) to destroy the Labour Party so people keep talking about his reign" and stating that he "went into Iraq and destroyed himself. He helped David Cameron and Theresa May into power. You're talking about a man who made a mess of it."[23]
In 2003, Skinner was among the quarter of Labour MPs who voted against the Iraq War; he later rebelled against the party line when he voted against government policy to allow terror suspects to be detained without trial for up to 90 days. In 2007, Skinner and 88 other Labour MPs voted against the Labour government's policy of renewing the Trident Nuclear Missile System.[24]
Skinner supported David Miliband in the 2010 Labour leadership election, which was won by his brother Ed Miliband by a very small margin.[25] In March 2011, he was one of 15 MPs[26] who voted against British participation in NATO's Libya intervention.
In 2014, he was voted off Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC).[7] In the same year, he stated that he has never sent an email and does not have a Twitter account.[27]
Skinner was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015.[28] Shortly after Corbyn was elected as leader, Skinner was returned to the NEC.[29] He later supported Corbyn, alongside the majority of Labour MPs, in voting against the extension of RAF airstrikes against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Syria in December 2015.[30][31]
Skinner voted for Britain to leave the European Union[32] and favours outright abolition of the House of Lords.[33] He stepped down from the NEC in October 2016.[34]
Following the death of Sir Gerald Kaufman, Skinner became the oldest serving MP, but did not become Father of the House despite being elected to parliament on the same day as Kaufman and Conservative MP Kenneth Clarke in 1970. This is due to the way seniority is calculated; when two or more MPs were elected on the same day, the one who was sworn in first is considered to be the more senior. Skinner stated in 2015 that he would not accept the honorific title.[35]
Skinner was defeated in the 2019 election, losing to Conservative candidate Mark Fletcher.
Suspensions
Skinner has been suspended from Parliament on at least ten occasions, usually for "unparliamentary language" when attacking opponents. Notable infractions have included:
Twice in 1984, once for calling David Owen a "pompous sod" (and only agreeing to withdraw "pompous"),[36] and the second time for stating Margaret Thatcher would "bribe judges".[37]
In 1992, referring to the Minister of Agriculture John Gummer as "a little squirt of a Minister" and "a slimy wart on Margaret Thatcher's nose".[36]
In 1995, accusing the Major government of a "crooked deal" to sell off Britain's coal mines.[36]
In 2005, when referring to the economic record of the Conservatives in the 1980s, making the remark, "The only thing that was growing then were the lines of coke in front of Boy George and the rest of the Tories", a reference to allegations originally published in the Sunday Mirror of cocaine use by the Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne (though, in the Commons, Skinner referred to the News of the World).
In 2006, accusing Deputy Speaker Sir Alan Haselhurst of leniency towards remarks made by opposition frontbencher and future Prime Minister Theresa May "because she's a Tory".[38]
In 2016, for referring to Prime Minister David Cameron as "Dodgy Dave" in relation to Cameron's tax affairs
Commons attendance
During his tenure in the Commons, Skinner would usually sit on the first seat of the front bench below the gangway in the Commons (known as the 'Awkward Squad Bench' because it is where rebel Labour Party MPs have traditionally sat) in a tweed jacket (whilst most other MPs wear suits) and signature red tie.[citation needed] He is known as 'the Beast of Bolsover':[10] according to Skinner he earned the nickname for his behaviour in a tribute debate in the Commons following the death of former Conservative Prime Minister Anthony Eden[61] - "They were making speeches about the wonder of Anthony Eden, so I got up and talked about miners and people seriously injured and dead in the pits and the £200 given to the widow. There was booing and then all the Tories left and the papers had a go, some serious ones".[20]
Nature of the Beast documentary
Main article: Dennis Skinner: Nature of the Beast
The first documentary about Dennis Skinner sanctioned by him, Nature of the Beast, was completed in 2017 by production company Shut Out The Light. Three years in the making, the film had its premiere at the Derby QUAD Cinema on 8 September 2017, before a UK cinema release. The documentary traces Skinner's rise to political icon status and covers his working-class upbringing, his family influences and his hobbies away from "The Palace of Varieties". Skinner's four surviving brothers and several of his Bolsover constituents were interviewed for the documentary.[7]
Personal life
In 1960, Skinner married Mary Parker, with whom he has three children who all attended his old school, and graduated from the University of Manchester. He and his wife separated in 1989. His current partner is former researcher Lois Blasenheim.[7]
In 1999, Skinner was diagnosed with advanced bladder cancer and subsequently had surgery to remove a malignant tumour from his bladder.[7] In 2003, he recovered from a double heart bypass operation.[7]
Skinner's mother was diagnosed[62] with Alzheimer's disease prior to her death[63] in the 1980s.[62] Skinner sang to his late mother when she was diagnosed with the disease and was inspired by her ability to recall old songs. Since 2008, he has visited care homes in Derbyshire to sing to elderly patients with dementia
He is known for his left-wing views[3] and an acerbic wit.[4] He is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs.
Early life and career
Born in Clay Cross, Derbyshire, Skinner is the third of nine children. His father Edward Skinner was a coal miner who was sacked after the 1926 general strike,[6] and his mother Lucy was a cleaner.[7] In 1942, at the age of 10, Skinner won a scholarship to attend Tupton Hall Grammar School after passing the eleven-plus a year early.[7] In 1949, he went on to work as a coal miner at Parkhouse colliery, working there until its closure in 1962.[8][9] He then worked at Glapwell colliery near Chesterfield.[7]
In 1964, at the age of 32, he became the youngest-ever president of the Derbyshire region of the National Union of Mineworkers. After working for 20 years as a miner,[10] he became a member of Derbyshire County Council[10] and a Clay Cross councillor in the 1960s.[9] In 1967, he attended Ruskin College, Oxford, after completing a course run by the National Union of Mineworkers at the University of Sheffield.[7][11]
Parliamentary career
In 1956, Skinner joined the Labour Party.[7] He was first elected as MP for the safe Labour seat of Bolsover at the 1970 general election and has retained it until 2019. He was a strong supporter of the National Union of Mineworkers and their leader Arthur Scargill in the 1984-85 miners' strike.[12] Skinner refused to accept a parliamentary salary in excess of miners' wages,[13] and during the miners' strike he donated his wages to the NUM.[14]
Skinner has voted for equalisation of the age of consent, civil partnerships, adoption rights for same-sex couples, to outlaw discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, and for same sex couples to marry,[15] and has a strongly pro-choice stance on abortion. On 20 January 1989, he talked out a move to reduce the number of weeks at which termination of a pregnancy can be legally performed in Britain by moving a writ for the Richmond by-election.[16] On 7 June 1985, he talked out a bill by Enoch Powell which would have banned stem cell research by moving a writ for a by-election in Brecon and Radnor.[17][18][19] Skinner later described this as his proudest political moment.[20]
In 2000, Skinner denounced former ally Ken Livingstone, then serving as a Labour MP. Livingstone had failed to win the party's nomination to be a candidate for Mayor of London, and had then decided to run as an independent candidate instead, urging his supporters to help Green Party candidates get elected. Skinner said that Livingstone had betrayed Labour Party activists in his Brent East constituency, whom he described as having fought for him "like tigers" when his majority had been small: "He tells them he's going to be the Labour candidate, then he lies to them. To me that's as low as you can get". He contrasted Livingstone with the official Labour candidate, Frank Dobson, saying that Dobson was "a bloke and a half... not a prima donna ... not someone with an ego as big as a house". Skinner said Livingstone would "hit the headlines, but you'll never be able to trust him because he's broken his pledge and his loyalty to his party. The personality cult of the ego does not work down a coal mine and it does not work in the Labour Party".[21]
Conversely, despite his left-wing views Skinner had a positive relationship with Prime Minister Tony Blair, a leading figure on the right of the party, stemming from advice that Skinner gave Blair regarding public speaking.[20] During a session of Prime Minister's Questions in February 2018, he described the Blair and Brown ministries as a "golden period" for the NHS.[22] However, after Blair advised pro-remain Labour supporters who felt that the party's line on Brexit was too ambiguous to vote for explicitly pro-remain parties in the 2019 European Parliament election, Skinner strongly criticised him in comments to the Morning Star in May 2019, describing Blair as a "destructive force" who was "try(ing) to destroy the Labour Party so people keep talking about his reign" and stating that he "went into Iraq and destroyed himself. He helped David Cameron and Theresa May into power. You're talking about a man who made a mess of it."[23]
In 2003, Skinner was among the quarter of Labour MPs who voted against the Iraq War; he later rebelled against the party line when he voted against government policy to allow terror suspects to be detained without trial for up to 90 days. In 2007, Skinner and 88 other Labour MPs voted against the Labour government's policy of renewing the Trident Nuclear Missile System.[24]
Skinner supported David Miliband in the 2010 Labour leadership election, which was won by his brother Ed Miliband by a very small margin.[25] In March 2011, he was one of 15 MPs[26] who voted against British participation in NATO's Libya intervention.
In 2014, he was voted off Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC).[7] In the same year, he stated that he has never sent an email and does not have a Twitter account.[27]
Skinner was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015.[28] Shortly after Corbyn was elected as leader, Skinner was returned to the NEC.[29] He later supported Corbyn, alongside the majority of Labour MPs, in voting against the extension of RAF airstrikes against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Syria in December 2015.[30][31]
Skinner voted for Britain to leave the European Union[32] and favours outright abolition of the House of Lords.[33] He stepped down from the NEC in October 2016.[34]
Following the death of Sir Gerald Kaufman, Skinner became the oldest serving MP, but did not become Father of the House despite being elected to parliament on the same day as Kaufman and Conservative MP Kenneth Clarke in 1970. This is due to the way seniority is calculated; when two or more MPs were elected on the same day, the one who was sworn in first is considered to be the more senior. Skinner stated in 2015 that he would not accept the honorific title.[35]
Skinner was defeated in the 2019 election, losing to Conservative candidate Mark Fletcher.
Suspensions
Skinner has been suspended from Parliament on at least ten occasions, usually for "unparliamentary language" when attacking opponents. Notable infractions have included:
Twice in 1984, once for calling David Owen a "pompous sod" (and only agreeing to withdraw "pompous"),[36] and the second time for stating Margaret Thatcher would "bribe judges".[37]
In 1992, referring to the Minister of Agriculture John Gummer as "a little squirt of a Minister" and "a slimy wart on Margaret Thatcher's nose".[36]
In 1995, accusing the Major government of a "crooked deal" to sell off Britain's coal mines.[36]
In 2005, when referring to the economic record of the Conservatives in the 1980s, making the remark, "The only thing that was growing then were the lines of coke in front of Boy George and the rest of the Tories", a reference to allegations originally published in the Sunday Mirror of cocaine use by the Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne (though, in the Commons, Skinner referred to the News of the World).
In 2006, accusing Deputy Speaker Sir Alan Haselhurst of leniency towards remarks made by opposition frontbencher and future Prime Minister Theresa May "because she's a Tory".[38]
In 2016, for referring to Prime Minister David Cameron as "Dodgy Dave" in relation to Cameron's tax affairs
Commons attendance
During his tenure in the Commons, Skinner would usually sit on the first seat of the front bench below the gangway in the Commons (known as the 'Awkward Squad Bench' because it is where rebel Labour Party MPs have traditionally sat) in a tweed jacket (whilst most other MPs wear suits) and signature red tie.[citation needed] He is known as 'the Beast of Bolsover':[10] according to Skinner he earned the nickname for his behaviour in a tribute debate in the Commons following the death of former Conservative Prime Minister Anthony Eden[61] - "They were making speeches about the wonder of Anthony Eden, so I got up and talked about miners and people seriously injured and dead in the pits and the £200 given to the widow. There was booing and then all the Tories left and the papers had a go, some serious ones".[20]
Nature of the Beast documentary
Main article: Dennis Skinner: Nature of the Beast
The first documentary about Dennis Skinner sanctioned by him, Nature of the Beast, was completed in 2017 by production company Shut Out The Light. Three years in the making, the film had its premiere at the Derby QUAD Cinema on 8 September 2017, before a UK cinema release. The documentary traces Skinner's rise to political icon status and covers his working-class upbringing, his family influences and his hobbies away from "The Palace of Varieties". Skinner's four surviving brothers and several of his Bolsover constituents were interviewed for the documentary.[7]
Personal life
In 1960, Skinner married Mary Parker, with whom he has three children who all attended his old school, and graduated from the University of Manchester. He and his wife separated in 1989. His current partner is former researcher Lois Blasenheim.[7]
In 1999, Skinner was diagnosed with advanced bladder cancer and subsequently had surgery to remove a malignant tumour from his bladder.[7] In 2003, he recovered from a double heart bypass operation.[7]
Skinner's mother was diagnosed[62] with Alzheimer's disease prior to her death[63] in the 1980s.[62] Skinner sang to his late mother when she was diagnosed with the disease and was inspired by her ability to recall old songs. Since 2008, he has visited care homes in Derbyshire to sing to elderly patients with dementia
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