Middlesbrough Labour Group

Working for Middlesbrough

LOCAL MPs & MEPs

Sir Stuart Bell MP

Sir Stuart Bell has been the MP for Middlesbrough since 1983, having previously stood as the Labour candidate in Hexham in 1979. He was a Newcastle City councillor from 1980-83. He was PPS to Roy Hattersley, Deputy Leader of the Opposition (1983-84), before becoming a frontbench spokesman for Northern Ireland (1984-87) and Trade and Industry spokesman (1992-97).

Parliament

Since the Labour Government was elected in 1997, he has been Second Church Estates Commissioner, answering questions in the Commons on Church affairs and with responsibility for legislation relating to Church measures. In 1999 he became a member of the House of Commons Commission, supervising the parliamentary estate, and in 2000 became chairman of the Finance & Services Select Committee. He is also a member of the Liaison Committee that quizzes the Prime Minister four times a year. Additionally, he is chairman of the all-party parliamentary Algerian group and the Franco-British group.

Background

Sir Stuart was born in the North-West Durham mining village of High Spen, attending the local Hookergate Grammer School before leaving aged 16 to work in the Chopwell Colliery office. After nine months in the colliery office and a spell at the local newspaper, he went to London to work briefly as a copytaker for the Daily Telegraph and later as a typist in the City of London. He went to live in Paris to start writing novels, but after working as a secretary for a law firm, decided to study law himself and qualified as a barrister at Gray's Inn in 1970. He then established his own international law practice based in Paris.

In 2003 Sir Stuart was awarded the Freedom of the City of London and in the New Year's Honours List 2003 received a knighthood for parliamentary services. Most recently he has been awarded the Legion d'Honneur for his services toward Franco-British relations. Sir Stuart is fluent in French.

Constituency

Sir Stuart's constituency is made up of the following wards; Acklam, Ayresome, Beckfield, Brookfield, Clairville, Gresham, Kader, Linthorpe, Middlehaven, North Ormesby and Brambles Farm, Pallister, Park, Thorntree and University. It also covers part of Beechwood.

Contact Details

You can contact him by phone on 01642 851 252 (Constituency) or 020 7219 3000 (Parliament), by fax on 01642 850 170 or by email at: contact@stuartbellmp.org. Please visit his website - www.stuartbellmp.org. A picture of Sir Stuart Bell with Hazel Blears MP is here.

Dr Ashok Kumar MP

Background

Ashok Kumar has been the MP for Middlesbrough South & East Cleveland since 1997. Previously he had been a Labour Councillor in Middlesbrough for 10 years. He went to school in Derby and attended Aston University, reading a degree in Chemical Engineering (BSc) and subsequently Process Analysis and Control Theory (MSc), before doing a PhD in Fluid Mechanics. He went on to become a Research Scientist for British Steel, where he stayed between 1985 and 1997. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineering.

Parliament

In Parliament, his interest in science has continued as he is Chair of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, a member of the Parliamentary Scientific Committee and Vice-chair of the All-Party Energy Studies Group. Inside the Labour Party, he is on the parliamentary Trade and Industry, Treasury, Education and Employment, and Job Creation committees.

He is currently a parliamentary aide to the International Development Secretary Hilary Benn at the Department for International Development. He therefore takes a deep interest in international aid issues, the developing world and Britain's role in the globe's future. In his spare time he enjoys cricket, badminton, reading history and philosophy and listening to jazz.

Constituency

His constituency covers the following wards; Coulby Newham, Hemlington, Ladgate, Marton, Marton West, Nunthorpe, Park End and Stainton and Thornton. It also covers part of Beechwood.

Contact Details

You can contact him by phone; 01287 610878 (Constituency) or 020 7219 3000 (Parliament); or by email at: ashokkumarmp@parliament.uk. Please visit his websites - www.ashokkumarmp.net and www.ashokkumar.org.uk. A picture of Ashok Kumar with Hemlington schoolchildren is here.

Stephen Hughes MEP

European Parliament

He was first elected in 1984 to represent the Durham & Blaydon European Constituency, serving continuously since. He was re-elected in June 2004 to represent the whole of the North East. In the European Parliament, he is a former Deputy Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party (1991-1993) and currently has responsibility for liaison with the TUC and the Parliamentary Labour Party in Westminster.

He sits on the Parliament's Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, where he is spokesman for the 200-member strong Socialist Group, and the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee.

Background

Stephen Hughes was born in Sunderland, but was raised in Haswell Plough, County Durham. He was educated in Durham City and Lancaster, before studying at Leeds and Northumbria Universities. He went on to become a local government officer before being elected as an MEP. He is a member of the GMB union.

Contact Details

He now lives in Darlington and is interested in animal welfare, peace and disarmament and social exclusion. You can contact him at his

office in Durham on: 0191 384 9371; or by email at: stephen-hughes@btconnect.com. Please visit his website - www.stephenhughesmep.org