Andrew Slaughter
Encyclopedia
Andrew Francis Slaughter (born 29 September 1960) is a British
Labour Party
politician
who was elected as Member of Parliament
(MP) for Hammersmith
in 2010. He had previously been MP for Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush from 2005 to 2010 and before that, Leader of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
Council. He is currently a Shadow Justice Minister
, serving on the Labour Party's frontbench.
and educated at Peterborough Primary School on Clancarty Road. At 11, he went to the independent Latymer Upper School
before being admitted to the University of Exeter
, where he read English between 1979 and 1982. For the next 16 years he lived in Hammersmith before moving in 1998 to live off the Askew Road in Shepherds Bush.
, a charity based in Hammersmith Broadway
, and for Hammersmith & Fulham Council
in libraries around the borough and at Fulham
Town Hall. He then worked for commercial PR firms before moving on to research, first for the BBC and then in Parliament. He spent two years in this role for Michael Meacher
MP when he was Shadow Secretary
for Employment and Social Security.
In his early thirties he studied Law, qualifying as a barrister in 1993. He practised from the Bridewell Chambers in Blackfriars in criminal and civil law before specialising in personal injury and housing law. He stopped practising when elected as MP for Ealing, Acton & Shepherds Bush in 2005.
councillor for Gibbs Green ward in 1986, and from 2002 he was councillor for the North End ward in West Kensington
. He held his seat as a member of the council for 20 years, being elected Deputy Leader in 1991 and leader in 1996. He stepped down from this role in 2005. Slaughter was one of the first executive mayors in the country, but reverted to the title of council leader when the government's initiative failed to become law.
He is an enthusiastic champion of local causes, having served for twenty years as a director of Broadway, the charity for the single homeless, and on the board of Hammersmith & Fulham Community Law Centre. He is a governor of William Morris Sixth Form in Baron’s Court, a school which he helped to establish in 1994.
in July 1997, following the unexpected death seven days after the 1997 general election of incumbent Sir Michael Shersby
. The seat was held for the Conservatives by John Randall
.
Slaughter went on to gain a seat in Westminster at the 2005 general election
, when he was elected as MP for Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush in London after the retirement of veteran Labour MP Clive Soley
.
Slaughter has been Vice Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party
London Regional Group since 2007. He became a member of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee in October 2009 and the London Regional Select Committee
from January 2010. Previously he was member of the Regulatory Reform Select Committee (2005–07) and Children, Schools and Families Select Committee (2007–09).
Slaughter's interests include the Middle East and particularly Palestine. He is Secretary of the Britain-Palestine All-Party Parliamentary Group
(APPG) and Chair of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East. His interests are reflected in the other APPGs of which he is a member, including country groups for Somalia, Albania, Kosovo and Spain. He is a member of Labour Friends of Poland and of the Caribbean, and of domestic groups for Crossrail, Housing Need and Homelessness, Gypsy Roma and Travellers, Conflict Issues and Tenant-Controlled Housing.
He has spoken in the House of Commons on housing, local government, education and climate change
issues.
He has actively campaigned against Air Passenger Duty
, Heathrow expansion and the planned demolition of social housing by the Conservative-led Council in his constituency.
The Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush constituency underwent a boundary change for the 2010 general election, and on 30 November 2006, the new Hammersmith Constituency Labour Party
selected Slaughter as the Labour candidate for the new Hammersmith
seat which he won in the 2010 general election with an increased majority.
(PPS) to Stephen Ladyman
MP, Minister of State for the Department for Transport
and served from November 2005 to June 2007. In June 2007, he was appointed PPS to Lord Malloch-Brown, Minister of State
at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
, and also served as PPS to Lord Digby Jones, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
and Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
, and between July 2007 and October 2008.
On 27 January 2009, he resigned as Lord Malloch-Brown's PPS over the Government's plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport.
with responsibility for courts and tribunals, criminal law, youth justice, the Parole Board, freedom of information and Legal Aid. Slaughter served as the lead lead shadow minister opposing the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill 2011, in which he was responsible for Legal Aid and Civil Litigation Reform throughout Commons scrutiny. In October 2010, his responsibilities were adjusted to include criminal sentencing.
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
who was elected as Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for Hammersmith
Hammersmith (UK Parliament constituency)
Hammersmith is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
in 2010. He had previously been MP for Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush from 2005 to 2010 and before that, Leader of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham is a London borough in West London, and forms part of Inner London. Traversed by the east-west main roads of the A4 Great West Road and the A40 Westway, many international corporations have offices in the borough....
Council. He is currently a Shadow Justice Minister
Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Justice is a ministerial department of the UK Government headed by the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, who is responsible for improvements to the justice system so that it better serves the public...
, serving on the Labour Party's frontbench.
Early life
Slaughter was born in HammersmithHammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
and educated at Peterborough Primary School on Clancarty Road. At 11, he went to the independent Latymer Upper School
Latymer Upper School
Latymer Upper School, founded by Edward Latymer in 1624, is a selective independent school in Hammersmith, West London, England, lying between King Street and the Thames. It is a day school for 1,130 pupils – boys and girls aged 11–18; there is also the Latymer Preparatory School for boys and girls...
before being admitted to the University of Exeter
University of Exeter
The University of Exeter is a public university in South West England. It belongs to the 1994 Group, an association of 19 of the United Kingdom's smaller research-intensive universities....
, where he read English between 1979 and 1982. For the next 16 years he lived in Hammersmith before moving in 1998 to live off the Askew Road in Shepherds Bush.
Employment history
In the 1980s Slaughter had a number of jobs working in the voluntary, public and private sectors. Slaughter worked for the British Safety CouncilBritish Safety Council
The British Safety Council is a global health and safety charity. Founded in 1957, the charity helps businesses with their health, safety and environmental management; campaigns and influences; and is a champion of young workers' safety. Its vision is that no-one should be killed, injured or made...
, a charity based in Hammersmith Broadway
Hammersmith Broadway
Hammersmith Broadway is a street which serves as a major transport node and shopping centre located in west London. It is home to the Piccadilly and District lines' Hammersmith station, as well as Hammersmith bus station. It is located on Hammersmith Road, in the London Borough of Hammersmith &...
, and for Hammersmith & Fulham Council
London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham is a London borough in West London, and forms part of Inner London. Traversed by the east-west main roads of the A4 Great West Road and the A40 Westway, many international corporations have offices in the borough....
in libraries around the borough and at Fulham
Fulham
Fulham is an area of southwest London in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, SW6 located south west of Charing Cross. It lies on the left bank of the Thames, between Putney and Chelsea. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
Town Hall. He then worked for commercial PR firms before moving on to research, first for the BBC and then in Parliament. He spent two years in this role for Michael Meacher
Michael Meacher
Michael Hugh Meacher is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Oldham West and Royton since 1997. Previously he had been the MP for Oldham West, first elected in 1970. On 22 February 2007 he declared that he would be standing for the Labour Leadership, challenging...
MP when he was Shadow Secretary
Shadow Cabinet
The Shadow Cabinet is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government...
for Employment and Social Security.
In his early thirties he studied Law, qualifying as a barrister in 1993. He practised from the Bridewell Chambers in Blackfriars in criminal and civil law before specialising in personal injury and housing law. He stopped practising when elected as MP for Ealing, Acton & Shepherds Bush in 2005.
Political and community activity
In 1983 he joined the Fulham Labour Party, becoming a Hammersmith and FulhamLondon Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham is a London borough in West London, and forms part of Inner London. Traversed by the east-west main roads of the A4 Great West Road and the A40 Westway, many international corporations have offices in the borough....
councillor for Gibbs Green ward in 1986, and from 2002 he was councillor for the North End ward in West Kensington
West Kensington
- Commercial/education :Local business consists of small shops, offices and restaurants, with the Olympia Exhibition Centre nearby. Indeed, it is the mix of local shops that give the area its character....
. He held his seat as a member of the council for 20 years, being elected Deputy Leader in 1991 and leader in 1996. He stepped down from this role in 2005. Slaughter was one of the first executive mayors in the country, but reverted to the title of council leader when the government's initiative failed to become law.
He is an enthusiastic champion of local causes, having served for twenty years as a director of Broadway, the charity for the single homeless, and on the board of Hammersmith & Fulham Community Law Centre. He is a governor of William Morris Sixth Form in Baron’s Court, a school which he helped to establish in 1994.
Parliamentary career
He stood at the Uxbridge by-electionUxbridge by-election, 1997
The Uxbridge by-election, 1997 was a parliamentary by-election held in July 1997 to elect a new Member of Parliament for the constituency of Uxbridge in London, England....
in July 1997, following the unexpected death seven days after the 1997 general election of incumbent Sir Michael Shersby
Michael Shersby
Sir Michael Shersby was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was Member of Parliament for Uxbridge.-Early life:...
. The seat was held for the Conservatives by John Randall
John Randall (UK politician)
Alexander John Randall, known as John Randall, is a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom, and is the Member of Parliament for Uxbridge and South Ruislip.-Early life:...
.
Slaughter went on to gain a seat in Westminster at the 2005 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
, when he was elected as MP for Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush in London after the retirement of veteran Labour MP Clive Soley
Clive Soley, Baron Soley
Clive Stafford Soley, Baron Soley is a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom.-Early life:He went to Downshall Secondary Modern School on Aldborough Road in Seven Kings near Ilford, then Newbattle Adult Education College in Newbattle, Midlothian, from 1961-3. He did RAF National Service...
.
Slaughter has been Vice Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party
Parliamentary Labour Party
In UK politics, the Parliamentary Labour Party is the parliamentary party of the Labour Party in Parliament: Labour MPs as a collective body....
London Regional Group since 2007. He became a member of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee in October 2009 and the London Regional Select Committee
London Regional Select Committee
The London Regional Select Committee was one of nine regional select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The establishment of the committee was agreed by the House of Commons on June 25, 2009, following the establishment of regional select committees for the...
from January 2010. Previously he was member of the Regulatory Reform Select Committee (2005–07) and Children, Schools and Families Select Committee (2007–09).
Slaughter's interests include the Middle East and particularly Palestine. He is Secretary of the Britain-Palestine All-Party Parliamentary Group
All-Party Parliamentary Group
An all-party parliamentary group is a grouping in the UK parliament that is composed of politicians from all political parties.-All-party parliamentary groups:...
(APPG) and Chair of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East. His interests are reflected in the other APPGs of which he is a member, including country groups for Somalia, Albania, Kosovo and Spain. He is a member of Labour Friends of Poland and of the Caribbean, and of domestic groups for Crossrail, Housing Need and Homelessness, Gypsy Roma and Travellers, Conflict Issues and Tenant-Controlled Housing.
He has spoken in the House of Commons on housing, local government, education and climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
issues.
He has actively campaigned against Air Passenger Duty
Air Passenger Duty
Air Passenger Duty is an excise duty which is charged on the carriage of passengers flying from a United Kingdom airport on an aircraft that has an authorised take off weight of more than ten tonnes or more than twenty seats for passengers...
, Heathrow expansion and the planned demolition of social housing by the Conservative-led Council in his constituency.
The Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush constituency underwent a boundary change for the 2010 general election, and on 30 November 2006, the new Hammersmith Constituency Labour Party
Constituency Labour Party
A Constituency Labour Party is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular UK parliamentary constituency in England, Scotland and Wales. The Labour Party in Northern Ireland has, since February 2009, been organised as a province-wide Constituency Labour Party...
selected Slaughter as the Labour candidate for the new Hammersmith
Hammersmith (UK Parliament constituency)
Hammersmith is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
seat which he won in the 2010 general election with an increased majority.
In government
He was appointed Parliamentary Private SecretaryParliamentary Private Secretary
A Parliamentary Private Secretary is a role given to a United Kingdom Member of Parliament by a senior minister in government or shadow minister to act as their contact for the House of Commons; this role is junior to that of Parliamentary Under-Secretary, which is a ministerial post, salaried by...
(PPS) to Stephen Ladyman
Stephen Ladyman
Stephen John Ladyman is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for South Thanet from 1997 until 2010.-Early life:...
MP, Minister of State for the Department for Transport
Department for Transport
In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are not devolved...
and served from November 2005 to June 2007. In June 2007, he was appointed PPS to Lord Malloch-Brown, Minister of State
Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians or officials in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a "minister of state" is a junior minister, who is assigned to assist a specific cabinet minister...
at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
, and also served as PPS to Lord Digby Jones, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
and Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform was a United Kingdom government department. The department was created on 28 June 2007 on the disbanding of the Department of Trade and Industry , and was itself disbanded on 6 June 2009 on the creation of the Department for Business,...
, and between July 2007 and October 2008.
On 27 January 2009, he resigned as Lord Malloch-Brown's PPS over the Government's plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport.
In opposition
In October 2010, Slaughter was invited to join the Labour frontbench as Shadow Justice MinisterMinistry of Justice (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Justice is a ministerial department of the UK Government headed by the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, who is responsible for improvements to the justice system so that it better serves the public...
with responsibility for courts and tribunals, criminal law, youth justice, the Parole Board, freedom of information and Legal Aid. Slaughter served as the lead lead shadow minister opposing the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill 2011, in which he was responsible for Legal Aid and Civil Litigation Reform throughout Commons scrutiny. In October 2010, his responsibilities were adjusted to include criminal sentencing.
External links
- AndySlaughter.com - Andrew Slaughter's website
- Local Labour Party
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Andrew Slaughter MP
- TheyWorkForYou.com - Andy Slaughter MP
- Voting Record
- Andrew Slaughter's Chambers
- 'Ealing Gazette' newspaper column written by Andrew Slaughter and other Ealing MPs
- 'Ealing Times' newspaper column written by Andrew Slaughter and other Ealing MPs until 2008
- BBC Politics