Robert Michael Spink (born 1 August 1948,
HaworthHaworth is a village and tourist attraction in the English ceremonial county of West Yorkshire best known for its association with the Brontë sisters.- Brontë Country :...
,
Worth ValleyWorth Valley is a ward on the western extremity of Bradford Metropolitan District. In the north it is bounded by North Yorkshire, in the west by Lancashire and in the south by Calderdale District. It contains the villages of Oakworth, Oldfield, Haworth, Cross Roads, Oxenhope and Stanbury; areas of...
,
YorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the British Isles. Because of its great size, functions were increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have been subject to periodic reform. Throughout these changes, Yorkshire has continued to be recognised as...
) is a politician in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
. He was elected as the
Conservative PartyThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
Member of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
for
Castle PointCastle Point is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It returns one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.It was created in 1983, primarily...
in
EssexEssex is a county in the East of England region of the United Kingdom. The county town of Essex is Chelmsford.-History:In pre-Roman Britain the territories of Suffolk and Essex were home to the Trinovantes tribe, which had grown wealthy through intensive trade with the Roman Empire, contemporary...
in 1992, lost his seat in 1997, but regained it in 2001. He resigned the Conservative whip in March 2008, and in April 2008 he defected to the
United Kingdom Independence PartyThe United Kingdom Independence Party is a conservative, Eurosceptic political party. Its principal aim is the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. UKIP currently holds thirteen seats in the European Parliament and two in the House of Lords...
, becoming that party's first and only MP. In November 2008 he was redesignated as an Independent, on the grounds that UKIP had no 'whip' and has since denied joining UKIP.
He went to Holycroft Secondary Modern School (now a primary school) on
Victoria Road in
KeighleyKeighley is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated northwest of Bradford and is at the confluence of the River Aire and the River Worth...
and Southall Technical College, At the
University of ManchesterThe Victoria University of Manchester was a university in Manchester, England. On 1 October 2004 it merged with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to form a new entity, "The University of Manchester".-History:The University was founded in 1851 as Owens College, named...
, he gained an
BScA Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years ....
Hons (1st) in 1972.
Robert Michael Spink (born 1 August 1948,
HaworthHaworth is a village and tourist attraction in the English ceremonial county of West Yorkshire best known for its association with the Brontë sisters.- Brontë Country :...
,
Worth ValleyWorth Valley is a ward on the western extremity of Bradford Metropolitan District. In the north it is bounded by North Yorkshire, in the west by Lancashire and in the south by Calderdale District. It contains the villages of Oakworth, Oldfield, Haworth, Cross Roads, Oxenhope and Stanbury; areas of...
,
YorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the British Isles. Because of its great size, functions were increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have been subject to periodic reform. Throughout these changes, Yorkshire has continued to be recognised as...
) is a politician in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
. He was elected as the
Conservative PartyThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
Member of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
for
Castle PointCastle Point is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It returns one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.It was created in 1983, primarily...
in
EssexEssex is a county in the East of England region of the United Kingdom. The county town of Essex is Chelmsford.-History:In pre-Roman Britain the territories of Suffolk and Essex were home to the Trinovantes tribe, which had grown wealthy through intensive trade with the Roman Empire, contemporary...
in 1992, lost his seat in 1997, but regained it in 2001. He resigned the Conservative whip in March 2008, and in April 2008 he defected to the
United Kingdom Independence PartyThe United Kingdom Independence Party is a conservative, Eurosceptic political party. Its principal aim is the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. UKIP currently holds thirteen seats in the European Parliament and two in the House of Lords...
, becoming that party's first and only MP. In November 2008 he was redesignated as an Independent, on the grounds that UKIP had no 'whip' and has since denied joining UKIP.
Early life
He went to Holycroft Secondary Modern School (now a primary school) on
Victoria Road in
KeighleyKeighley is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated northwest of Bradford and is at the confluence of the River Aire and the River Worth...
and Southall Technical College, At the
University of ManchesterThe Victoria University of Manchester was a university in Manchester, England. On 1 October 2004 it merged with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to form a new entity, "The University of Manchester".-History:The University was founded in 1851 as Owens College, named...
, he gained an
BScA Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years ....
Hons (1st) in 1972. At
Cranfield UniversityCranfield University is a British postgraduate university based on two campuses, with a research-oriented focus. The main campus is at Cranfield, Bedfordshire; the other is at Shrivenham, Oxfordshire...
, he gained an
MScA Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in a large number of countries...
in
Industrial EngineeringIndustrial engineer is a branch of engineering that concerns with the development, improvement, implementation and evaluation of integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information, equipment, energy, material and process. It also deals with designing new prototypes to help save money and...
and Administration in 1975 and
PhDDoctor of Philosophy, abbreviated PhD , for the Latin , meaning "teacher of philosophy", or alternatively, DPhil, for the equivalent , is an advanced academic degree awarded by universities...
in Economics and Management in 1988.
He joined the
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts.The RAF operates almost 1,109...
(RAF) in 1964, and until 1966 did his
Basic TrainingRecruit training is the initial indoctrination and instruction given to new military personnel. It may be common to all recruits, officers being selected on the basis of competency shown during recruit training, or for the enlisted ranks only...
at
RAF CosfordDCAE Cosford is a Royal Air Force station in Cosford, Shropshire, just to the northwest of Wolverhampton and next to Albrighton.-History:...
and
RAF UxbridgeRAF Uxbridge is a Royal Air Force station in Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It is best known as the headquarters of No. 11 Group RAF during the Battle of Britain. 11 Group was responsible for the defence of London and the South-East of England, and therefore was the main area of...
, being invalided. He was an engineer for
EMI Electronics LtdThe EMI Group is a British music company. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major publishing arm- EMI Music Publishing- based in New York City...
from 1966-77 in
HayesHayes is a town in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It is a suburban development situated west of Charing Cross. Hayes was developed in the late 19th and 20th centuries as an industrial locality to which residential districts were later added to house factory workers...
and gained an
Ordinary National CertificateAn Ordinary National Certificate is a further education qualification in the United Kingdom, awarded by BTEC. It is at Level 3, equivalent to two A Levels....
(ONC) from Southall Technical College in 1969 when on day-release, then became an Industrial Management Consultant in 1977 for Harold Whitehead and Partners. From 1980-4, he was Director of Seafarer Navigation International Ltd (eventually bought by Standard Communications) in
BournemouthBournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the Borough of Bournemouth, England. The town has a population of 163,444 according to the 2001 Census, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is the largest town on the south coast and the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
, and from 1989-93, he was a non-executive Director of
Bournemouth International AirportBournemouth Airport is an airport located north northeast of Bournemouth, in southern England. Historically, charter services were dominated primarily by locally based Palmair which made up the majority of commercial movements...
. From 1984-93, he was a Management Consultant. From 1997 to 2001, he worked for Harold Whitehead in
WindsorWindsor is a suburban town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is best known as the site of Windsor Castle....
. He was a county councillor in Essex from 1985-92.
Parliamentary career
He is opposed to
abortionAn abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo. An abortion can occur spontaneously due to complications during pregnancy or can be induced, in humans and other species...
and supports reintroduction of
capital punishmentCapital punishment or the death penalty, is the execution of a person by judicial process as a punishment for an offense. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences....
. He is against research into
animal chimeraTypically seen in non-human zoology , a chimera is an animal that has two or more different populations of genetically distinct cells that originated in different zygotes; if the different cells emerged from the same zygote, it is called a mosaicism.Chimeras are formed from four parent cells...
s and refers to those involved in or supporting human bioengineering as "dark forces".
In April 2005, Spink took out an anti-immigration advert in the local
Yellow Advertiser newspaper reading "What bit of 'send them back' don't you understand Mr Blair?" His rival for the constituency, the Labour candidate Luke Akehurst, said: "This advertisement contains appalling comments that whip up racial tension and fear to win votes. It is reminiscent of the worse utterances of
Enoch PowellJohn Enoch Powell, MBE was a British politician, linguist, writer, academic, soldier and poet.He was a Conservative Party Member of Parliament between 1950 and February 1974, and an Ulster Unionist MP between October 1974 and 1987. He was controversial through most of his career, and his tenure...
. The Tory leadership should disown it.". Spink went on to win the election, increasing his majority sevenfold.
On 12 March 2008, Spink announced to the UK House of Commons that he had resigned the Conservative Party
WhipThe whip is a role in party politics whose primary purpose is to ensure control of the formal decision-making process in a parliamentary legislature. Whips are party 'enforcers', who typically offer both inducements and punishments to party members...
due to "criminal and other irregularities" in his constituency. This announcement was later rebutted by the party chief whip
Patrick McLoughlinPatrick Allen McLoughlin is a British politician. He is a Conservative Member of Parliament, having represented West Derbyshire since 1986. He is a member of the Shadow Cabinet and has been the Opposition Chief Whip since 2005.-Background:Patrick McLoughlin was born in Stafford, the son and...
and they described the whip having been withdrawn from him.
On 21 April 2008, Bob Spink became the first member of Parliament for the
United Kingdom Independence PartyThe United Kingdom Independence Party is a conservative, Eurosceptic political party. Its principal aim is the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. UKIP currently holds thirteen seats in the European Parliament and two in the House of Lords...
, saying that "positive and sensible co-operation with the EU does not require us to sell the British people down the river or to give our independence away".
He recently found himself at odds with his new-found colleagues over the issue of whether or not to extend the amount of time a suspect can be detained without charge from 28 to 42 days. He voted for the bill, but UKIP opposed it.
Following the arrest of Shadow Immigration Minister, Damian Green, and the searching of Green's House of Commons office on suspicion of "procuring misconduct in public office" for passing leaked Government documents to journalists, the House of Commons debated whether it was right that the police should be given access to an MP's office and to remove his computers and constituency correspondence. Spink voted with the Government, and against the position set out by the UKIP leadership, on both the Government's motion and an amendment tabled by backbench MPs. The amendment, which would have meant that the committee looking into whether correct procedures had been followed, was defeated by 4 votes.
Personal life
He married Janet Barham; they have three sons and a daughter. They have since divorced.
External links