Jim Fitzpatrick (politician)

Jim Fitzpatrick MP
Minister of State for Farming and the Environment
In office 8 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Jane Kennedy
Succeeded by	James Paice
Under-Secretary of State for Transport
In office 28 June 2007 – 8 June 2009
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Mike O'Brien
Succeeded by	Chris Mole
Minister for London
In office 6 May 2005 – 28 June 2007
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Keith Hill
Succeeded by	Tessa Jowell
Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
In office 13 June 2003 – 6 May 2005
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Gerry Sutcliffe
Succeeded by	John Heppell
Member of Parliament for Poplar and Limehouse Poplar and Canning Town (1997–2010)
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Constituency created
Majority	16,924 (33.1%)
Personal details
Born	(1952-04-04) 4 April 1952 Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Jane Lowe Sheila (a GP)[1]
Children	2[1]
Occupation	Politician
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Awards	Fire Brigade Medal
Website	www.jimfitzpatrick.org.uk

James Fitzpatrick (born 4 April 1952) is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Poplar and Limehouse since the 2010 General Election. From 1997 to the 2010 election he was the Member for Poplar and Canning Town.

Fitzpatrick served as Minister of State for Farming and the Environment at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs during the Brown Ministry. In August 2013, he resigned from his front bench role as Shadow Transport Spokesman in order to vote against both Labour and Government motions on the use of chemical weapons in Syria^[2] claiming he was "opposed to military intervention in Syria, full stop".^[3]

Early life

Fitzpatrick was born in Glasgow, Scotland and was educated locally at the Holyrood R.C. Secondary School in Crosshill.^[4] From 1970, he was a trainee with Tytrak in Glasgow, before moving to London in 1973 to become a driver with Mintex. In 1974, he joined the London Fire Brigade as a firefighter, later being decorated with the Fire Brigade Long Service and Good Conduct Medal^[5][6] in 1994. He left the fire service when he was elected to the House of Commons in 1997.

Fitzpatrick was elected as the chairman of the Barking Constituency Labour Party for a year in 1989, and was chairman of the Greater London Labour Party for nine years from 1991.

Parliamentary career

Member of Parliament

He was selected as the Labour candidate over two sitting MPs Max Madden and Nigel Spearing.

He was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for the newly created seat of Poplar and Canning Town in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets at the 1997 General Election with a majority of 18,915. He made his maiden speech in the House of Commons on 17 June 1997.

Fitzpatrick was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Alan Milburn in 1999,^[4] until Milburn became the Secretary of State for Health later in the same year. After the 2001 General Election, Fitzpatrick was appointed to government by Tony Blair as an Assistant Government Whip, becoming a Lord Commissioner to the Treasury (Government Whip) in 2002. He was again promoted within the Whips Office in 2003 when he became the Vice-Chamberlain of HM's Household.

2005 Parliament

Fitzpatrick was re-elected in the 2005 General Election, and was then appointed a junior minister in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, then John Prescott, with the role of Minister for London, a role he took with him on his subsequent move to the Department of Trade and Industry in May 2006. In 2007, he argued against a CWU strike saying it would harm their cause.

On 29 June 2007, he moved to become the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Transport, with shipping amongst his responsibilities,^[7] and was replaced as Minister for London by Tessa Jowell.

In 2008, during the Christmas period, Fitzpatrick and his wife visited Bangladesh, touring the development projects supported by the Canary Wharf Group. The purpose of the trip was to re-visit the country since 1999, and see the regeneration projects that this group supports. During his visit, he visited the Football Academy in Dhaka, also to Jagannathpur and Sylhet, where many Bangladeshis in the UK originate from including many in his constituency.^[8] Fitzpatrick was promoted to Minister of Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs^[1] in the June 2009 reshuffle.

In August 2009, Fitzpatrick decided to leave the wedding of a Muslim couple in his constituency when he was told it would be segregated by gender. In a local newspaper article, he blamed the Islamic Forum Europe for encouraging segregation though the couple claimed Fitzpatrick had "hijacked [the wedding] for political gain". Fitzpatrick stated he had left the wedding as discreetly as possible: "it was never my intention to offend Mr Islam and if he thinks that I done so then of course I will apologise to him".^[9]

2010 Parliament

Following boundary changes, Fitzpatrick contested the newly created Poplar and Limehouse constituency in 2010, and was returned with a 4.7% swing to Labour, contrary to the national swing against the party.^[10] With the realigned boundaries, the seat had been considered the Conservative Party's target seat number 105; Fitzpatrick also defeated the Respect Party's George Galloway, who came third behind the Conservatives.^[11]

He was campaign manager for former Labour MP Oona King (Baroness King of Bow) in her failed attempt to be endorsed as the Labour candidate in the 2012 London Mayoral Election.^[12]

From 2010 until his resignation in 2013, he served as Shadow Minister of State for Transport,^[13][14] covering aviation, shipping and roads policy, his former ministerial brief.

Private life and honours

Fitzpatrick is married to Dr Sheila Fitzpatrick,^[15] he has two children from a previous marriage.^[16] A supporter of Wapping Hockey Club and West Ham United Football Club,^[17] he enjoys watching cricket and is also a vegetarian.

In 2011, Fitzpatrick was honoured to receive the Freedom of the City of London and subsequently was admitted as a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights.

References

External links

• Jim Fitzpatrick official site
• Profile at the Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Jim Fitzpatrick MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com – Jim Fitzpatrick MP
• BBC Newsnight Interview
• Debrett's People of Today

Ministers for London
Gummer Raynsford Hill Raynsford McNulty Hill Fitzpatrick Jowell McNulty Jowell Barwell