Bob Blackman (politician)

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Robert Blackman
MP
File:Bob Blackman MP.jpg
Member of Parliament
for Harrow East
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded by Tony McNulty
Majority 3,403 (7.1%)
Member of the London Assembly
for Brent and Harrow
In office
10 June 2004 – 1 May 2008
Preceded by Toby Harris
Succeeded by Navin Shah
Personal details
Born (1956-04-26) 26 April 1956 (age 67)[1]
Kensington, London, England
Nationality British
Political party Conservative
Spouse(s) Nicola Blackman
Alma mater University of Liverpool
Website bobblackmanmp.com
parliament..bob-blackman

Robert John Blackman (born 26 April 1956), better known as Bob Blackman, is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Harrow East since 2010. He was also a member of the London Assembly, and the Conservative Friends of Israel group.

Biography

Blackman was Head Boy at Preston Manor High School, where he now serves as a school governor; and was president of University of Liverpool Students Union. He joined the sales team of Unisys on graduation. He worked in various sales and management positions for BT and worked at their training school in Milton Keynes as a tutor[2] and later as a Regulatory Compliance Manager for BT[3] until his election to Parliament.

Political career

Blackman was a council member in the London Borough of Brent from 1986 to 2010, representing Preston Ward.[4] He was the leader of the Conservative group on the council from 1990 to 2010, having been council leader between 1991 and 1996. He stood as a parliamentary candidate for Brent South at the 1992 election, for Bedford at the 1997 election, and for Brent North at the 2005 election.

He was elected as a member of the London Assembly at the 2004 assembly elections, taking the constituency seat of Brent and Harrow, beating Toby Harris who had beaten him for the seat at the 2000 elections. He was elected Conservative Group Whip on the London Assembly.

In the 2008 elections, Blackman lost his seat back to the Labour candidate, Navin Shah by a 1649 votes.[5] In 2012, Shah managed to secure the seat by almost 30,000 votes.

From June 2006 to May 2010, he was also been Deputy Leader of Brent Council, the Conservatives having formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

Parliament

In the General Election of May 2010 Blackman took the Harrow East constituency from Labour's Tony McNulty.

In 2010 he was appointed as a member to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee.[6]

Smoking and Health

He called for the adoption of plain packaging legislation for cigarettes,[7] and supported Cameron's plan calling for energy companies to provide simplified energy bills to their customers.[8] On 1 July 2015, Blackman was elected Chair of the All Party Political Group on Smoking and Health, of which he had been the secretary for some times.[9]

Opposition to same sex marriage bill

In December 2012, Prime Minister David Cameron announced his approval for same-sex marriage.[10] In response, on Friday 7 December 2012, Blackman told the BBC News Channel that David Cameron’s backing of religious same-sex marriages was wrong on "principle" and that marriage had to be "between one man and one woman".[11] According to the Harrow Times, he was accused of hypocrisy by a former fellow Brent council colleague who claimed she had had an 11 affair with him whilst he was married.[12]

On 5 February 2013 MP Bob Blackman rebelled, voting against the bill in the House of Commons Second Reading vote on marriage equality in Britain.[13]

Other interests

Blackman has been part of a number of delegations of the Conservative Friends of Israel group,[14] including during the Operation Defensive Shield conflict when he visited for an Israeli military briefing on the Iron Dome defense system.[15]

Expenses

In 2015, the Compliance Officer for The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) made a judgement that Blackman had submitted 732 inaccurate mileage claims, for example claiming 10 miles worth of petrol for a journey of 2 miles [16] He was subsequently ordered to pay back £1,006.20.[17][18]

Personal life

Blackman is married to former councillor Nicola Blackman, and the couple live in Wembley

Deletion of 'embarrassing' details from Wikipedia

This page was one of a number of Wikipedia pages edited ahead of the 2015 General Election by computers inside Parliament; an act which the Daily Telegraph says "appears to be a deliberate attempt to hide embarrassing information from the electorate." In Blackman's case, the information deleted provided links to news stories revealing he had been “caught with his pants down”.[18]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ http://www.brent.gov.uk/Democracy.nsf/0/f06a9ad95e81514280256a960056bc6a?OpenDocument
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[]
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[better source needed]
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Joe Murphy, "Anti-homosexual Section 28 was right for schools, says Tory MP", London Evening Standard, 10 December 2012 [1]
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ {http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm130205/debtext/130205-0004.htm} The House of Commons.2013.Marriage (Same Sex Couples)Bill 2012-2013.
  14. ↑ http://www2.cfoi.co.uk/Delegations/RecentDelegations/
  15. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jul/30/tory-mps-visit-israel-condemned-bad-timing
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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