Clive Stafford Soley, Baron Soley PC (born 7 May 1939) is a British Labour Party politician. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 2005, and later as a Member of the House of Lords until 2023.
The Lord Soley | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2019 | |
| Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party | |
| In office 3 May 1997 – 11 July 2001 | |
| Leader | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Doug Hoyle |
| Succeeded by | Jean Corston |
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| In office 29 June 2005 – 19 January 2023 Life Peerage | |
| Member of Parliament for Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush Hammersmith (1983–1997) Hammersmith North (1979–1983) | |
| In office 3 May 1979 – 11 April 2005 | |
| Preceded by | Frank Tomney |
| Succeeded by | Andy Slaughter |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 7 May 1939 |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| Alma mater | University of Southampton, University of Strathclyde |
Early life
editHe went to Downshall Secondary Modern School (eventually ended up as Seven Kings High School) on Aldborough Road in Seven Kings near Ilford, then Newbattle Adult Education College in Newbattle, Midlothian, from 1961 to 1963. He did RAF National Service from 1959 to 1961. He went to the University of Strathclyde, where he gained a BA in Politics and Psychology in 1968, then the University of Southampton, where he gained a Diploma in Applied Social Studies in 1970. He was a British Council Officer from 1968 to 1969, then a Probation Officer from 1970 to 1979 for the Inner London Probation Service. He was a councillor on Hammersmith Council from 1974 to 1978.
Parliamentary career
editSoley was a Labour Party Member of Parliament from 1979, first for the constituency of Hammersmith North, then Hammersmith and finally Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush from 1997 to 2005. In 1981, he was a member of the anti-nuclear Labour Party Defence Study Group[1] and was chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party from 1997 to 2001. In 2003, he voted in favour of the government's decision to engage in military action against Iraq.[2]
In 2005, it was announced that he would be given a life peerage, and on 29 June 2005 he was created Baron Soley, of Hammersmith in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.[3] He was from 2005 to 2010 Campaign Director of Future Heathrow, an organisation dedicated to the expansion of Heathrow. He was from 2004 to 2016, chair of the trustees of Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal, now renamed the Mary Seacole Trust, which worked for the erection of the statue of Mary Seacole in the grounds of St Thomas's Hospital in London.[4]
Personal life
editSoley has a son and daughter. He is an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society.[5]
References
edit- ^ Rhiannon Vickers (30 September 2011). The Labour Party and the World - Volume 2: Labour's Foreign Policy since 1951. Manchester University Press. p. 156. ISBN 978-1-84779-595-3.
- ^ Zaid Al-Ali (23 January 2003). on the crisis in Iraq. Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
- ^ "No. 57692". The London Gazette. 4 July 2005. p. 8639.
- ^ "Mary Seacole Trust, Life, Work & Achievements of Mary Seacole". maryseacoletrust.org.uk.
- ^ "National Secular Society Honorary Associates". National Secular Society. Retrieved 27 July 2019
External links
edit- Profile at the Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
- Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
- Voting record at PublicWhip.org
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
- Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
- Articles authored at Journalisted
- Hammersmith & Fulham Labour Party
- Guardian Politics Ask Aristotle – Clive Soley
- Lord Soley of Hammersmith Open Rights Group
- BBC Politics profile, 2002