Alan Amos

{{Infobox officeholder

| office = Member of Parliament for Hexham

| termstart = 11 June 1987

| termend = 9 April 1992

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1952|11|10|df=y}}

| death_date =

| predecessor = Geoffrey Rippon

| successor = Peter Atkinson

| office5 = Councillor of Tower Hamlets Council for Millwall

| term_end5 = 4 May 2006

| term_start5 = 2002

| office3 = Councillor of Worcester City Council for Lower Wick and Pitmaston

| term_start3 = 1 May 2008

| office4 = Councillor in Worcestershire County Council for Bedwardine

| term_start4 = 7 May 2013

| office6 = Mayor of Worcester

| term_start6 = 2014

| term_end6 = 2015

| predecessor6 = Pat Agar

| successor6 = Roger Knight

| party = Reform UK (since 2025)

| otherparty = Labour (1994–2015)
Conservative (1978–94; 2015–25)

| alma_mater = St John's College, Oxford

}}

Alan Thomas Amos (born 10 November 1952) is a British politician who sat as Conservative Member of Parliament for Hexham from 1987 to 1992. After a spell in the Labour Party, he was elected as a Conservative member of Worcester City Council and of Worcestershire County Council, but left the party and now sits as an independent.{{cite web |title=Councillor Alan Amos |url=https://committee.worcester.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=229 |publisher=Worcs CC |access-date=4 May 2024}} He is currently a member (although not an elected representative) of Reform UK.{{Cite web |date=2025-04-03 |title=Former Conservative Alan Amos to stand for Reform |url=https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/25060046.reform-uk-announces-alan-amos-bedwardine-candidate/ |access-date=2025-04-03 |website=Worcester News |language=en}}

Early life

He attended the independent St Albans School. He studied PPE at St John's College, Oxford. From the Institute of Education, he gained a PGCE in 1976.

From 1976 to 1984, he was an Economics teacher, and a sixth form form-teacher, at Dame Alice Owen's School in Hertfordshire. From 1986 to 1987, he was Assistant Principal of Davies's College of Further Education on Old Gloucester Street, Queen Square, London,

From 1978 to 1987 he was a Conservative Party councillor on Enfield Borough Council.

At the 1983 general election, he stood unsuccessfully in Walthamstow as a Conservative candidate.{{cite web

|title = UK General Election results June 1983

|url = http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge83/i20.htm

|work = Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources

|accessdate = 2 September 2012

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120402073649/http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge83/i20.htm

|archive-date = 2 April 2012

|url-status = dead

}}

Parliamentary career

Amos was elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Hexham in the 1987 general election.

In Parliament, Amos was known for his right wing views, e.g., he believed rapists and muggers should be flogged.{{cite web |last1=Weale |first1=Sally |title='I have changed. Genuinely' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2000/feb/04/features11.g27 |website=the Guardian |access-date=6 August 2022 |language=en |date=4 February 2000}} He was opposed to tobacco advertising.{{cite web |url=https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/4673/ban-on-tobacco-advertising |title=Ban On Tobacco Advertising |access-date=6 August 2022}}

Shortly before the 1992 general election, Amos was arrested, along with another man, at a well known homosexual pickup spot on Hampstead Heath. Amos was not charged but accepted a police caution for indecency, and stood down as MP for Hexham.{{Cite web|url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/18th-january-1997/22/that-night-on-the-heath|title=THAT NIGHT ON THE HEATH » 18 Jan 1997 » The Spectator Archive|website=The Spectator Archive}}{{Cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/603435.stm|title=BBC News | UK POLITICS | Clutching at straws|publisher=BBC News}}

Conversion to Labour

After failing to be readopted as a Conservative local councillor in the London Borough of Enfield, where he had previously been deputy leader of the council,David Conway, [http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/25th-january-1997/22/local-opinion Local Opinion], Spectator, 25 January 1997, accessed 24 June 2013. he joined the Labour Party in 1994, giving a self-exculpatory interview to The Spectator magazine.Nicholas Farell, [http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/18th-january-1997/22/that-night-on-the-heath That Night on the Heath], Spectator, 18 January 1997, accessed 24 June 2013 In the 2001 general election he fought the Hitchin and Harpenden constituency for Labour, coming second to the Conservative Peter Lilley.{{cite news|newspaper=The Guardian|date=4 February 2000|title=I have changed. Genuinely|quote=New Labour is gearing up for the next election with a raft of unlikely new candidates who a decade ago would have been happier canvassing for the Tories. And perhaps the strangest of this new breed is the former Tory MP Alan Amos, who was once anti-abortion and pro-flogging. Sally Weale profiles Millbank's next wave of hopefuls|url=https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,3958990,00.html|first=Sally|last=Weale}}

He was elected for Labour to the Millwall ward of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in 2002, serving as councillor for four years before losing the seat to the Conservatives in the 2006 election. He returned to local politics in May 2008 with his election to the Warndon ward of Worcester City Council.[http://committee.cityofworcester.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=229 City of Worcester] official website. Accessed 24 June 2013. In 2013 he was also elected to Worcestershire County Council.

Independent councillor

Following the May 2014 local government elections, the composition of Worcester City Council was 17 Conservative, 16 Labour, 1 Liberal Democrat and 1 Green, making both major groups reliant on minority support to gain control of the council.{{cite web|title=Worcester|url=http://localcouncils.co.uk/councils/?council=worcester|publisher=Local Councils}} Before the Council AGM, Alan Amos announced he was leaving the Labour group to sit as an Independent councillor, allegedly from dissatisfaction that he had not been selected by Labour as a future Mayor of Worcester.{{cite news|last1=Edwards|first1=Tom|title=Revealed: the FULL reasons why Alan Amos quit Worcester Labour Party|url=http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/11253196.Revealed__the_FULL_reasons_why_Alan_Amos_quit_Worcester_Labour_Party/?ref=mr|work=Worcester News|date=3 June 2014}} At the council's AGM on 3 June 2014, Amos accepted the Conservative nomination as Mayor of Worcester, and as Mayor, voted for the Council administration to change from Labour to Conservative.{{cite news|last1=Edwards|first1=Tom|title=Drama at Worcester City Council as Tory Simon Geraghty snatches leadership from Labour's Adrian Gregson|url=http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/regional/worcestershire/worcester/11254902.Drama_at_the_Guildhall_as_Tories_snatch_power_amid_angry_scenes/|work=Worcester News|date=4 June 2014}}

Move back to the Conservatives

Following the 2015 Worcester City Council election and hours before his tenure as Mayor of Worcester was to end, Amos announced he was rejoining the Conservative party.{{cite news|last1=Edwards|first1=Tom|title=Mayor of Worcester Alan Amos joins the Tories|url=http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/12958988.UPDATED__Mayor_of_Worcester_Alan_Amos_joins_the_Tories/|work=Worcester News|date=19 May 2015}} In the 2024 Worcester City Council election he was re-elected and was the sole Conservative on the city council. In 2025, he now sits as an Independent on the city council and on Worcestershire County Council.{{cite news |last1=Connell |first1=James |title=Alan Amos departure is 'historic' for Worcester City Council |url=https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/24873161.alan-amos-departure-historic-worcester-city-council/ |access-date=30 January 2025 |work=Worcester News}}

In the 2025 Worcestershire County Council election, he is a candidate for Reform UK.

Controversies

In 2016 Amos claimed women make up rape.{{Cite web|url=https://metro.co.uk/2016/09/19/tory-councillor-doesnt-think-rape-should-be-recorded-as-an-offence-6136897/|title=Tory councillor doesn't think rape allegations should be recorded as an offence|first=Simon|last=Robb|date=19 September 2016|work=Metro|access-date=7 August 2024}}

He is known for his right-wing views on immigration, when in 2019, 23 child asylum seekers were resettled in Worcestershire.{{Cite web|url=https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/17368996.councillor-alan-amos-defends-views-immigration-asylum-seekers/|first=Christian|last=Barnett|title=Councillor Alan Amos defends views on immigration and asylum seekers|website=Worcester News|date=18 January 2019|access-date=7 August 2024}}

He has also made derogatory remarks about cyclists when he called cyclists "morons and dangerous" as well as describing courier riders as "Deliveroo Idiots".{{Cite web|url=https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/16987795.cyclists-dangerous-selfish-says-councillor-alan-amos-cyclists-banned-worcester-city-centre/|author=|title=Cyclists are 'dangerous and selfish', says Councillor Alan Amos after cyclists banned from Worcester city centre |date=17 October 2018

|website=Worcester News |access-date=7 August 2024}}

References

External links

{{Hansard-contribs | mr-alan-amos | Alan Amos }}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20111002023741/http://www.worcester.gov.uk/index.php?id=471 Worcester City Council]
[https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/alan_amos/hexham They Work For You]

{{Succession box

| title = Member of Parliament for Hexham

| years = 1987–1992

| before = Geoffrey Rippon

| after = Peter Atkinson

}}

Category:1952 births

Category:Living people

Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies

Category:Councillors in the London Borough of Enfield

Category:Councillors in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Category:Members of Worcestershire County Council