John Spellar

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable

| name = The Lord Spellar

| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|PC}}

| image = Official portrait of John Spellar crop 2.jpg

| caption = Official portrait, 2017

| office = Shadow Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

| leader = Ed Miliband
Harriet Harman

| term_start = 8 October 2010

| term_end = 18 September 2015

| predecessor = Chris Bryant

| successor = Catherine West

| office1 = Comptroller of the Household

| primeminister1 = Gordon Brown

| term_start1 = 5 October 2008

| term_end1 = 11 May 2010

| predecessor1 = Tommy McAvoy

| successor1 = Alistair Carmichael

| office2 = Minister of State for Northern Ireland

| term_start2 = 13 June 2003

| term_end2 = 10 May 2005

| primeminister2 = Tony Blair

| predecessor2 = Des Browne

| successor2 = David Hanson

| office3 = Minister of State for Transport

| primeminister3 = Tony Blair

| term_start3 = 8 June 2001

| term_end3 = 13 June 2003

| predecessor3 = The Lord Macdonald of Tradeston

| successor3 = Kim Howells

| office4 = Minister of State for the Armed Forces

| primeminister4 = Tony Blair

| term_start4 = 29 July 1999

| term_end4 = 8 June 2001

| predecessor4 = Doug Henderson

| successor4 = Adam Ingram

| office5 = Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence

| primeminister5 = Tony Blair

| term_start5 = 6 May 1997

| term_end5 = 28 July 1999

| predecessor5 = The Earl Howe

| successor5 = Peter Kilfoyle

{{Collapsed infobox section begin|titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;|Parliamentary offices}}

| office6 = Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal

| term_start6 = 12 August 2024
Life peerage

| term_end6 =

| parliament7 = United Kingdom

| constituency_MP7 = Warley

| prior_term7 = Warley West (1992–1997)

| term_start7 = 9 April 1992

| term_end7 = 30 May 2024

| predecessor7 = Peter Archer

| successor7 = Constituency abolished

| parliament8 = United Kingdom

| constituency_MP8 = Birmingham Northfield

| term_start8 = 28 October 1982

| term_end8 = 13 May 1983

| predecessor8 = Jocelyn Cadbury

| successor8 = Roger King

| birth_name = John Francis Spellar

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1947|08|05}}

| birth_place = Bromley, Kent, England

| death_date =

| death_place =

| party = Labour

| spouse = {{marriage|Anne Wilmot|1981|2003|end=d}}

| children = 1

| alma_mater = St Edmund Hall, Oxford

}}

John Francis Spellar, Baron Spellar, {{post-nominals|country=GBR|sep=,|PC}} (born 5 August 1947), is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Warley, formerly Warley West, from 1992 to 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he previously represented Birmingham Northfield from 1982 to 1983. He served as a minister in various departments between 1997 and 2005, and as Comptroller of the Household in the Whips' Office between 2008 and 2010. After Labour entered opposition, he served as a shadow Foreign Office minister from 2010 to 2015.

Early life

Spellar was born in Bromley and educated at Dulwich College and St Edmund Hall, Oxford. He was Chairman of the Oxford University Labour Club in 1967.

Spellar was the Political Officer of the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union (EETPU) from 1969 to 1992,{{cite news |url=http://www.building.co.uk/john-spellar/1010409.article |title=John Spellar |first=Phil |last=Clark |work=building.co.uk |year=2001 |access-date=24 April 2017}} and was a speech-writer for general secretaries Frank Chapple and Eric Hammond. As a young union officer he attended, along with John Golding and Roger Godsiff, the St Ermin's group of senior trade union leaders who organised to prevent the Bennite left taking over the party in the years 1981–1987.{{cite ODNB |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/theme/96690?backToResults=%2Fsearch%2Frefine%2F%3FdocStart=1%26themesTabShow=true |title=St Ermins group (act. 1981–1987) |first=Dianne |last=Hayter |access-date=26 April 2017|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/96690 |year=2004 }}

He was a councillor in the London Borough of Bromley between 1970 and 1974.{{cite book |last1=Roth |first1=Andrew |url=http://internetserver.bishopsgate.org.uk/Details/fullCatalogue/2445219 |title=Parliamentary Profiles: Four Volume Set |last2=Criddle |first2=Byron |publisher=Parliamentary Profile Services Ltd |year=1998 |isbn=9780900582431 |chapter=John (Francis) SPELLAR WARLEY '97- |chapter-url=http://internetserver.bishopsgate.org.uk/files/Parliamentary%20Profiles%20Archive/S-Z/SPELLAR,%20John/SPELLAR,%20John.pdf |authorlink1=Andrew Roth |access-date=9 July 2021 |archive-date=31 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831204726/http://internetserver.bishopsgate.org.uk/Details/fullCatalogue/2445219 |url-status=dead }}

Parliamentary career

Spellar stood for the constituency of Bromley at the 1970 general election as Labour's youngest candidate.

He was first elected to the House of Commons in the 1982 Birmingham Northfield by-election but lost at the 1983 general election to the Conservative candidate, Roger King. At the 1987 general election he stood again for the same seat but was again unsuccessful against King. Spellar returned to the House of Commons in the 1992 general election becoming the MP for Warley West with a majority of 5,472, and was appointed an opposition whip. Following a period as opposition spokesman for Northern Ireland in 1994, he was moved to shadow Defence minister in 1995.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

At the 1997 general election, Spellar was elected as MP for the new Warley constituency, after Warley West had been abolished in a boundary review. In the new Labour government, he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence, being promoted to become Minister of State for the Armed Forces in 1999. In 2001, he was appointed to the Privy Council, as Minister of State for Transport in the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions with rights to attend Cabinet. After the 2002 reshuffle, he became Minister of State at the Department for Transport, and moved to the Northern Ireland Office in 2003. He was banned from the offices of both the Mayor of Derry and the Mayor of Belfast during that year, because he supported the reinstatement to the British Army of convicted murderers Mark Wright and James Fisher of the Scots Guards.{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/sep/10/northernireland.northernireland |title=Remember Peter McBride? |author= Greenslade, Roy |location= London |work=The Guardian|date=10 September 2003|access-date=11 March 2015}} He left the front benches in 2005, but in 2008, he rejoined the government as a whip (Comptroller of the Household) and served until Labour entered opposition in May 2010.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

In November 2015, Spellar he suggested that Jeremy Corbyn should resign as Labour leader over the question of whether to conduct air strikes on ISIL in Syria. Spellar was in favour of military action, and he described Corbyn's admission that he could not personally support the air strikes as an "attempted coup" by "Corbyn and his tiny band of Trots in the bunker."{{cite news |url=http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/black-country-labour-mp-suggests-10512490 |title=Black Country Labour MP suggests Jeremy Corbyn should resign over Syria |author=Jonathan Walker |newspaper=Birmingham Mail |date=27 November 2015 |access-date=30 June 2016}} Spellar supported Owen Smith in the 2016 Labour leadership election.{{cite news|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mps-nominating-owen-smith-labour-8451186|title=Which MPs are nominating Owen Smith in the Labour leadership contest?|last1=Smith|first1=Mikey|date=20 July 2016|work=Mirror|access-date=10 November 2018|last2=Bloom|first2=Dan}}

In November 2017, Spellar was appointed as a member of the UK parliament delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.{{cite web |url=https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/offices/delegations/nato-pa/membership/previous-/ |title=Membership of the Delegation |publisher=UK Parliament |date=14 November 2017 |accessdate=19 November 2023}}

In March 2019, Spellar was one of 21 MPs—and the only Labour MP—to vote against LGBTQ-inclusive sex and relationships education in English schools. He defended his vote by saying that "parents have the primary responsibility for bringing up their children and they may have different views.” The co-chair of LGBT Labour Melantha Chittenden tweeted in response to his vote, saying: "Woke up to find out that one Labour MP voted against LGBT inclusive relationship and sex education and I’ve been sat here trying to work out how to explain how furious I am, but I only have one thing to say: John Spellar shame on you."{{cite web | url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/21-mps-who-voted-against-14198149 | title=21 MPS who voted against teaching kids about gay families | website=Daily Mirror | date=28 March 2019 }}

On 27 May 2024, Spellar announced he would step down at the 2024 general election,{{Cite web |date=2024-05-27 |title=Labour's Warley MP John Spellar stands down before election |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0jj1gj28g7o |access-date=2024-05-27 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}} after having served as an MP for over 32 years.{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Adam |date=2024-05-27 |title='I've had a good run': Veteran Labour MP John Spellar to stand down this summer after 32 years |url=https://www.expressandstar.com/news/local-hubs/sandwell/2024/05/27/veteran-labour-mp-john-spellar-announces-he-is-not-standing-in-the-general-election/ |access-date=2024-05-27 |website=www.expressandstar.com |language=en}}

= Peerage =

After standing down as an MP, Spellar was nominated for a life peerage in the 2024 Dissolution Honours.{{London Gazette |date=7 August 2024 |issue=64480 |page=15222 |supp=y}}{{Cite web |title=Dissolution Peerages 2024 |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dissolution-peerages-2024 |access-date=2024-07-04 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Whannel |first=Kate |date=4 July 2024 |title=Theresa May and 'bionic' MP awarded peerages |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c84975xgdwlo |work=BBC News |language=en |access-date=4 July 2024}} He was created Baron Spellar, of Smethwick in the County of the West Midlands, on 12 August 2024.{{London Gazette |date=16 August 2024 |issue=64489 |page=15874}}

Other political activities

Spellar is a vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel.{{cite web|url=https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/mps-%EF%AC%82ock-to-support-labour-israel-group-1.53362|title=MPs flock to support Labour Israel group|publisher=The Jewish Chronicle|date=22 September 2016}}{{cite news|url=https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/dame-louise-ellman-becomes-new-labour-friends-of-israel-chair-1.487239|title=Dame Louise Ellman becomes new Labour Friends of Israel chair|last=Harpin|first=Lee|date=7 August 2019|access-date=7 August 2019|work=Jewish Chronicle}} He is a Director of the centre-right Labour grouping Labour First,{{cite web |url=https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10694816/officers |title=Labour First Ltd Company Data |publisher=Companies House, UK |access-date=27 January 2018 }} and sits on the Advisory Council of the Henry Jackson Society,{{cite web |title=Advisory Council |url=http://henryjacksonsociety.org/people/council-members/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923022301/http://henryjacksonsociety.org/people/council-members/ |archive-date=23 September 2013 |access-date=31 August 2013 |publisher=Henry Jackson Society |df=dmy-all}} a prominent neoliberal{{Cite web|date=2021-04-07|title=What will post-Covid Britain look like for the black community? {{!}} Seun Matiluko|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/race-britain-black-community-blm-uk-covid-b1826083.html|access-date=2021-05-07|website=The Independent|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=2019-02-11|title=Britain, Australia should forge post-Brexit free-movement pact: Boris Johnson|url=https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/britain-australia-should-forge-postbrexit-freemovement-pact-boris-johnson-20190212-h1b4zo|access-date=2021-05-07|website=Australian Financial Review|language=en}} and neoconservative{{Cite news|last=Fisher|first=Lucy|title=Britons want China to face inquiry over coronavirus outbreak|language=en|work=The Times|url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/asia/article/britons-want-china-to-face-inquiry-over-coronavirus-outbreak-cbm82lpvk|access-date=2020-12-26|issn=0140-0460}}{{Cite news|last=Ramesh|first=Randeep|date=2014-12-30|title=Rightwing thinktank pulls funds for Commons groups after disclosure row|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/dec/30/rightwing-thinktank-pulls-funds-commons-groups-disclosure-rules|access-date=2020-12-27|issn=0261-3077}}{{cite news|first1=Alex|last1=MacDonald|date=2017-01-20|title=Jewish deputy calls for pro-Israel 'infiltrators' to be banned from campuses|url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/news/rabbi-calls-infiltrators-be-banned-university-campuses-236181291|website=Middle East Eye|language=en|access-date=2023-08-29}} foreign policy think tank. He is also a member of the Council on Geostrategy Advisory Board.{{Cite web |title=Advisory Board |url=https://www.geostrategy.org.uk/advisory-board/ |access-date=30 October 2024 |website=Council on Geostrategy}}

Personal life

Spellar was married to dentist Anne Wilmot from 1981 until her death in 2003.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3204587.stm |title=Minister shocked by wife's death |work=BBC News |date=22 October 2003 |access-date=9 July 2021}} They had a daughter.

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20050630000329/http://www.johnspellar.labour.co.uk/ John Spellar] official site
{{UK MP links | parliament = mr-john-spellar/318 | hansardcurr = 781 | hansard = mr-john-spellar | publicwhip = john_spellar | theywork = john_spellar}}

{{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament
for Birmingham Northfield|years=1982–1983}}

{{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament
for Warley West|years=1992–1997}}