Paul Flynn (politician)
Encyclopedia
Paul Philip Flynn is a British
Labour Party
politician
, who has been the Member of Parliament
(MP) for Newport West
since the 1987 general election
. He was born in Cardiff
of Welsh
/Irish
parentage.
. On leaving education in 1955 he worked as a chemist
in the steel
industry, where he remained until 1983.
After a year as a broadcaster
on Gwent
Community Radio, he became a researcher for the Member of the European Parliament
Llew Smith
in 1984 and remained as such until his election to Westminster
.
Borough Council in 1972-1981 and to the Gwent County Council 1974–1982. He unsuccessfully contested Denbigh
at the October 1974 General Election
where he was defeated by the Conservative
, Geraint Morgan
, by 4,551 votes. He was elected to the House of Commons for Newport West at the 1987 general election
, defeating the Conservative Mark Robinson, who had unexpectedly won the seat at the 1983 election
. Flynn defeated Robinson by 2,708 votes and has remained the MP since.
Flynn joined the front bench
under Neil Kinnock
in 1988 when he became a spokesman on health and social security
and for social security
in 1989. He resigned from the front bench in 1990 and has remained on the back benches
since. He joined the Transport Select Committee in 1990 until after the 1997 General Election
when he joined the Welsh Affairs Select Committee
for a year. He was a member of the Environmental Audit Select Committee
in 2003 until the 2005 general election
, since when he has been a member of the Public Administration Select Committee
.
He was re-elected at the 2010 election, but with a reduced majority.
, having learned it as an adult, and is in great demand to comment on issues on Welsh language TV and radio. He was an early adopter of using CD-ROMs to access Hansard and in 2000 won the New Statesman New Media Award for his website and has and been voted the best website of all MPs on many other occasions. He has also written a book, Dragons Led By Poodles, about the devolution campaign in Wales in the 1990s, in which he was severely critical of some of his fellow MPs.
He has also called for the legalisation of cannabis
and is an enthusiast for the sport of British baseball
.
s. Flynn's solicitor told the High Court that the MP was retracting allegations he had made against Endowment Justice, a company that works on a contingency fee basis for borrowers who believe they have been mis-sold endowment-linked mortgages. Endowment Justice launched legal proceedings against Flynn after he criticised the growing number of complaints against handling firms. The company had previously held talks with Flynn over its concerns about bad practices at several complaints handling firms. But Flynn subsequently named Endowment Justice in accusations he made about the whole sector. Flynn agreed to pay Endowment Justice's legal costs of £35,450, plus £1,000 in damages, which the company has said it will donate to the NSPCC. He also agreed to publish an apology on his website. Endowment Justice has since then ceased to trade.
In 2007, Paul Flynn suffered a mini stroke.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, who has been the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for Newport West
Newport West (UK Parliament constituency)
Newport West is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament using the first-past-the-post voting system...
since the 1987 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1987
The United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the British House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive election victory for the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the 2nd...
. He was born in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
of Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
/Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
parentage.
Educational and professional background
Flynn was educated at St. Illtyd's College, a Roman Catholic school in Cardiff, and at the University College, CardiffCardiff University
Cardiff University is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based...
. On leaving education in 1955 he worked as a chemist
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
in the steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
industry, where he remained until 1983.
After a year as a broadcaster
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
on Gwent
Gwent (county)
Gwent is a preserved county and a former local government county in south-east Wales. It was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, and was named after the ancient Kingdom of Gwent....
Community Radio, he became a researcher for the Member of the European Parliament
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
Llew Smith
Llew Smith
Llewellyn Thomas Smith is a former Welsh Labour Party politician.Smith was Member of the European Parliament for South Wales East from 1984 to 1994, and at the 1992 general election he was elected as Member of Parliament for Blaenau Gwent. A member of the Socialist Campaign Group, he stood down...
in 1984 and remained as such until his election to Westminster
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
.
Political career
Flynn was elected as a councillor on the NewportNewport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
Borough Council in 1972-1981 and to the Gwent County Council 1974–1982. He unsuccessfully contested Denbigh
Denbigh (UK Parliament constituency)
Denbigh was a county constituency centred on the town of Denbigh in North Wales. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system....
at the October 1974 General Election
United Kingdom general election, October 1974
The United Kingdom general election of October 1974 took place on 10 October 1974 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. It was the second general election of that year and resulted in the Labour Party led by Harold Wilson, winning by a tiny majority of 3 seats.The election of...
where he was defeated by the Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
, Geraint Morgan
Geraint Morgan
William Geraint Oliver Morgan, QC, MP, was a British Conservative Party politician, a lawyer, a champion of the Welsh language and a veteran of the Second World War....
, by 4,551 votes. He was elected to the House of Commons for Newport West at the 1987 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1987
The United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the British House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive election victory for the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the 2nd...
, defeating the Conservative Mark Robinson, who had unexpectedly won the seat at the 1983 election
United Kingdom general election, 1983
The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...
. Flynn defeated Robinson by 2,708 votes and has remained the MP since.
Flynn joined the front bench
Frontbencher
In many parliaments and other similar assemblies, seating is typically arranged in banks or rows, with each political party or caucus grouped together. The spokespeople for each group will often sit at the front of their group, and are then known as being on the frontbench and are described as...
under Neil Kinnock
Neil Kinnock
Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock is a Welsh politician belonging to the Labour Party. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995 and as Labour Leader and Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition from 1983 until 1992 - his leadership of the party during nearly nine years making him...
in 1988 when he became a spokesman on health and social security
Department of Health and Social Security
The Department of Health and Social Security was a ministry of the British government in existence for twenty years from 1968 until 1988, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Social Services.-History:...
and for social security
Department of Social Security
The Department of Social Security is the name of a defunct governmental agency in the United Kingdom.The DSS replaced the older Department of Health and Social Security, from 1988 until 2001, when it was itself largely replaced as a department of the Government of the United Kingdom by the...
in 1989. He resigned from the front bench in 1990 and has remained on the back benches
Backbencher
In Westminster parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a Member of Parliament or a legislator who does not hold governmental office and is not a Front Bench spokesperson in the Opposition...
since. He joined the Transport Select Committee in 1990 until after the 1997 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
when he joined the Welsh Affairs Select Committee
Welsh Affairs Select Committee
The Welsh Affairs Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
for a year. He was a member of the Environmental Audit Select Committee
Environmental Audit Select Committee
The Environmental Audit Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine how government department's policies and programmes will affect both the environment and sustainable development.-Membership:As of...
in 2003 until the 2005 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
, since when he has been a member of the Public Administration Select Committee
Public Administration Select Committee
The Public Administration Select Committee is a Select Committee appointed by the British House of Commons to examine the reports of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and to consider matters relating to the quality and standards of administration provided by civil service departments,...
.
He was re-elected at the 2010 election, but with a reduced majority.
Personality
Flynn speaks fluent WelshWelsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
, having learned it as an adult, and is in great demand to comment on issues on Welsh language TV and radio. He was an early adopter of using CD-ROMs to access Hansard and in 2000 won the New Statesman New Media Award for his website and has and been voted the best website of all MPs on many other occasions. He has also written a book, Dragons Led By Poodles, about the devolution campaign in Wales in the 1990s, in which he was severely critical of some of his fellow MPs.
He has also called for the legalisation of cannabis
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
and is an enthusiast for the sport of British baseball
British baseball
British baseball, sometimes called Welsh baseball, or in the areas where it is popular simply baseball, is a bat-and-ball game played primarily in Wales and England. It is closely related to the game of rounders, and indeed emerged as a distinct sport when governing bodies in Wales and England...
.
Endowment Justice
Flynn agreed in 2005 to pay out more than £36,000 to settle a libel action brought against him by a complaints handling firm that specialises in endowment mortgageEndowment mortgage
An endowment mortgage is a mortgage loan arranged on an interest-only basis where the capital is intended to be repaid by one or more endowment policies. The phrase endowment mortgage is used mainly in the United Kingdom by lenders and consumers to refer to this arrangement and is not a legal...
s. Flynn's solicitor told the High Court that the MP was retracting allegations he had made against Endowment Justice, a company that works on a contingency fee basis for borrowers who believe they have been mis-sold endowment-linked mortgages. Endowment Justice launched legal proceedings against Flynn after he criticised the growing number of complaints against handling firms. The company had previously held talks with Flynn over its concerns about bad practices at several complaints handling firms. But Flynn subsequently named Endowment Justice in accusations he made about the whole sector. Flynn agreed to pay Endowment Justice's legal costs of £35,450, plus £1,000 in damages, which the company has said it will donate to the NSPCC. He also agreed to publish an apology on his website. Endowment Justice has since then ceased to trade.
Personal life
He has been twice married, first to Anne Harvey in 1962 with whom he has a son and a deceased daughter; they divorced in 1984. He has been married to Samantha Morgan Cumpstone since 1985.In 2007, Paul Flynn suffered a mini stroke.
Publications
- Television in Wales by Paul Flynn, 1974
- Commons Knowledge: How to Be a Backbencher by Paul Flynn, 1997, Seren Books ISBN 1-85411-206-6
- Baglu 'Mlaen (Cyfres Y Cewri) by Paul Flynn, 1998, Cyhoeddiadau Mei ISBN 0-86074-147-8
- Dragons Led by Poodles: Inside Story of a New Labour Stitch Up by Paul Flynn, 1999, Politico's Publishing ISBN 1-902301-24-2
- The Unusual Suspect by Paul Flynn, 2010, Biteback Publishing ISBN 978-1849540179
External links
- Paul Flynn MP official constituency website
- Paul Flynn's blog
- Paul Flynn MP Welsh Labour Party profile