Graham Allen

Biography:

Graham Allen was successfully re-elected as MP for Nottingham North on May 7th 2015 with 19283 votes, taking 54.6% of the vote.

Graham Allen MP was appointed to Chair Nottingham’s troubled Local Strategic Partnership in 2005; he and the Board re-launched it as One Nottingham that year. He is the only MP in the UK to Chair an LSP. He gave it a new mission of “prevention, pre-emption and early intervention”, and sponsored initiatives such as the teaching of social behaviour in every primary school, tackling the 50 most difficult families, a city strategy on Welfare to Work, and over the last two years set Nottingham the ambition of becoming “Early Intervention City” with a focused package of preventative programmes which was launched on 28th April. The LSP is now recognised as one of the most innovative and dynamic in the country.

Son of a local miner, Graham represented Nottingham North since 1987, and was born and bred in his tough, deprived constituency.

He was appointed to front bench positions by Neil Kinnock, John Smith and Tony Blair covering Social Security, Democracy, Home Affairs, Transport and the Environment in opposition.

After the 1997 landslide for Labour, Prime Minister Blair appointed Graham to the Government Whips Office (which he described as “cruel and unusual punishment for anyone with more than two brain cells”) as Whip to the Deputy Prime Minister. In 1999 he was promoted within the Whips Office to Vice Chamberlain of Her Majesty’s Household – the link between the Palace and Parliament – and Whip to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, a position he held until the 2001 election. He admits to being a “recovering whip taking each day as it comes”.

Damned as “very independent minded by no 10”,he proved it by organising the two biggest parliamentary rebellions within a governing party in political history against going to war in Iraq.

A hyper active constituency MP, he has held more debates in parliament than any other MP.

He is the author of ‘Reinventing Democracy’ and ‘The Last Prime Minister: Being Honest About The UK Presidency.’. He has now published his third slim volume, ‘Early Intervention, Good Parents, Great Kids, Better Citizens’ in collaboration with Iain Duncan Smith MP, which calls on all parties to adopt a new policy consensus around Early Intervention.

Constituency: Nottingham North

Constituency Tel: 0115-975 2377

Date of Birth: 11 January 1953

Email: allengw@parliament.uk

Party: Labour

Personal Website: http://www.grahamallenmp.co.uk/

Westminster Address: House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

Westminster Tel: 020 7219 3000

Twitter: twitter.com/GrahamAllenMP

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Graham-Allen/112450422100774