Robert John Blackman (born 26 April 1956), better and officially known as Bob Blackman, is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom who has been a secretary and an executive member of the 1922 Committee since May 2012 [2] and has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Harrow East since the 2010 general election. He was also the Greater London Assembly member for Brent & Harrow between 2004 and 2008.
Robert Blackman | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Executive Secretary of the 1922 Committee | |
| Assumed office 17 May 2012 Serving alongside Nigel Evans | |
| Preceded by | Peter Bone |
| Member of Parliament for Harrow East | |
| Assumed office 6 May 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Tony McNulty |
| Majority | 1,757 (3.4%) |
| Member of the London Assembly for Brent and Harrow | |
| In office 10 June 2004 – 1 May 2008 | |
| Preceded by | Toby Harris |
| Succeeded by | Navin Shah |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 26 April 1956[1] Kensington, London, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | Nicola Blackman |
| Alma mater | University of Liverpool |
| Profession | BT |
| Signature | File:Signature of Bob Blackman MP.png |
| Website | bobblackmanmp.com parliament..bob-blackman |
Biography
Blackman was Head Boy at Preston Manor High School, where he now serves as a school governor; and was president of University of Liverpool Students Union. He joined the sales team of Burroughs Machines (later Unisys) on graduation. He worked in various sales and management positions for BT and worked at their training school in Milton Keynes as a tutor[3] and later as a Regulatory Compliance Manager for BT[4] until his election to Parliament.
Political career
Blackman was a council member in the London Borough of Brent from 1986 to 2010, representing Preston Ward.[5] He was the leader of the Conservative group on Brent council from 1990 to 2010, having been council leader between 1991 and 1996. He stood as a parliamentary candidate for Brent South at the 1992 election, for Bedford at the 1997 election, and for Brent North at the 2005 election.
He was elected as a member of the London Assembly at the 2004 assembly elections, taking the constituency seat of Brent and Harrow, defeating Toby Harris who had been a successful rival candidate for the seat at the 2000 elections. He was elected as the Conservative's Group Whip on the London Assembly.
In the 2008 elections, Blackman lost his seat to the Labour candidate, Navin Shah by a 1,649 votes.[6] In 2012, Shah managed to secure the seat by almost 30,000 votes.
From June 2006 to May 2010, he was also Deputy Leader of Brent Council, the Conservatives having formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.
Parliament
In the 2010 general election, Blackman gained the Harrow East constituency from Labour's Tony McNulty.
In 2010 he was elected a member of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee.[7] and was elected Secretary of the 1922 Committee in 2015.[8]
Smoking and Health
He called for the adoption of plain packaging legislation for cigarettes,[9] and supported Cameron's plan calling for energy companies to provide simplified energy bills to their customers.[10] On 1 July 2015, Blackman was elected Chair of the All Party Political Group on Smoking and Health, after serving as its Secretary for several years.[11][12]
Opposition to same-sex marriage bill
In December 2012, Prime Minister David Cameron announced his approval for same-sex marriage.[13] In response, on Friday 7 December 2012, Blackman told the BBC News Channel that David Cameron's backing of religious same-sex marriages was wrong "on principle" and that marriage had to be "between one man and one woman".[14] According to the Harrow Times, he was accused of hypocrisy by a former fellow Brent council colleague who claimed she had an 11-year affair with him whilst he was married.[15] On 5 February 2013 MP Bob Blackman rebelled, voting against the bill in the House of Commons Second Reading vote on marriage equality in Britain.[16]
Section 28
In 2012, when the Conservative Party launched its consultation into legalising same-sex marriages, Blackman suggested that David Cameron should resurrect Section 28, stating that he strongly believed that "Section 28 was the right rules to have in school so that we should not promote in any way shape or form promote same-sex relationships" and said he would be "very opposed" to seeing teachers being forced to say same-sex relationships are equivalent to heterosexual relationships. Shortly after, Blackman's Labour predecessor Tony McNulty branded him a "complete idiot" on Twitter. [17]
Other interests
Blackman is an Officer of the Conservative Friends of Israel group and has been part of several delegations to Israel,[18] including during the Operation Defensive Shield conflict when he visited for an Israeli military briefing on the Iron Dome defence system.[19]
Brexit
Blackman supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum.[20]
The Homelessness Reduction Act
In 2016, he was drawn second in the annual Parliamentary ballot for a Private Member's Bill and subsequently put together a Homelessness Reduction Bill in partnership with national charity, Crisis.[21] It was the first Private Member's Bill to be supported by a Select Committee.[22]
After receiving Government support at 2nd Reading, it passed through all stages in Parliament unopposed in both Houses and received Royal Assent on Thursday 27 April 2017.[23]
Expenses and Financial interests
In 2015, the Compliance Officer for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) made a judgement that Blackman had submitted 732 inaccurate mileage claims.[24] According to IPSA he claimed up to 10 miles for a 2-mile journey, making him the highest mileage MP, claiming almost twice the mileage as the 10 next highest MPs.[25]
Between June 2017 and October 2017, Blackman earned £1,545 for completing surveys on behalf of polling organisations. [26]
Personal life
Blackman is married to former councillor Nicola Blackman, and the couple live in Wembley. In 2000, it was made public that Blackman had had an 11 year affair (which began in the late 80s) with a colleague he met whilst working as a councillor at the Brent East Conservative Association. His then mistress, Carol Shaw, gave an affidavit about their affair to a solicitor in 2000 - after being persuaded to do so by one of Blackman's rivals who hoped to see him ousted as a group leader. The affidavit was copied and distributed amongst his fellow Conservative councillors by the rival. In 2012, after Blackman had publicly spoken about his opposition to same-sex marriage, he was accused of hypocrisy by Carol Shaw - his ex mistress.[27]
References
- ^ "Bob Blackman MP". BBC Democracy Live. BBC. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18093877
- ^ "Biography". Bob Blackman. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
- ^ "Blackman responds to statement on the Leveson Inquiry". DeHaviland. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
- ^ "Page not found". www.brent.gov.uk. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
{{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help) - ^ "Brent & Harrow 2008 Election Result". BBC News. BBC. 11 June 2008. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
- ^ "Communities and Local Government Select Committee". UK Parliament Website. UK Parliament. Retrieved 8 January 2012.[]
- ^ "1922 Committee Results". Conservative Home Website. Conservative Home. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
- ^ Emma Innes (30 November 2012). "Harrow MP calls for cigarettes to be sold in plain packets (From Harrow Times)". Retrieved 7 December 2012.
- ^ Emma Innes (21 November 2012). "Harrow East MP supports government energy plans (From Harrow Times)". Retrieved 7 December 2012.
- ^ Blackman, Bob (2 July 2015). "Delighted to be elected Chairman of APPG for Action on Smoking & Health". Twitter..
- ^ "Register Of All-Party Parliamentary Groups [as at 6 January 2017]". Parliament.uk. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
- ^ "Gay marriage: David Cameron backs church role". BBC News. BBC. 6 December 2012. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
- ^ Joe Murphy, "Anti-homosexual Section 28 was right for schools, says Tory MP", London Evening Standard, 10 December 2012 [1]
- ^ Emma Innes (17 December 2012). "Harrow East MP Bob Blackman at heart of national newspaper storm". Harrow Times. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
- ^ {https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm130205/debtext/130205-0004.htm} The House of Commons.2013.Marriage (Same Sex Couples)Bill 2012–2013.
- ^ http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/12/07/tory-mp-bob-blackman-cameron-should-be-re-introducing-section-28-not-letting-gays-marry/
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Mason, Rowena; correspondent, political (30 July 2014). "Tory MPs' visit to Israel condemned as bad timing". Retrieved 16 June 2017 – via The Guardian.
{{cite web}}:|last2=has generic name (help) - ^ Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
- ^ "No One Turned Away". No One Turned Away. Crisis. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
- ^ "Homelessness Reduction Bill supported by Committee". UK Parliament. 14 October 2016.
- ^ "Homelessness Reduction Bill". UK Parliament.
- ^ Datoo, Siraj (4 February 2015). "Tory MP Pays Back His Expenses After Making 734 "Inaccurate" Claims". BBC.
- ^ "Tory MP Bob Blackman's 700 'inaccurate expenses claims'". Daily Telegraph. 4 February 2015. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
- ^ https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmregmem/171023/171023.pdf
- ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2251975/Bob-Blackman-Ex-mistress-Tory-MP-gives-devastating-unflattering-account-affair.html