About Me 

I have lived all my life in Great Yarmouth attending St Georges Infants school, Priory Junior and Hospital Secondary Modern. After school I went on to be an apprentice engineer with ErieElectronics, and then was subsequently employed at Brown and Root and Probe Oil Tools. It was through my work as an engineer that I became involved in a trade union and entered politics.  

In my political career, I first stood for a Council seat in 1979 and missed out losing by 86 votes. I was subsequently voted in in 1980 until 1982 when I lost by 15 votes. I was then re-elected in 1986 and remained a Councillor until 1998. In total I served fourteen years on the Council and was chairman of various committees, Deputy Leader for four years and Leader of the council for over two years until 1997.  

In addition, in 1983 I was employed by Great Yarmouth Labour Party as full time organiser up until 1997 when I was elected as MP for Great Yarmouth.  

Life as an MP 

I was elected as Great Yarmouth MP in 1997, and have since been re-elected in the 2001 and 2005 general elections. I will also be fighting the next general election, whenever that may be!  I consider myself to be a 'Constituency MP' as opposed to a 'Career MP', and take an active role in my constituency work in Great Yarmouth - please see pages on the website for updates on what I'm currently doing.  

I was delighted to be elected to serve my hometown and my focus has very much been on fighting for my constituency, which has suffered serious neglect from the previous government.  

Among the successes since May 1997 have been the securing of Objective 2 status for Great Yarmouth, and securing our Assisted Area status helping us to attract new investment. We have also seen a influx of investment in our schools, hospital and police force, and for exciting new projects, such as the Sure Start programme to give youngsters the best possible start in life.  

I also take an active role in political life in Westminster. Since 1997 I have sat on several Select Committees including the Public Administration Committee and currently the Trade and Industry Select Committee. I am active on many All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPG), and currently chair the APPG for Sea Cadets and am Treasurer of the United Kingdom Parliamentary Football Club, which is involved in a lot of charity work. 

I also use the House as an arena to promote Great Yarmouth during debates and have continually raised issues of importance to the town including jobs, coastal erosion and the potential dualling of the A47.