Kelvin Hopkins

Kelvin Peter Hopkins (born 22 August 1941) is a British politician. He was first elected as the Labour Member of Parliament for Luton North in 1997. Hopkins was suspended by the Labour Party in 2017 after allegations of sexual misconduct were made against him in the 2017 Westminster sexual misconduct allegations. Hopkins did not stand for re-election in the 2019 general election.[1]

Not to be confused with Kevin Hopkins.

Kelvin Hopkins
Official portrait, 2017
Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
In office
28 June 2016 – 7 October 2016
LeaderJeremy Corbyn
Preceded byMaria Eagle
Succeeded byTom Watson
Member of Parliament
for Luton North
In office
1 May 1997 – 6 November 2019
Preceded byJohn Carlisle
Succeeded bySarah Owen
Personal details
Born
Kelvin Peter Hopkins

(1941-08-22) 22 August 1941
Leicester, England
Political partyLabour (Before 2017)
SpousePatricia Langley
Alma materUniversity of Nottingham

Hopkins is a supporter of pro-Brexit group Leave Means Leave.[2]

Background

Kelvin Hopkins was born in Leicester, son of physicist Harold Hopkins FRS. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School for Boys, Barnet, north London; he then attended the University of Nottingham where he was awarded a BA degree in Politics, Economics and Mathematics with Statistics. Between 1958 and 1963, he was a "semi-professional" jazz musician, playing tenor saxophone and clarinet.[3]

With the exception of two years as a lecturer at St Albans College of Further Education (now called Oaklands College) from 1971 to 1973, he has worked entirely within the trade union movement. He joined the Trades Union Congress as an economist in 1969, and rejoined it in 1973 following his stint as a lecturer. He was appointed a policy and research officer in NALGO in 1977, leaving its successor UNISON in 1994.[4]

Hopkins was a councillor on Luton Borough Council from 1972 to 1976.

Parliamentary career

Hopkins was the Labour candidate for Luton North at the 1983 general election; he finished in second place, 11,981 votes behind the sitting Conservative MP John Carlisle. Hopkins contested the seat again fourteen years later, at the 1997 general election, successfully gaining it from the Conservatives, with a majority of 9,626 votes and 54.6% of the votes cast. He made his maiden speech in the House of Commons on 28 November 1997.[5]

In the House of Commons, he was a member of the Broadcasting Select committee from 1999 to 2001, and has served on the Public Administration Select Committee since 2002. He also served as an adviser to Richard Caborn on yachting when Caborn was Minister of Sport. Hopkins is a member of many all-party groups. He served as the chairman of the group on further education and lifelong learning, and as the vice-chairman of the groups on jazz appreciation; historic vehicles; Norway; constitution and citizenship; transport infrastructure and trans-European networks. He also served as the treasurer of the group on building societies and financial mutuals. Hopkins was on the left wing of the Labour Party, being a member of the Socialist Campaign Group[6] and is a Eurosceptic.[7] He was known for his rebellious stance amongst Labour MPs, and has been described as a "rebellion prone left-wing economist" by Andrew Roth in The Guardian.[8]

In the fiscal year of 2007–08, Hopkins' total expenses claims amounted to £121,809, of which his second home allowance was £1,242.[9] He also emerged well from the 2009 MPs expenses scandal, being deemed a "saint" by The Daily Telegraph for his minimal second home claims.[10]

In June 2010, he was selected as a Labour member of the Transport Select Committee.[11]

Before the 2016 referendum on British membership of the EU, Hopkins signed the People's Pledge, a cross-party campaign for such a referendum, and became a member of its Advisory Council.[12] He was one of sixteen signatories of an open letter to the-then Labour leader Ed Miliband in January 2015, which called on the party to commit to oppose further austerity, take rail franchises back into public ownership and strengthen collective bargaining arrangements.[13]

He is a supporter of homeopathy, having signed an Early Day Motion in support of its continued funding by the National Health Service.[14]

Hopkins was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015.[15] In 2016, he was one of the chief Labour figures to support the "Leave" campaign in the UK Referendum on EU membership.[16][17] After turning down the offer of a frontbench position when Jeremy Corbyn became leader, Hopkins was "called up" to serve in the Shadow Cabinet following a spate of resignations at the end of June 2016.[18] He was able to return to the backbenches following Corbyn's re-election as party leader and the formation of a new Shadow Cabinet in October.[19]

Hopkins did not stand for re-election in the 2019 general election.[1]

Sexual harassment allegations
See also: 2017 Westminster sexual misconduct allegations

Hopkins was suspended by the Labour Party on 2 November 2017 following allegations made against him which are currently being investigated.[20] According to The Daily Telegraph, Hopkins had allegedly sexually harassed and behaved inappropriately towards a Labour Party activist, Ava Etemadzadeh, now aged 27.[21] The claims were originally brought to the attention of Rosie Winterton in 2015 when she was Labour's Chief Whip.[22] Hopkins has "absolutely and categorically" rejected the accusation of sexual impropriety.[23]

Just over a week later on 10 November, the Labour MP Kerry McCarthy said that Hopkins had been paying her unwanted attention, via written notes, since 1994 when both were chairs of adjacent Constituency Labour Parties in Luton. Allegedly the attention resumed when McCarthy became an MP in 2005 and continued until early 2016. The notes were shown to the Labour whips and have been reproduced in The Guardian. While Hopkins had not been physically abusive towards McCarthy, she told the newspaper's political editor Heather Stewart that "I was really, really wary of him".[24]

Four months later, Etemadzadeh said she was "totally disillusioned" with Labour as she still did not know when her case would be heard.[25]

In January 2021, Hopkins resigned from the Labour Party.[26]

Personal life

Hopkins married Patricia Mabel Langley on 21 August 1965 in Barnet. The couple have a son and a daughter, Rachel, who went on to become MP for Luton South. Hopkins is a French speaker, a keen photographer, saxophonist and enjoys sailing on the Norfolk Broads.[27] He is an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society. Since 1993, Hopkins has been a governor of Luton Sixth Form College. He has lived in Luton since November 1969.[3]

Publications
  • Hopkins, Kelvin (1991). The Economy: A NALGO Review.
  • Cited in: Ironside, Mike; Seifert, Roger (2000). "Markets, managers, and the merger". Facing up to Thatcherism: the history of NALGO, 1979-1993. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press. p. 293. ISBN 9780199240753.

References
  1. Rodgers, Sienna (31 October 2019). "Suspended Luton MP Kelvin Hopkins retires". LabourList. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  2. "Co-Chairmen - Political Advisory Board - Supporters". Leave Means Leave. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  3. Kelvin Hopkins, Bio Archived 15 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Kelvin Hopkins". politics.co.uk. Archived from the original on 9 December 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  5. Hansard, 28 November 1997 Column 1251
  6. "Kelvin Hopkins MP". www.kelvinhopkinsmp.com. Archived from the original on 15 May 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
  7. Dathan, Matt (28 September 2015). "Jeremy Corbyn warned much of his agenda will not be achievable if Britain stays in the EU". The Independent. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  8. "Kelvin Hopkins: Electoral history and profile". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  9. "2009 MP Expenses for Kelvin Hopkins, MP for Luton North". BBC News. 19 April 2009.
  10. "MPs' expenses: The saints (Part i)". The Daily Telegraph. 20 June 2009. p. 47. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
  11. "New MPs elected to select committees". EPolitics.com. 24 June 2010. Archived from the original on 28 June 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  12. A referendum on Britain staying in the EU is long overdue and now essential, writes Kelvin Hopkins Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Tribune Magazine 18 April 2011
  13. Eaton, George (26 January 2015). "The Labour left demand a change of direction - why their intervention matters". New Statesman. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  14. Tredinnick, David (29 June 2010). "Early Day Motion No. 342 British Medical Association Motions on Homeopathy". Archived from the original on 15 December 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  15. "Who nominated who for the 2015 Labour leadership election?". newstatesman.com. Retrieved on 15 November 2015.
  16. "Labour Leave – Half of PM's EU negotiation team accepted "duty of loyalty" to EU". Labour Leave. Archived from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  17. Kelvin Hopkins MP: The Socialist Case for Brexit - Cambridge Brexit Campaign. 18 February 2016. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2016 – via YouTube.
  18. Parris-Long, Adam (29 June 2016). "Kelvin Hopkins 'very surprised' to get shadow cabinet callup". Luton Today. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  19. Edwards, Peter (7 October 2016). "Watson named shadow Culture Secretary as Corbyn completes reshuffle". Labour List. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  20. "Labour suspends MP Kelvin Hopkins". BBC News. 2 November 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  21. Hughes, Laura; Newell, Claire (2 November 2017). "Labour MP suspended after alleged victim reveals to The Telegraph he sexually harassed her". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  22. Stewart, Heather (2 November 2017). "Labour suspends Kelvin Hopkins over allegations of sexual misconduct". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  23. "Labour MP Kelvin Hopkins denies sexual harassment claim". BBC News. 3 November 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  24. Stewart, Heather (10 November 2017). "Labour MP accuses Kelvin Hopkins of inappropriate behaviour". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  25. Proctor, Kate (13 March 2018). "I'm totally disillusioned with Labour, says woman 'harassed by MP Kelvin Hopkins'". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  26. "Ex-MP quits Labour ahead of sexual harassment disciplinary process". BBC. 9 January 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  27. "All Party Parliamentary Light Rail Group" (PDF).

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