Alan Howarth, Baron Howarth of Newport

The Right Honourable The Lord Howarth of Newport CBE PC
Member of Parliament for Newport East
In office 2 May 1997 – 11 April 2005
Preceded by	Roy Hughes
Succeeded by	Jessica Morden
Member of Parliament for Stratford-on-Avon
In office 9 June 1983 – 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Constituency Created
Succeeded by	John Maples
Personal details
Born	11 June 1944 Marylebone, England, UK
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour (1995 - present)
Other political affiliations	Conservative (until 1995)
Spouse(s)	Gillian Chance (divorced)
Alma mater	King's College, Cambridge

Alan Thomas Howarth, Baron Howarth of Newport, CBE, PC, (born 11 June 1944) is a British Labour Party politician who was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1983 until 2005.

Early life

Rugby School

He is the son of Major Thomas Howarth MC (Chief Master of King Edward's School, Birmingham, Second Master of Winchester College and High Master of St. Paul's School) and Margaret Teakle (who was a WREN in the Second World War). He was educated at Rugby School and gained a BA in History from King's College, Cambridge in 1965.

Parliamentary career

Having been awarded a CBE in the 1982 New Year's Honours^[1] for political service, Howarth was Conservative Party MP for Stratford-on-Avon, first elected in 1983. He served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Science from 1989 to 1992.

Defection

In 1995 he defected from the Conservative Party to the Labour Party, the first MP to defect directly from the Conservatives to Labour, and the first former Conservative MP to sit as a Labour MP since Sir Oswald Mosley. He wanted a new seat to contest as a Labour candidate and, after failing to win the seats of Wentworth and Wythenshawe and Sale East, he was selected for the safe Labour seat of Newport East in Wales. The miners' leader Arthur Scargill stood against him under the Socialist Labour Party banner, but he easily held the seat for Labour.

After the election victory of 1997 he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment, becoming Minister for the Arts at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport the following year. He is also a member of the Privy Council. He was dropped from the government after the 2001 general election. He stood down from the House of Commons at the 2005 general election. Jessica Morden was selected to replace him as candidate by the Constituency Labour Party.

On 13 May 2005 it was announced that he would be created a life peer, and on 15 June 2005 he was created a life peer as Baron Howarth of Newport, of Newport in the County of Gwent.^[2]

Controversy

He was criticised when it was claimed that he and his partner, Baroness Hollis, live next door to each other but both claim expenses from the House of Lords.^[3][4]He and Baroness Hollis are one of the few couples to both hold noble titles in his or her own right.

Personal life

He married Gillian Chance in 1967. They divorced in 1996 and they have two daughters (born 1974 and 1975) and two sons (born 1977 and April 1985).

Styles of address

• 1944–1982: Mr Alan Howarth
• 1982–1983: Mr Alan Howarth CBE
• 1983–2000: Mr Alan Howarth CBE MP
• 2000–2005: The Rt Hon. Alan Howarth CBE MP
• 2005: The Rt Hon. Alan Howarth CBE
• 2005–: The Rt Hon. The Lord Howarth of Newport CBE PC

References

1. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 48837. p. 8. 31 December 1981.
2. The London Gazette: no. 57678. p. 7991. 20 June 2005.
3. Mail on Sunday 21 December 2008
4. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1099159/Revealed-Perk-lets-Lords-couples-claim-living-allowance-twice-share-home.html

External links

• They Work For You
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Alan Howarth
• "Alan Thomas Howarth, Baron Howarth of Newport" at The Peerage

News items

• Richard Branson in October 2000
• Selling burgers in Royal Parks in May 2000