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In office 3 October 2008 – 5 June 2009 |
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Prime Minister | Gordon Brown |
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Preceded by | Ruth Kelly |
Succeeded by | The Lord Adonis |
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In office 28 June 2007 – 3 October 2008 |
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Prime Minister | Gordon Brown |
Preceded by | Jacqui Smith |
Succeeded by | Nick Brown |
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In office 6 May 2006 – 27 June 2007 |
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Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | Douglas Alexander |
Succeeded by | Jim Murphy |
In office 28 July 1999 – 11 October 1999 |
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Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | Joyce Quin |
Succeeded by | Keith Vaz |
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In office 5 May 2005 – 6 May 2006 |
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Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | Peter Hain |
Succeeded by | Jack Straw |
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In office 11 October 1999 – 5 May 2005 |
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Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | George Robertson |
Succeeded by | John Reid |
Member of Parliament
for Ashfield |
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Incumbent | |
Assumed office 9 April 1992 |
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Preceded by | Frank Haynes |
Majority | 10,213 (24.3%) |
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Born | 6 December 1953 Derby, United Kingdom |
Political party | Labour |
Spouse(s) | Elaine Anne Dumelow |
Alma mater | Jesus College, Cambridge |
Religion | Church of England |
Geoffrey William "Geoff" Hoon (born 6 December 1953) is a British politician. A member of the Labour Party, he is a Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Ashfield, and a former Defence Secretary, Transport Secretary, Leader of the House of Commons and Chief Whip.
Contents |
Early life
Geoff Hoon was born in Derby, England, and is the son of railwayman Ernest (who also saw action in the RAF in World War II, serving in India and Burma) and June Collett. He was educated at the independent Nottingham High School (where he was a member of the Combined Cadet Force from 1967-70). Before university, he worked as a labourer in a furniture factory for a year from 1972-3. He read law at Jesus College, Cambridge, graduating in 1974, becoming the first person in his family to go to university. He was a law lecturer at the University of Leeds from 1976 until 1982, and was a warden at the all-male Devonshire Hall. He was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1978, and was also a visiting law professor at the University of Louisville, Kentucky from 1980-1. In 1982, he became a practising barrister for two years in Nottingham.
Member of Parliament
Hoon was elected as a Member of the European Parliament for Derbyshire in 1984 and served in Brussels and Strasbourg for ten years. He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1992 general election for Ashfield following the retirement of the sitting Labour MP Frank Haynes. Hoon held the seat with a majority of 12,987 and has remained the constituency's MP since, making his maiden speech on 20 May 1992. Hoon also attended the Bilderberg Conference in Scotland in 1998.[1]
Shadow Cabinet and early government posts
In Parliament, he was promoted by John Smith in 1994 when he was appointed as an opposition whip, and in 1995 he joined the frontbench team as a spokesman on Trade and Industry. Following the 1997 general election he became a member of the government of Tony Blair as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Lord Chancellor's Department, being promoted to the rank of Minister of State in the same department in 1998. In 1999, he was briefly a minister at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, before entering the cabinet later in the year as the Secretary of State for Defence. He became a member of the Privy Council in 1999. He served as the Lord Privy Seal and the Leader of the House of Commons from the 2005 general election until 5 May 2006. He was appointed on that day as Minister for Europe.
Secretary of State for Defence
In a 2003 interview on the BBC's Breakfast with Frost, Hoon asserted that the UK was willing to use nuclear weapons against Iraqi forces "in the right circumstances."[2][3]
On 23 June 2003, Hoon continued to claim that two trailers found in Iraq were mobile weapons laboratories.[4] This was in spite of the fact that it had been leaked to the press by Dr David Kelly[5] and other weapons inspectors that they were nothing of the sort. The trailers were for filling hydrogen balloons for artillery ranging and were sold to Iraq by a British company, Marconi.[6]
In an interview in April 2004, Geoff Hoon said that more could have been done to help David Kelly, who committed suicide on 17 July 2003 after being named as the source of Andrew Gilligan's disputed Today programme contibution.[7]
Comments on cluster bombs
Shortly after the US/UK led invasion of Iraq began in 2003, following an admission by the Ministry of Defence that Britain had dropped 50 airborne cluster munitions in the south of Iraq and left behind up to 800 unexploded bomblets, it was put to Hoon in a Radio 4 interview that an Iraqi mother of a child killed by these cluster bombs would not thank the British army. He replied "One day they might." Hoon continued "I accept that in the short term the consequences are terrible. No one minimises those and I'm not seeking to do so," he said. "But what I am saying is that this is a country that has been brutalised for decades by this appalling regime and that the restoration of that country to its own people, the possibility of their deciding for themselves their future ... and indeed the way in which they go about their lives, ultimately, yes, that will be a better place for people in Iraq." [8]
Secretary of State for Transport
In the reshuffle after the sudden resignation of the Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly during the Labour Party Conference, Hoon became the Secretary of State for Transport on 3 October 2008. His old post of Labour Chief Whip was given to Nick Brown. [9]
In January 2009 Hoon gave the official go-ahead for the controversial expansion of Heathrow Airport[10] On the 5 June 2009 Hoon resigned from his post as Transport Secretary during a Cabinet reshuffle.[11]
Expense claims
In April 2009, it emerged that he had rented out his London home and claimed expenses on his constituency house. While doing so, he had lived in state-owned, rent-free housing in Admiralty House (London).[12] Hoon asserted that he had only claimed what he was entitled to. But the financial arrangements were quite heavily criticized in the media, because his London home was registered as his main residence while it was allegedly let out to someone else.[13] In May 2009, the Daily Telegraph printed allegations that Mr Hoon had been flipping his homes in London. Flipping is a technique whereby Members of Parliament switch their second home between several houses, which has the effect of allowing them to maximize their taxpayer funded allowances.[14]
References
- ^ http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199899/cmhansrd/vo991111/text/91111w09.htm#91111w09.htm_sbhd2
- ^ "UK restates nuclear threat". BBC News. 2003-02-23. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2717939.stm.
- ^ Geoff Hoon, interview by David Frost, Breakfast with Frost, BBC, 23 February 2003.
- ^ Hansard (23 June 2003). "Hansard - Written Answers - Column 696". House of Commons Hansard. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmhansrd/vo030623/debtext/30623-02.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-16.
- ^ Hutton (24 September 2003). "Hutton Inquiry Hearing Transcripts - Peter Stuart Beaumont". The Hutton Inquiry. http://www.the-hutton-inquiry.org.uk/content/transcripts/hearing-trans17.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-16.
- ^ Peter Beaumont, Antony Barnett and Gaby Hinsliff (15 June 2003). "Iraqi mobile labs nothing to do with germ warfare, report finds". The Observer. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,977916,00.html. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
- ^ "Hoon admits mistakes over Kelly". BBC News website. 2004-04-24. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3654913.stm. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
- ^ "Hoon is 'cruel' for claims on cluster bombs By Paul Waugh and Ben Russell". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/hoon-is-cruel--for-claims-on-cluster-bombs-claims-593447.html. Retrieved 2003-04-05.
- ^ "Gordon Brown's reshuffle". Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/3127478/Peter-Mandelson-returns-to-Government-in-Gordon-Browns-reshuffle.html. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
- ^ "Go-ahead for new Heathrow runway". BBC online. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7829676.stm. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
- ^ "Hoon Quits Plunging PM Further Into Crisis". Sky News. http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Politics/Gordon-Browns-Reshuffle-Defence-Secretary-Quits-Andy-Burnham-Heads-To-Health/Article/200906115296531?lpos=Politics_Top_Stories_Header_0&lid=ARTICLE_15296531_Gordon_Browns_Reshuffle%3A_Defence_Secretary_Quits%2C_Andy_Burnham_Heads_To_Health. Retrieved 5 June 2009.
- ^ "Geoff Hoon 'claimed expenses for third home'". politics.co.uk. http://www.politics.co.uk/news/party-politics/labour/geoff-hoon-claimed-expenses-for-third-home--$1285812.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
- ^ "Geoff Hoon in three homes expenses row". ITV. http://www.itv.com/News/Articles/Hoon-in-fresh-expenses-row-746970014.html. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
- ^ "Cabinet ministers have made tens of thousands 'flipping' their homes". Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1179291/MPs-expenses-How-Cabinet-ministers-tens-thousands-flipping-homes.html. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by Frank Haynes |
Member of Parliament for Ashfield 1992–present |
Incumbent |
Political offices | ||
Preceded by Joyce Quin |
Minister of State for Europe 1999 |
Succeeded by Keith Vaz |
Preceded by George Robertson |
Secretary of State for Defence 1999–2005 |
Succeeded by John Reid |
Preceded by Peter Hain |
Leader of the House of Commons 2005–2006 |
Succeeded by Jack Straw |
Lord Privy Seal 2005–2006 |
||
Preceded by Douglas Alexander |
Minister of State for Europe 2006–2007 |
Succeeded by Jim Murphy |
Preceded by Jacqui Smith |
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury 2007–2008 |
Succeeded by Nick Brown |
Chief Whip of the House of Commons 2007–2008 |
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Preceded by Ruth Kelly |
Secretary of State for Transport 2008–2009 |
Succeeded by The Lord Adonis |