Alan Thomas Amos (born 10 November 1952) is a British politician who sat as Conservative Member of Parliament for

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden, Northumberland, Warden nearby, and ...

from 1987 to 1992. After a spell in the Labour Party, he currently sits as a Conservative member of

Worcester City Council Worcester City Council is the local authority for Worcester, a non-metropolitan district with city status in Worcestershire, England. The council consists of 35 councillors, elected from 15 wards. History The city of Worcester was an ancient bo ...

Early life

He attended the independent St Albans School. He studied PPE at

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pro ...

. From the

Institute of Education IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society (IOE) is the education school of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior to m ...

, he gained a PGCE in 1976. From 1976 to 1984, he was an Economics teacher, and a sixth form Form-teacher, at

Dame Alice Owen's School Dame Alice Owen's School (also known as Dame Alice Owen's or Owen's; referred to by the acronym DAOS) is an 11–18 mixed, partially selective secondary school and sixth form with academy status in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, England. It i ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. From 1986 to 1987, he was Assistant Principal of Davies's College of Further Education (now called Davies's Independent 6th Form College) on ''Old Gloucester Street '' in Queen's Square. From 1978 to 1987 he was a Conservative councillor on Enfield Borough Council. At the 1983 general election, he stood unsuccessfully in

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in East London, east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London and the Historic counties of England, ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Chari ...

Parliamentary career

Amos was elected as the Conservative

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

in the 1987 general election. In Parliament, Amos was known for his right wing views, e.g., he believed rapists and muggers should be flogged. He was opposed to

tobacco advertising Nicotine marketing is the marketing of nicotine-containing products or use. Traditionally, the tobacco industry markets cigarette smoking, but it is increasingly marketing other products, such as electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products ...

. Shortly before the 1992 general election, Amos was arrested, along with another man, at a well known homosexual pickup spot on

Hampstead Heath Hampstead Heath (locally known simply as the Heath) is an ancient heath in London, spanning . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band o ...

. Amos was not charged but accepted a police caution for indecency, and stood down as MP for Hexham.

Conversion to Labour

After failing to be readopted as a Conservative local councillor in the

London Borough of Enfield The London Borough of Enfield () is a London boroughs, London borough in North London. It borders the London boroughs of London Borough of Barnet, Barnet to the west, London Borough of Haringey, Haringey to the south, and London Borough of Walt ...

, where he had previously been deputy leader of the council, he joined the Labour Party in 1994, giving a self-

exculpatory Exculpatory evidence is evidence favorable to the defendant in a criminal trial that exonerates or tends to exonerate the defendant of guilt. It is the opposite of inculpatory evidence, which tends to present guilt. In many countries, includi ...

interview to ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' magazine. In the 2001 general election he fought the

Hitchin and Harpenden Hitchin and Harpenden is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Bim Afolami, a Conservative. History The constituency was created for the 1997 general election from parts of several former Her ...

constituency for Labour, coming second to the Conservative

Peter Lilley Peter Bruce Lilley, Baron Lilley, PC (born 23 August 1943) is a British politician and life peer who served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parl ...

. He was elected for Labour to the

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

ward of the

London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, London borough covering much of the traditional East End of London, East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropol ...

in 2002, serving as councillor for four years before losing the seat to the Conservatives in the 2006 election. He returned to local politics in May 2008 with his election to the

Warndon Warndon is a suburb and civil parish of the City of Worcester in Worcestershire, England. The parish, which includes the villages of Trotshill and Warndon was part of Droitwich Rural District until 1974 when it was annexed to Worcester under the ...

ward of

Independent councillor

Following the May 2014 local government elections, the composition of Worcester City Council was 17 Conservative, 16 Labour, 1 Liberal Democrat and 1 Green, making both major groups reliant on minority support to gain control of the council. Before the Council AGM, Alan Amos announced he was leaving the Labour group to sit as an Independent councillor, allegedly from dissatisfaction that he had not been selected by Labour as a future

Mayor of Worcester The Mayor of Worcester is the civic head of Worcester City Council. Every May one of the city Councillors is elected to serve as Mayor for a year. Another is elected as Deputy Mayor. The Mayor chairs meetings of the Full Council, represents the c ...

. At the council's AGM on 3 June 2014, Amos accepted the Conservative nomination as Mayor of Worcester, and as Mayor, voted for the Council administration to change from Labour to Conservative.

Move back to the Conservatives

Following the May 2015 local government elections and hours before his tenure as Mayor of Worcester was to end, Alan Amos announced he was rejoining the Conservative party.

Controversies

In 2016 Amos claimed women make up rape. He is known for his right-wing views on immigration, when in 2019, 23 child asylum seekers were resettled in Worcestershire. He has also made derogatory remarks about cyclists when he called cyclists "... morons and dangerous" as well as describing courier riders as "...

Deliveroo Deliveroo is a British online food delivery company founded by Will Shu and Greg Orlowski in 2013 in London, England. It operates in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait ...

Idiots".

References

External links

*
Worcester City Council

They Work For You
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amos, Alan 1952 births Living people Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Councillors in the London Borough of Enfield Councillors in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Labour Party (UK) councillors UK MPs 1987–1992 People from St Albans Alumni of St Peter's College, Oxford Presidents of the Oxford University Conservative Association Alumni of the UCL Institute of Education People educated at St Albans School, Hertfordshire English LGBT politicians LGBT members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates 21st-century English LGBT people