Brian Arthur Robert White (5 May 1957 – 5 July 2016) was a British Labour politician. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Milton Keynes from the 1997 general election, but lost his seat in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Early life

He attended the Methodist College Belfast grammar school in Belfast. He worked for HM Customs and Excise in Southend-on-Sea on the design of the VAT accounting system, then became an IT consultant, working in the US, Finland and Canada, and for

Abbey National The Abbey National Building Society was formed in 1944 by the merger of the Abbey Road and the National building societies. It was the first building society in the United Kingdom to demutualise, doing so in July 1989. The bank expanded throu ...

until 1997.

Political career

Parliament

White was first elected to Parliament when Labour returned to power at the 1997 general election with a 240-vote majority, when he overturned the Conservative Peter Butler's majority of 14,000 obtained at the previous election. He was returned at the 2001 election with a slightly increased majority of 1,829, but at the 2005 election he lost his seat to the Conservative candidate Mark Lancaster whose 1,665 majority represented a 3.6% swing.

Local government

Before his election to Parliament in 1997, White had been a Labour member of Buckinghamshire County Council, Deputy Leader of

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

Council, and Secretary of the

Local Government Association The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national membership body for local authorities. Its core membership is made up of 339 English councils and the 22 Welsh councils through the Welsh Local Government Association. The LGA is p ...

Labour Group. He had joined the local council in 1987 but resigned to take his seat in Parliament. In the local elections of May 2007, he was elected to Milton Keynes Council as a member for

Stantonbury Stantonbury is a district and civil parish of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The toponym ''Stanton'' is derived from an Old English term for "stone-built farmstead" and the ''bury'' element from the French family who held it in 1235. ...

. He was re-elected in May 2011 and May 2014. He served as Mayor of Milton Keynes for a year from May 2013.

Other

He was a past Chair of the National Energy Foundation, Chair of

United Sustainable Energy Agency United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

and was on the Board of the

Renewable Fuels Agency The Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA) was a UK Government non-departmental public body, created by the Department for Transport to implement the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation or RTFO. The Agency ceased to exist at midnight on 31 March 2011 The R ...

. He was a key figure in establishing Careers-Action a charity formed to help management and professional level job seekers with job search training, information, resources and support.

Personal life

He married Leena Lindholm on 4 July 1984 in Finland. He had two stepsons. In late June 2016, White was diagnosed with an incurable

cancer of the oesophagus Esophageal cancer is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include difficulty in swallowing and weight loss. Other symptoms may include pain when swallowing, a hoarse voic ...

which had metastasized. He died in

hospital on 5 July 2016. He was 59.

References

External links

*
His website

TheyWorkForYou.com - Brian White

Stantonbury Ward - MK Council
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Brian 1957 births 2016 deaths Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 Politicians from Belfast People educated at Methodist College Belfast Politics of Milton Keynes Councillors in Buckinghamshire Members of Buckinghamshire County Council Deaths from cancer in England Mayors of places in Buckinghamshire Deaths from esophageal cancer