Clive Needle (born 22 September 1956 in

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romfo ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

) is a former Labour Party politician in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He was the

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) for

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

from 1994 to 1999. Born in

, Needled was educated at Southend High School and then at

Aston University Aston University (abbreviated as ''Aston''. for post-nominals) is a public research university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first ...

. He became an organiser for the Labour Party in

, and also served as a community councillor.

Political life

Having stood for election using the campaign slogan, "Be sharp - vote Needle!", Needle was elected as MEP for Norfolk in 1994, defeating the three-term Conservative incumbent Paul Howell, son of

Ralph Howell Sir Ralph Frederic Howell (25 May 1923 – 14 February 2008) was a British farmer and Conservative Party politician. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Norfolk for 27 years. Early life Howell was born in Great Moulton in Norfol ...

the then Conservative MP for North Norfolk which was in the Norfolk European constituency. He stood again unsuccessfully for election in 1999 and in 2004, standing for the East of England constituency. During his time in the European Parliament, Needle was a member of the Committee on Development and Cooperation and later the Committee on the Environment, Public Health, and Consumer Protection. He also served as vice chairman of the delegation for relations with Transcaucasus.

Life since the European Parliament

Needle is Senior Policy Advisor for EuroHealthNet, a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

organisation promoting health equity in Europe. He lives partly in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

and partly in England with his family.

References

1956 births People from Romford Living people Alumni of Aston University Labour Party (UK) MEPs MEPs for England 1994–1999 People educated at Southend High School for Boys {{UK-MEP-stub