Clive Stafford Soley, Baron Soley (born 7 May 1939) is a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He served as a

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 o ...

(MP) from

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

to 2005, and has since then served as a Member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

Early life

He went to Downshall Secondary Modern School (eventually ended up as Seven Kings High School) on Aldborough Road in

Seven Kings Seven Kings is a district of Ilford in London, England, part of the borough of Redbridge. Situated approximately two miles from Ilford town centre, Seven Kings forms part of the Ilford post town. Historically part of Essex, it was part of the ...

near Ilford, then Newbattle Adult Education College in

Newbattle Newbattle (from Neubotle, i.e. new dwelling) is a village and civil parish in Midlothian, in the ancient Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Andrews, about seven miles from Edinburgh. There was an abbey there founded about 1140, being the second of t ...

, Midlothian, from 1961 to 1963. He did

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

National Service from 1959 to 1961. He went to the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

, where he gained a BA in Politics and Psychology in 1968, then the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

, where he gained a Diploma in Applied Social Studies in 1970. He was a

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

Officer from 1968 to 1969, then a

Probation Officer A probation and parole officer is an official appointed or sworn to investigate, report on, and supervise the conduct of convicted offenders on probation or those released from incarceration to community supervision such as parole. Most probati ...

from 1970 to 1979 for the

Inner London Probation Service The Inner London Probation Service existed until 31 March 2001 when it was succeeded by the larger London Probation Area. Its final Chief Probation Officer was John Harding, later visiting professor at the University of Hertfordshire. He succeede ...

. He was a councillor on Hammersmith Council from 1974 to 1978.

Parliamentary career

Soley was a Labour Party

from 1979, first for the constituency of Hammersmith North, then Hammersmith and finally Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush from 1997 to 2005. In 1981, he was a member of the anti-nuclear Labour Party Defence Study Group and was chair of the

Parliamentary Labour Party In UK politics, the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is the parliamentary group of the Labour Party in Parliament, i.e. Labour MPs as a collective body. Commentators on the British Constitution sometimes draw a distinction between the Labour ...

from 1997 to 2001. In 2003, he voted in favour of the government's decision to engage in military action against Iraq despite the absence of convincing evidence that Iraq still had an active WMD programme. In 2005, it was announced that he would be given a life peerage, and on 29 June 2005 he was created Baron Soley, of Hammersmith in the

London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham () is a London borough in West London and which also forms part of Inner London. The borough was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan Boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham. The borou ...

. He was from 2005 to 2010 Campaign Director of Future Heathrow, an organisation dedicated to the expansion of Heathrow. He was from 2004 to 2016, chair of the trustees of Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal, now renamed the Mary Seacole Trust, which worked for the erection of the

statue of Mary Seacole The statue of Mary Seacole stands in the grounds of St Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth, London. Sculpted by Martin Jennings, the statue was executed in 2016. It honours Mary Seacole, a British-Jamaican who established a "British Hotel" during the Cri ...

in the grounds of

St Thomas's Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large National Health Service, NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy' ...

in London.

Personal life

Soley has a son and daughter. He is an Honorary Associate of the

National Secular Society The National Secular Society (NSS) is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it. It was ...

. National Secular Society. Retrieved 27 July 2019

References

External links

Hammersmith & Fulham Labour Party

Lord Soley of Hammersmith

Open Rights Group The Open Rights Group (ORG) is a UK-based organisation that works to preserve digital rights and freedoms by campaigning on digital rights issues and by fostering a community of grassroots activists. It campaigns on numerous issues including ma ...

BBC Politics profile, 2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soley, Clive 1939 births Living people Alumni of the University of Southampton Alumni of the University of Strathclyde British bloggers Labour Party (UK) life peers Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People from Ilford UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 Royal Air Force airmen Life peers created by Elizabeth II