Eric Anthony Martlew (born 3 January 1949) is a British Labour Party politician who served as

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 ...

(MP) for

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

from 1987 to 2010.

Early life and career

Eric Anthony Martlew was born on 3 January 1949 in

Ince-in-Makerfield Ince-in-Makerfield or Ince is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. The population of the Ince ward at the 2011 census was 13,486, but a southern part of Ince was also listed under the Abram ward (north o ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

. He grew-up in

Carlisle, Cumbria Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the Cit ...

, where he studied at Harraby Secondary Modern School and

Carlisle College Carlisle College is a further education college serving the post 16 education and training needs of Carlisle, England, and the surrounding area. The college, located in Carlisle city centre has more than 2,700 students enrolled each year. I ...

. Martlew worked as a technician and personnel manager at the

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...

factory in

Dalston Dalston () is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is northeast of Charing Cross. Dalston began as a hamlet on either side of Dalston Lane, and as the area urbanised the term also came to apply to surrounding areas includ ...

from 1966 to 1987. He served as a member of Carlisle Borough Council from 1972 to 1974 and

Cumbria County Council Cumbria County Council is the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Cumbria in the North West of England. Established in April 1974, following its first elections held the previous year, it is an elected local government body respon ...

from 1973 to 1988. Martlew chaired the County Council from 1983 to 1985 and the East Cumbria Health Authority from 1977 to 1979.

Parliamentary career

Martlew was elected as

for

at the 1987 general election, narrowly increasing Ronald Lewis' majority from 71 votes to 916. He served as a Shadow Minister for Defence from 1992 to 1997 and an

Opposition Whip A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology ...

from 1996 to 1997. After the 1997 general election, he became

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

(PPS) to the

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. The position is the second highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the Prime Minister, and senior to the Minist ...

, David Clark. He changed roles in 1998, becoming PPS to the Lords Leader and Minister for Women, Baroness Jay of Paddington, until her

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

retirement in 2001. Martlew announced on 1 May 2009 that he would stand down from Parliament, and retired at the 2010 general election. He was made a Freeman of the City of Carlisle in 2016, and was later chair of the

Association of Former Members of Parliament The Association of Former Members of Parliament is a British organisation for former members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom founded in 2003. It produces a magazine called ''Order! Order!'' and has an office in the House of Commons. ...

Personal life

Martlew married Elsie Duggan in 1970 in

. His

German Shepherd The German Shepherd or Alsatian is a German breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various traditional German herding dogs from 1899. It was originally bred as a herding dog, for he ...

, Tag, was voted Westminster Dog of the Year in 2006.

References

External links

Eric Martlew MP
official site

TheyWorkForYou.com - Eric Martlew MP
*
BBC Politics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martlew, Eric 1949 births Living people Members of Cumbria County Council Cumbria MPs Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Transport and General Workers' Union-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 People from Carlisle, Cumbria People from Ince-in-Makerfield