John Heppell (born 3 November 1948) is a former

British Labour Party The Labour Party is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of Social democracy, social democrats, Democratic socialism, democratic socialists and trade u ...

politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Nottingham East Nottingham East is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Nadia Whittome of the Labour Party. Members of Parliament Constituency profile On average earners' incomes are slightly lower than the ...

from

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

until he stepped down at the 2010 general election. He was Vice-Chamberlain of the Household from 2005 to 2007.

Early life

Heppell was born in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

Tyneside Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt. The population of Tyneside as published i ...

and was educated locally at the Rutherford Grammar School (now the Westgate Community School) in Fenham, then the South East Northumberland Technical College (became North Tyneside College and now called

Tyne Metropolitan College Tyne Metropolitan College is a college of further education in North Tyneside, England. About Tyne Metropolitan College Tyne Metropolitan College is a General Further Education College located in the borough of North Tyneside (one of five metro ...

) in

Wallsend Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This fo ...

, and he completed his education at the Ashington Technical College (now called

Northumberland College Northumberland College is a further education college based in Ashington, Northumberland, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Iri ...

) on ''College Road'' in

Ashington Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 27,864 at the 2011 Census. It was once a centre of the coal mining industry. The town is north of Newcastle upon Tyne, west of the A189 and bordered to the ...

. He worked for the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "v ...

from 1964 as a fitter until he left in 1970 to work as a fitter in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

. He joined

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

in 1975, originally as a

diesel fitter Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

, becoming a

workshop Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the only ...

supervisor in 1978 until he left in 1989.

Parliamentary career

Heppell was elected as a councillor to

Nottinghamshire County Council Nottinghamshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Nottinghamshire in England. It consists of 66 county councillors, elected from 56 electoral divisions every four years. The most recent election ...

in 1981, serving as the deputy leader for three years from 1989, stepping down from the council in 1993. He was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

at the 1992 general election for Nottingham East by defeating the sitting

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

MP Michael Knowles by 7,680 votes and remained the MP there until 2010. He made his

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...

on 11 May 1992, in which he recalled that it was in his constituency at

Sneinton Sneinton (pronounced "Snenton") is a suburb of Nottingham, England. The area is bounded by Nottingham city centre to the west, Bakersfield to the north, Colwick to the east, and the River Trent to the south. Sneinton lies within the unitary au ...

that the founder of the

Salvation Army Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

William Booth William Booth (10 April 182920 August 1912) was an English Methodist preacher who, along with his wife, Catherine, founded the Salvation Army and became its first " General" (1878–1912). His 1890 book In Darkest England and The Way Out o ...

launched his crusade against poverty in the early 19th century. In

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, Heppell was appointed as the

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

Leader of the House of Lords The leader of the House of Lords is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Lords. The post is also the leader of the majority party in the House of Lords who acts as ...

Ivor Richard Ivor Seward Richard, Baron Richard, (30 May 1932 – 18 March 2018) was a British Labour politician who served as a member of Parliament (MP) from 1964 until 1974. He was also a member of the European Commission and latterly sat as a life pee ...

in 1997 and became the PPS to the Deputy Prime Minister

John Prescott John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott (born 31 May 1938) is a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and as First Secretary of State from 2001 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, he w ...

in 1998. He became a member of the

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

government following the 2001 general election when he was appointed as a Lord Commissioner to the Treasury and Government Whip and was promoted within the Whips Office becoming the Vice-Chamberlain of the Household following the 2005 general election. He held this office until June 2007. He was a member of the selection select committee from 2001. Heppell has been married to Eileen Golding since 1974 and they have two sons, a daughter and two grandchildren. He used to have

knuckle tattoo A knuckle tattoo is a kind of tattoo that most commonly uses two groups of four-letter words or one eight-letter word. It is not necessarily a prison tattoo, as sometimes believed, but remains an unpopular form of tattoo—alongside hand tattoos in ...

s with the words 'love' and 'hate', but they have since been removed. He is a member of the General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trade Union having resigned from the

National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (commonly known as the RMT) is a British trade union covering the transport sector. Its current President is Alex Gordon and its current General Secretary is Mick Lynch. The RMT is on ...

in 2002. He is a keen

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

. On 26 March 2010, Heppell announced that he would stand down at the 2010 general election due to his wife suffering from breast cancer.

References

External links

Official website
*
TheyWorkForYou.com – John Heppell MP
* ttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/438.stm BBC Politics Profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Heppell, John 1948 births Living people Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 Councillors in Nottinghamshire British republicans