Michael Clapham (born 15 May 1943) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the

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) for

Barnsley West and Penistone Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

from 1992 to 2010.

Early life

Born in

Darton Darton is a large village in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley (part of South Yorkshire), on the border with West Yorkshire, England. At the time of the 2001 UK census, it had a population of 14,927, increasing to 21,345 for both Darton War ...

, in Barnsley, Clapham was educated at the

Secondary Modern School on Churchfield Lane (now Darton High School) and the Barnsley Technical College. After leaving school in 1958, he was a

coal miner Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

for 12 years before he returned to education at Leeds Polytechnic, where he received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree with

honours Honour (British English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a ...

in 1973. He earned a

Postgraduate Certificate in Education The Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE/PGCertEd) is a one- or two-year higher education course in England, Wales and Northern Ireland which provides training in order to allow graduates to become teachers within maintained schools. In ...

at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

in 1974, and a

Master of Philosophy The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil ...

at the

University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but ...

in 1990. In 1974, he lectured in trade union studies at the Whitwood College in

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the town centre the River Calder joins th ...

(now the Whitwood Campus of

Wakefield College Wakefield College is a Further Education and Higher Education College in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It has provided education in the city since 1868. On 1 March 2022, the college merged with Selby College to form the 'Heart of Yorkshi ...

), before joining the National Union of Mineworkers in 1977 as a claims officer, becoming its head of

industrial relations Industrial relations or employment relations is the multidisciplinary academic field that studies the employment relationship; that is, the complex interrelations between employers and employees, labor/trade unions, employer organizations, ...

in 1983, the position he held for the duration of the miners' strike of 1984–1985, he stepped down on his election 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. T ...

in 1992.

Parliamentary career

Clapham was the treasurer of the Barnsley West and Penistone Constituency Labour Party after 1983. He was elected as the MP there at the 1992 General Election following the retirement of

Allen McKay Allen McKay (5 February 1927 – 2 May 2013) was a British Labour Party politician. Biography Born in Barnsley, McKay was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for the South Yorkshire constituency of Penistone in a 1978 by-election following the ...

, holding the seat with a majority of 14,504. 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 ...

, speaking on the concerns in the local coal mining industry, on 6 May 1992. Clapham is a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

er and was a member of the

Socialist Campaign Group The Socialist Campaign Group, officially the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs and also known as the Campaign Group, is a left-wing, democratic socialist grouping of the Labour Party's Members of Parliament in the House of Commons of the ...

, rebelling against the government on various issues. He was a member of the Trade and Industry Committee from 1992 to 1997 and again from 2003; in between he was Parliamentary Private Secretary to

Alan Milburn Alan Milburn (born 27 January 1958) is a British Labour Party politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Darlington from 1992 to 2010. He served for five years in the Cabinet, first as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 1998 to 1999, a ...

following the 1997 general election, but he resigned over

Harriet Harman Harriet Ruth Harman (born 30 July 1950) is a British politician and solicitor who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Camberwell and Peckham, formerly Peckham, since 1982. A member of the Labour Party, she has served in various Cabi ...

's decision to cut lone parent benefits in December of that year. He used to be very loyal to his old boss

Arthur Scargill Arthur Scargill (born 11 January 1938) is a British trade unionist who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982 to 2002. He is best known for leading the UK miners' strike (1984–85), a major event in the history of ...

, but later criticised him for being too Stalinist. His voting record shows him to be against many of

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 ...

's policies, including ID cards, student top-up fees and the Iraq war. Clapham announced he would stand down at the next general election; his constituency became part of the new constituency of

Penistone and Stocksbridge Penistone and Stocksbridge is a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament represented since 2019 by Miriam Cates, a Conservative. As with all constituencies, adults qualifying to vote in the seat (its electorate) elect one Mem ...

Personal life

Clapham is a Distinguished Supporter of Humanists UK. He is also a supporter of Republic, a campaign to replace the

British monarchy The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiwi ...

with an elected head of state. He has been married to Yvonne Hallsworth since 1965 and they have a son and a daughter.

References

External links

Michael Clapham, MPePolitix – Michael Clapham
official site

* ttps://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/michael_clapham/barnsley_west_and_penistone TheyWorkForYou.com – Michael Clapham MP*
The Public Whip – Michael Clapham MP
voting record
BBC News Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clapham, Michael 1943 births Living people Alumni of Leeds Beckett University Alumni of the University of Bradford Alumni of the University of Leeds English humanists English republicans European democratic socialists Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies National Union of Mineworkers-sponsored MPs People from Darton Politics of Barnsley Politics of Penistone UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 British Eurosceptics