David Leonard Watts, Baron Watts (born 26 August 1951) is a British politician and life peer who served in the Blair and Brown governments as a

Lord Commissioner of the Treasury In the United Kingdom there are at least six Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, serving as a commission for the ancient office of Treasurer of the Exchequer. The board consists of the First Lord of the Treasury, the Second Lord of the ...

from 2005 to 2010 and chaired 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 ...

as a backbencher from 2012 to 2015. A member of the Labour Party, he was

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 St Helens North from

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

to 2015.

Early life

Watts was educated at Malvern Primary School and Huyton Hey Secondary Modern School,

Huyton Huyton ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. Part of the Liverpool Urban Area, it borders the Liverpool suburbs of Dovecot, Knotty Ash and Belle Vale, and the neighbouring village of Roby, with which ...

. He was leader of

St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council St Helens Council, also known as St Helens Borough Council, and St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council, is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens in Merseyside. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in Merseysi ...

for four years. He was a union official at Huntley & Palmers' biscuit factory in Huyton.

Parliamentary career

Watts was a

Government 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 ...

and Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury from 2008 to 2010. On 15 March 2012, he was elected to succeed

Tony Lloyd Sir Anthony Joseph Lloyd (born 25 February 1950) is a British Labour Party politician who has discontinuously served as a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1983, currently as the MP for Rochdale since 2017. He was MP for Stretford from 1983 to 1 ...

as the

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 P ...

, a role he performed until he stood down to be replaced by

John Cryer John Robert Cryer (born 11 April 1964) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leyton and Wanstead since the general election in May 2010. He was previously MP for Hornchurch from 1997 until his d ...

on 9 February 2015. He stood down at the 2015 General Election. Watts is associated with the

Labour Friends of Israel Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) is a group in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that promotes support for a strong bilateral relationship between Britain and Israel, and seeks to strengthen ties between the British Labour Party and the Isra ...

. Watts was nominated for a life peerage in the 2015 Dissolution Honours. On 23 October 2015, he was created Baron Watts, of

Ravenhead Ravenhead is an area of St Helens in the North West of England. It is bordered by Thatto Heath, Sutton and the Town Centre. The area is thought to take its name from a farm once located nearby (Ravenhead Farm), while the 'head' portion of the n ...

in the County of Merseyside, for life. By virtue of that life peerage, he became 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 ...

. He entered the House of Lords on 3 December 2015 continuing to sit under the Labour whip.

Personal life

Watts married Avril Davies in 1972, with whom he has two sons.

References

External links

Guardian Unlimited Policies - Ask Aristotle: David Watts MP

TheyWorkForYou.com - Dave Watts MP

House of Lords

Voting record
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Watts, David 1951 births Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) officials Labour Friends of Israel Living people UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 Labour Party (UK) life peers Life peers created by Elizabeth II