Kelvin Peter Hopkins (born 22 August 1941) is a British politician. He was first elected as the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Member of Parliament for Luton North in

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 t ...

. Hopkins was suspended by the Labour Party in 2017 after allegations of sexual misconduct were made against him in the

2017 Westminster sexual misconduct allegations A series of allegations concerning the involvement of British politicians in cases of sexual harassment and assault arose in October and November 2017. Allegations were prompted by discussions among junior staff employed in the UK Parliament a ...

. Hopkins did not stand for re-election in the 2019 general election. Hopkins is a supporter of pro-Brexit group

Leave Means Leave Leave Means Leave was a pro-Brexit, Eurosceptic political pressure group organisation that campaigned and lobbied for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union following the 'Leave' result of the EU referendum on 23 June 2016. The campai ...

Background

Kelvin Hopkins was born in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, son of physicist Harold Hopkins FRS. He was educated at

Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School for Boys Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet is a boys' grammar school in Barnet, northern Greater London, which was founded in 1573 by Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, and others, in the name of Queen Elizabeth I. It is consistently ranked as one o ...

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

, north London; he then attended the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

where he was awarded a BA degree in Politics, Economics and Mathematics with Statistics. Between 1958 and 1963, he was a "semi-professional" jazz musician, playing tenor saxophone and clarinet. With the exception of two years as a lecturer at

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

College of Further Education (now called

Oaklands College Oaklands College is a further education college in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. It was established in 1991 when further education was reorganised. The college has campuses in St Albans and Welwyn Garden City, with a further provision in Boreh ...

) from 1971 to 1973, he has worked entirely within the trade union movement. He joined the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national tra ...

as an economist in 1969, and rejoined it in 1973 following his stint as a lecturer. He was appointed a policy and research officer in

NALGO The National and Local Government Officers' Association was a British trade union representing mostly local government "white collar" workers. It was formed in 1905 as the National Association of Local Government Officers, and changed its full ...

in 1977, leaving its successor

UNISON In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or per ...

in 1994. Hopkins was a councillor on

Luton Borough Council Luton Borough Council (also known as LBC, or Luton Council) is the local authority of Luton, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It is a member of the East of England ...

from 1972 to 1976.

Parliamentary career

Hopkins was the

candidate for Luton North at the 1983 general election; he finished in second place, 11,981 votes behind 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 John Carlisle. Hopkins contested the seat again fourteen years later, at the 1997 general election, successfully gaining it from the Conservatives, with a majority of 9,626 votes and 54.6% of the votes cast. 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 ...

in the House of Commons on 28 November 1997. In 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. ...

, he was a member of the Broadcasting Select committee from 1999 to 2001, and has served on the

Public Administration Select Committee The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee, formerly the Public Administration Select Committee, is a select committee appointed by the British House of Commons to examine the reports of the Parliamentary and Health S ...

since 2002. He also served as an adviser to

Richard Caborn Richard George Caborn (born 6 October 1943) is a British politician who served as Minister of Sport from 2001 to 2007 and later as the prime minister's ambassador for England's 2018 FIFA World Cup bid. He previously served as a junior minister ...

yachting Yachting is the use of recreational boats and ships called ''yachts'' for racing or cruising. Yachts are distinguished from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose. "Yacht" derives from the Dutch word '' jacht'' ("hunt"). With sailboats, t ...

when Caborn was Minister of Sport. Hopkins is a member of many all-party groups. He served as the chairman of the group on further education and

lifelong learning Lifelong learning is the "ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated"Department of Education and Science (2000).Learning for Life: Paper on Adult Education Dublin: Stationery Office. pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons ...

, and as the vice-chairman of the groups on jazz appreciation; historic vehicles;

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

; constitution and citizenship; transport infrastructure and trans-European networks. He also served as the treasurer of the group on

building societies A building society is a financial institution owned by its members as a mutual organization. Building societies offer banking and related financial services, especially savings and mortgage lending. Building societies exist in the United Kingdo ...

and financial mutuals. Hopkins was on the left wing of the Labour Party, being 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 ...

and is a

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek reform ...

. He was known for his rebellious stance amongst Labour MPs, and has been described as a "rebellion prone left-wing economist" by

Andrew Roth Andrew Roth (23 April 1919 – 12 August 2010) was a biographer and journalist known for his compilation of ''Parliamentary Profiles'', a directory of biographies of British Members of Parliament, a small sample of which is available online in ...

in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. In the fiscal year of 2007–08, Hopkins' total expenses claims amounted to £121,809, of which his second home allowance was £1,242. He also emerged well from the 2009

MPs expenses scandal The United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal was a major political scandal that emerged in 2009, concerning expenses claims made by members of the British Parliament in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords over the previous year ...

, being deemed a "saint" by ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' for his minimal second home claims.
In June 2010, he was selected as a Labour member of the

Transport Select Committee The Transport Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the Committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Transport and its asso ...

. Before the 2016 referendum on British membership of the EU, Hopkins signed the

People's Pledge The People's Pledge was a political campaign to secure a referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union. It aimed to achieve this by asking voters to sign a pledge that they would use their vote to help secure a majority of ...

, a cross-party campaign for such a referendum, and became a member of its Advisory Council. He was one of sixteen signatories of an open letter to the-then Labour leader

Ed Miliband Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliband ...

in January 2015, which called on the party to commit to oppose further austerity, take rail franchises back into public ownership and strengthen collective bargaining arrangements. He is a supporter of

homeopathy Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dis ...

, having signed an Early Day Motion in support of its continued funding by the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

. Hopkins was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015. In 2016, he was one of the chief Labour figures to support the "Leave" campaign in the UK Referendum on EU membership. After turning down the offer of a frontbench position when

became leader, Hopkins was "called up" to serve in the Shadow Cabinet following a spate of resignations at the end of June 2016. He was able to return to the backbenches following Corbyn's re-election as party leader and the formation of a new Shadow Cabinet in October. Hopkins did not stand for re-election in the 2019 general election.

Sexual harassment allegations

Hopkins was suspended by the Labour Party on 2 November 2017 following allegations made against him which are currently being investigated. According to ''

'', Hopkins had allegedly sexually harassed and behaved inappropriately towards a Labour Party activist, Ava Etemadzadeh, now aged 27. The claims were originally brought to the attention of Rosie Winterton in 2015 when she was Labour's Chief Whip. Hopkins has "absolutely and categorically" rejected the accusation of sexual impropriety. Just over a week later on 10 November, the Labour MP

Kerry McCarthy Kerry Gillian McCarthy (born 26 March 1965) is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol East since 2005. A member of the Labour Party, she is the Shadow Minister for Climate Change. She was Shadow Secretary ...

said that Hopkins had been paying her unwanted attention, via written notes, since 1994 when both were chairs of adjacent Constituency Labour Parties in Luton. Allegedly the attention resumed when McCarthy became an MP in 2005 and continued until early 2016. The notes were shown to the Labour whips and have been reproduced in ''

''. While Hopkins had not been physically abusive towards McCarthy, she told the newspaper's political editor

Heather Stewart Heather Stewart (born 28 September 1976) is an English journalist who is a special correspondent for ''The Guardian.'' She was formerly political editor of ''The Guardian'', and before that economics editor of ''The Observer'' and before that, ' ...

that "I was really, really wary of him". Four months later, Etemadzadeh said she was "totally disillusioned" with Labour as she still did not know when her case would be heard. In January 2021, Hopkins resigned from the Labour Party.

Personal life

Hopkins married Patricia Mabel Langley on 21 August 1965 in

. The couple have a son and a daughter,

Rachel Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aun ...

, who went on to become MP for

Luton South Luton South is a constituency in Bedfordshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Rachel Hopkins, a member of the Labour Party. History This seat was created in 1983, primarily from the former seat of Luton ...

. Hopkins is a

French speaker French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

, a keen photographer, saxophonist and enjoys sailing on the

Norfolk Broads Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North ...

. 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 ...

. Since 1993, Hopkins has been a governor of

Luton Sixth Form College Luton Sixth Form College is a sixth form college in the Barnfield area of Luton, Bedfordshire, England. History In 1904 Luton Council acquired the Modern School, which was a mixed-sex secondary school. This school moved into new buildings in ...

. He has lived in Luton since November 1969.Kelvin Hopkins
Bio
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Publications

* :* ''Cited in'':

References

External links

*
ePolitix – Kelvin Hopkins
ePolitix website

* ttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/271.stm BBC News – Kelvin Hopkinsprofile 10 February 2005 *

News items

Sixth forms in May 2007

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

Labour rebels fail vote to increase council house funding in April 2008
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Blairs see off Iraq rebellion in June 2007
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Lobby of Parliament on pensions in October 2006
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'' , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkins, Kelvin 1941 births Living people Alumni of the University of Nottingham English economists English humanists English republicans British Eurosceptics British secularists European democratic socialists Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School for Boys Politicians from Leicester People from Luton UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019