Early life
Stephen Hepburn was born on 6 December 1959 to Peter and Margaret Hepburn in Jarrow, South Tyneside. He was educated at Springfield School, Jarrow (now Jarrow School) and the Newcastle University, University of Newcastle upon Tyne where he studied politics. He worked as a personal assistant to Donald Dixon (MP for Jarrow).Early career
He was elected as a councillor to South Tyneside Borough Council in 1985, becoming the deputy leader for seven years in 1990, and he remained a councillor whilst serving as an MP. Hepburn served as the chairman of Tyne and Wear Pensions for eight years from 1989. In the 1990s, he was fined £75 for an assault on fellow councillor Iain Malcolm.Parliamentary career
He was elected to the British House of Commons for Jarrow (UK Parliament constituency), Jarrow following Dixon's retirement at the 1997 United Kingdom general election, 1997 general election. Hepburn won the seat with a majority of 21,933. He made his maiden speech on 21 May 1997, in which he mentioned Ellen Wilkinson and the 1936 Jarrow March. He served on both the administration and the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), defence Select committee (United Kingdom), select committees for four years from 1997. He was on the Accommodation and Works Committee from 2003 until the 2005 United Kingdom general election, 2005 general election, following which he served on the Northern Ireland Office, Northern Ireland select committee. He also served as the chairman of the all party group on shipbuilding and ship repair, and was secretary of the all party group on football. On 7 October 2019, Hepburn was suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation into alleged sexual harassment of a female party member in 2005. He denied the allegation.References
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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hepburn, Stephen 1959 births Living people People from Jarrow Politicians from Tyne and Wear Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies English politicians convicted of crimes English people convicted of assault Alumni of Newcastle University UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom