Stephen Pound
Official portrait, 2017
Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland
In office
20 November 2010 – 6 November 2019
LeaderEd Miliband
Harriet Harman (Acting)
Jeremy Corbyn
Preceded byEric Joyce
Succeeded byKarin Smyth
Member of Parliament
for Ealing North
In office
1 May 1997 – 6 November 2019
Preceded byHarry Greenway
Succeeded byJames Murray
Personal details
Born (1948-07-03) 3 July 1948
Hammersmith, London, England [1]
Political partyLabour
SpouseMaggie Pound[2]
Children3
Alma materLondon School of Economics
ProfessionPolitician
Websitehttp://www.stevepound.org.uk/

Stephen Pelham Pound (born 3 July 1948) is a British former Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ealing North from 1997 to 2019.

Background

His father, Pelham Pendennis Pound (1922–1999) was a BBC sub-editor and former journalist (including for the News of the World and Daily Mirror) and literary agent whose clients included the osteopath Stephen Ward. When Ward was arrested for his role in the Profumo affair it was at Pound's home and Pound claims he had a minor role in the events leading to Ward's suicide.[3] Pound's grandfather, Reginald Pound (1894–1991) F.R.S.L. was a journalist and biographer (including of Lord Northcliffe and A. P. Herbert), employed by, amongst others, the Daily Express and Strand Magazine (editor 1942–46).[4][5][6]

Pound went to Hertford Grammar School (now called Richard Hale School) on Hale Road in Hertford. He was educated, as a mature student from 1979–84, at the London School of Economics where he gained a Diploma in Industrial Relations and a BSc in Economics. He was General Secretary of the student union from 1981–82.[7]

He was a boxer in the Royal Navy when at sea from 1964–66, leading Private Eye magazine to refer to him as "Ealing North's tattooed bruiser". He also played football for Hanwell Town,[8] worked as a bus conductor for London Transport,[9] from 1966–68, and was a hospital porter from 1969–79. Prior to becoming an MP he worked for Paddington Churches Housing Association as a housing manager from 1984 until he became an MP. He was based at their office in Willesden.

Political career

Pound served as a councillor in Ealing from 1982 to 1998. In 1982, he won Elthorne ward and in 1986 he was re-elected in his home ward of Hobbayne. He was the MP for Ealing North from 1997 to 2019.

He served as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Hazel Blears until he resigned in protest at the decision to replace Trident on 14 March 2007.[10] He supported Blears in the 2007 Labour Party deputy leadership election.

Pound held the position of PPS to Minister Stephen Timms at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform from October 2008 until May 2010. In April 2009 he was reported to have announced his resignation from this position, in order to vote against the government's policy of restricting the right of former Gurkhas to settle in the UK.[11]

After the election of Ed Miliband as Labour leader in October 2010, he became an assistant whip. In November of that year he became shadow minister for Northern Ireland. He had served on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee between 1997 and 2010.

In 2012, despite his republican views, Pound criticised protests arranged during Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee stating "You can hold republican views but you respect the current monarch – particularly in this year of all years. There is no need to lose your manners, and this is deliberately provocative."[12]

He supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour leadership election.[13]

In 2019, Pound announced that he would not seek re-election at the next general election.[14]

Voting record

How Stephen Pound voted on key issues since 2001:[15]

MPs' expenses scandal

In May 2009 it was discovered Pound had claimed a mileage allowance of £4,251, equating to 11,004 miles of travel between his constituency and Parliament 11 miles away. He explained this by saying he made the trip "two or three times a day".[16] He later said he had abandoned his ageing car altogether in favour of public transport.[17]

Media involvement

In 2003 BBC's Today asked its listeners to suggest a law that they would like to see put onto the statute books. The BBC received 10,000 nominations and five were short-listed, from which listeners then voted to select their preferred choice. Pound agreed to sponsor in Parliament whichever idea eventually won the final vote.

On 1 January 2004 it was announced on air that first place with 37 per cent of the vote had gone to the proposal to authorise homeowners to use any means to defend their home from intruders. (The controversial farmer Tony Martin was still very much in the news.) Pound's on-air reaction to the result was that, "The people have spoken—the bastards".[18]

In May 2005, Pound appeared on British TV quiz show Have I Got News For You and in December of that year in a special edition of University Challenge.

In April 2015, a video circulated on social media where Pound asked Cameron whether he was willing to disassociate himself from the "snobbish and disdainful" bingo and beer advertisement tweeted by the Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps. The Prime Minister thanked him for advertising the Conservative's strong economic policy, and ended his reply concerning Pound by saying: "I am sure that the honourable gentleman enjoys a game of bingo – it's the only time he'll ever get close to Number 10". After going viral it picked up more than 3.6 million views in less than 24 hours.[19]

Personal life

He married Maggie in 1976. They have a son and daughter. He is a Roman Catholic.[20] In 2004, he discovered that he fathered a daughter when he was eighteen years old; this information was revealed to the public in January 2005.[21] Pound is a Fulham FC fan, and also the Patron of Hanwell Town FC.

References

  1. ↑ "UKPollingReport Election Guide » Ealing North". Ukpollingreport.co.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  2. ↑ "House of Commons – The Register of Members' Financial Interests – Part 2: Part 2". Publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  3. ↑ Quentin Letts (21 May 2015). "Stephen Pound Labour MP – Bio & wiki". Tatler. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  4. ↑ "Henry Williamson and Reginald Pound". www.henrywilliamson.co.uk.
  5. ↑ "Reginald Pound" (PDF). 2017.
  6. ↑ "Trove".
  7. ↑ "Stephen Pound's official site". Archived from the original on 21 September 2006.
  8. ↑ "UK | UK Politics | What you've spotted on expenses". BBC News. 25 June 2009. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  9. ↑ "EXCLUSIVE: TORY MP WALLOPS LABOUR MP". Mirror. 13 October 2005.
  10. ↑ Nuclear weapons 'essential to UK', BBC News, 14 March 2007
  11. ↑ Brown defeated over Gurkha rule, BBC News, 29 April 2009
  12. ↑ "Republicans provoke Labour". Evening Standard. 10 April 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  13. ↑ Smith, Mikey; Bloom, Dan (20 July 2016). "Which MPs are nominating Owen Smith in the Labour leadership contest?". Mirror. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  14. ↑ Bartlett, Nicola; Bloom, Dan (8 July 2019). "6 Labour MPs stand down amid reselection drive as election looms - full list". mirror.
  15. ↑ "Find your MP". TheyWorkForYou.
  16. ↑ "MPs' travel expenses cost us £5.5m a year". Metro. DMG Media. 25 May 2009. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  17. ↑ Pound, Steve (3 December 2013). "Steve Pound MP: Why I no longer have a car and don't miss it". Get West London. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  18. ↑ "Today Programme Iraq Report". BBC – Radio 4.
  19. ↑ Adams, Sam (2 April 2015). "Watch David Cameron cracking joke in Parliament to Sean Paul hip hop tune". Mirror.
  20. ↑ Ltd, Purple Ninja. "Winning motion: 'England should be a Catholic country again' - Independent Catholic News". www.indcatholicnews.com.
  21. ↑ "BBC NEWS - UK - Politics - MP's shock at long lost daughter". news.bbc.co.uk. 24 January 2005.
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