Alan Meale

Sir Alan Meale
MP
Member of Parliament
for Mansfield
Assumed office
11 June 1987
Preceded by Don Concannon
Majority 6,012 (12.4%)
Personal details
Born (1949-07-31) 31 July 1949
Bishop Auckland, County Durham, England
Nationality English
Political party Labour
Spouse(s) Diana Gilhespy
Alma mater Sheffield
Website www.alanmeale.co.uk

Sir Joseph Alan Meale (born 31 July 1949) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mansfield since 1987.

Early life

Meale attended St Joseph RC School in Bishop Auckland and studied at Ruskin College, and Durham University,[1] his CV also mentions Sheffield Hallam.[2]
Meale's website lists his previous occupations as Author, Editor, Development Officer, Trade Union Official, Researcher, Political Adviser and Journalist.
[2]

Parliamentary career

Meale entered Parliament on 11 June 1987[3] and made his maiden speech on 3 July 1987 in the Tourism debate where he commented on the poverty, lack of provision, opportunity and services in the Mansfield community.[4] Meale was a whip from 1992 to 1994 when he became Parliamentary Private Secretary to John Prescott in Prescott's different roles until 1998.[5]

Meale served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions under John Prescott from January 1998 to January 1999.[1] He became UK Government whip Council of Europe Delegation in 2007 and acting Leader of the UK Delegation in 2010. He has been the chair of the British Section of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Cyprus Group since 2007.[5]

In 1998 Michael Ancram accused Meale of "cronyism" following allegations in the Sunday Times that he had lobbied on behalf of Anthony Kleanthous, the millionaire Greek-Cypriot chairman of Barnet football club. Kleanthous wanted to build a £14m stadium on green belt land, 140 miles from Meale's constituency. The Sunday Times article noted that Britain's Greek-Cypriot lobbying groups had paid for Meale and his wife to go to Cyprus and donated thousands of pounds to Labour. Meale denied cronyism, whilst Kleanthos insisted he had not donated to the Labour party and said it was "a bit racist" to link his business interests to Greek-Cypriot political lobbying efforts based on his ethnicity.[6][7]

Meale is Vice Chair of the APPG for Cyprus,[8] and is regarded by Greek Cypriot groups as one of their "oldest and closest friends in Parliament"[9] According to Meale he first became interested in the political situation in Cyprus back in 1987 when Tony Benn advised him to "pick a political issue and stick with it"[9]

Expenses

Meale was mentioned in the Parliamentary expenses scandal having claimed £13,000 over 4 years for gardening. The limit set retrospectively by Sir Thomas Legg was £1000 /year.[10] The Legg Report showed that Meale repaid £11,859.47.[11]

Alternative medicine

Meale was one of sixteen MPs to sign an early day motion tabled by Conservative MP David Tredinnick regretting the British Medical Association's opposition to further National Health Service funding of homoeopathy.[12]

Personal life

He married Diana Gilhespy on 10 March 1983. He has a son and daughter from his first marriage in 1970; his marriage to Diana is his second marriage. Meale was knighted in the 2011 Birthday Honours.[13][14]

References

  1. 1 2 "Politics – Ask Aristotle: Alan Meale MP". London: Guardian Newspapers. Archived from the original on 30 November 2005. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  2. 1 2 "Alan Meale MP -personal website". Archived from the original on 22 November 2009.
  3. ↑ "Alan Meale:Labour MP for Mansfield". theyworkforyou.com. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
  4. ↑ "House of Commons debates:Tourism". theyworkforyou.com. 3 July 1987. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
  5. 1 2 "BBC Democracy Live:Alan Meale". BBC News. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  6. ↑ "UK Politics:Minister denies cronyism allegation". BBC News. 25 October 1998. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  7. ↑ Sengupta, Kim (26 October 1998). "Millionaire: I paid no cash to Labour". Independent. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  8. ↑ "British-Cyprus All-Party Parliamentary Group". Parliament UK. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  9. 1 2 Gavos, Thasanis (1 August 2014). "Sir Alan Meale: The Cyprus issue will be over and we'll all wonder why it took so long". Famagusta Gazette. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  10. ↑ Jon Swaine (11 December 2009). "MPs' expenses: Alan Meale won battle over £1,300 for 'garden cabin'". London: Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  11. ↑ "Review of past ACA payments" (PDF). House of Commons Members Estimate Committee. 4 February 2010. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  12. ↑ Tredinnick, David (29 June 2010). "Early Day Motion No. 342 British Medical Association Motions on Homeopathy".
  13. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 59808. p. 2. 11 June 2011.
  14. ↑ "Queen's birthday honours list: Knights". London: The Guardian. 11 June 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.

External links

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