David Anderson (British politician)

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David Anderson (British politician) : biography

2 December 1953 –

David Anderson (born 2 December 1953) is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Blaydon since 2005.

Parliamentary career

Anderson was first elected at the 2005 general election, after the sitting Labour MP for Blaydon John David McWilliam stood down.

In Parliament, Anderson has been a member of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee since 2005, having long been interested in the peace process in Northern Ireland, and was also a member of the House of Commons Procedure Committee for a year. In 2006 he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Education and Skills Minister Bill Rammell.

Anderson chairs the group, a body dedicated to supporting ordinary Iraqis as they attempt to rebuild their lives. In a 2008 interview with SOMA Digest Anderson urged the implementation of article 140 of the Iraqi constitution regarding the normalization process of Kirkuk and other formerly Arabised towns. He also called for solving the Kurdish issue in Turkey in a democratic way.

Anderson was nominated as the Parliamentary Champion for Education and Sport by the anti-racist group Show Racism The Red Card. He has been active in the campaign to overturn a House of Lords ruling that would have had a devastating impact on people suffering from asbestosis, pleural mesothelioma and peritoneal mesothelioma, all crippling diseases caused by exposure to asbestos.

Despite Labour losing the 2010 UK general election, Anderson almost doubled his majority in the Blaydon constituency from 5,335 in 2005 to 9,117 on a turnout of 44,913 (66.2%).

Early life

Born in Sunderland, Anderson was educated at the (became Maltby Comprehensive School in 1967) on Bawtry Road in Maltby, and Durham Technical College (became New College Durham in 1977), the Doncaster Technical College (became Doncaster College) and Durham University. He worked as a miner from 1969 until 1989 at near Hetton-le-Hole, then as a care worker until he entered Parliament. During his time as a care worker he was also an activist in the public sector union UNISON and served as its President for 2003-4.

Personal life

He married Eva in 1973.