Paul Holmes - LibDem Candidate for Chesterfield
Paul Holmes was elected as Member of Parliament for Chesterfield in 2001 and was re-elected in 2005. He is currently Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Justice and Home Affairs.
Paul was born in Sheffield and was brought up on a council estate in the city. He attended Prince Edward Primary School, Manor Top, Sheffield, and then Firth Park Secondary school until 1975.
The first in his family to go to university he got a history degree from the University of York in 1978 and then went to the University of Sheffield to do a post-graduate Certificate in Education. On qualification as a History Teacher in 1979, he taught at Chesterfield Boys School, before moving to teach at Buxton College in 1984 and then at Buxton Community School from 1990 For many years at Buxton Community School Paul was Head of Sixth Form.
He joined the Social Democratic Party in 1983 and was elected as Chesterfield Borough Councillor for Brimington Ward in 1987 until 1995, and then elected as a Chesterfield Borough councillor for Walton Ward in 1999, serving until 2003.
Paul has lived in Chesterfield for 30 years and his children were all born and brought up in Chesterfield. His particular Parliamentary interests are education, disability, human rights and civil liberties and Social Housing. In the 2001-2005 Parliament Paul was a member of the Education and Skills Select Committee and the Lib Dem spokesperson for people with disabilities 2001-2005 and Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions 2002-2005, as well as being Vice Chair of the Commons Council Housing Group.
Since 2005, Paul has served on the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee, as Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party Chairman,, Shadow Minister for Arts and Culture, Shadow Minister for Housing and now serves as Spokesperson for Justice and Home Affairs.
Paul’s personal interests are history, literature, music and film and walking in the Peak District. He is married with three children, and is passionately committed to the life chances that education offers.
It is time this country broke away from the 2 party monopoly so vote for Paul Holmes. Paul is an experienced MP and has made Chesterfield a better place.
So Andy, how do you feel about Mr Holmes pocketing nearly £10,000 from a private landlord and not using a penny of it in relocation expenses or future rent…..then being the only MP (as far as I know) to have the brass neck to move back into Dolphin Square a few month later! I’m afraid its time to push him off the gravy train!
I agree that it was wrong, but MPS of all parties are at it so why single him out he seems to be a nice man. Brown has brought this country to its knees and he has to go.
After our triumph in the television debate last week more people will vote LibDem because we have shown that they are fed up with two party politics and they are ready for a change.
You cannot dismiss the fact that he’s a bent bastard that got caught and is unfit to represent the good people of Chesterfield because he breached the code of conduct by putting his personal interest before the public interest. Not someone I would put my trust in.
Remember this is a general election. We are in effect voting for a party to lead this country out of this appalling mess.
Unless we do the money available to local councils, schools etc will continue to fall.
Already in Chesterfield the Hospital has to save £5 million next yr due to central Govt cuts.
Brown sticks with his mantra of no cuts but its been happening for yrs.
To be fair I think the countries finances are a result of bankers/traders/speculators super-greed, not Browns handiwork - in fact we had many good years under Brown as Chancellor
I will leave it to Mr Perkins to answer your other questions/statements
By the way - why does Mr Holmes not post here? Not important enough?
Really.
Brown had stated at a Mansion House speech 2004 that risk takers should be rewarded. He let the soft touch FSA look after regulation and funded his plans with all the money and few question on how it was being earned leaving the economy over reliant on the quick money.
Dont confuse some of the economies other issues such as soaring energy prices etc, due to our over reliance on imports as being due to the credit crunch…
So its the FSA then?
“our over reliance on imports”? Speak to Mrs T about that
Basically my position is this - if the country was to be run the same way Chesterfield has been run these last few years then we are in big, big trouble.
Inexperienced, self-important clowns that couldn’t organise a you-know-what in a brewery.
IMHO
But in many ways Chesterfield , due to Govt policy, does map what has been happening.
Factories that made things such as Dema Glass, Bryan donkins, Markham works, GKN (400 jobs and now derelict)etc have gone…replaced by overpriced apartments or supermarkets or just abandoned.
The parties say we must start making things again but like the steel works once the kilns have cooled and collapsed thats it.
P.S.
We are in big trouble, with debts which in a few yrs time will equal those of all the South American countries put together…
In my opinion, Thatcher messed everything up good & proper! Privatisation & competition being her prime goals, well perhaps after smashing the unions! Her ideal of the importance of the individual over society as a whole, appears to have taken off - with many people thinking of themselves first & foremost, rather than the greater good!
I could go on and rant about the problems this has led to but I’ll be here until next week! Let’s just say that we are all to blame in one way or another - but are we all prepared to play our parts & tighten our belts? Though not quite as ‘left wing’ as I would ideally like, I have to say that I believe the only option at the polling booth is the Labour one.
If Haldron thinks we’re up the creek without a paddle now, God help us all if we end up with a Tory or Lib Dem Govt - we would find that the boat was also sinking!
Ah a bit of Thatcher bashing.
Just remember that before she came to power the Uk was known as the sick man of Europe . The country was paralysed by wildcat strikes and an economy in which investment in infrastructure had been scrapped. She inherit an economy that was ranked 17th.
Massive investment was needed and the country was broke. So much so that Idi Amin was offering crates of bananas as aid.
By the time she had completed her yrs in office the Uk had moved up to 4th and could hold its head high and was seen as a key player in Europe and on the world stage
The incumbent Labour Govt have left us in a very poor state. If anyone things this has been a succesful tenure I and millions like me must have missed something.
I hear what you’re saying, but that was then and this is now